James Yap

About James Yap

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So far James Yap has created 3 blog entries.

Corporations as Good Citizens: Can respect for human rights and the environment be good business?

Wednesday April 20, 2022  |  12.00 – 13.30 EDT

Please join Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR) for a panel on Environmental and Social Governance (ESG) and other corporate responsibility initiatives. Is business that respects for human rights and the environment achievable within the framework of our current system of corporate economic organization? Or are the two fundamentally compatible? The discussion will be moderated by CLAIHR Board member Andrew Cleland, and featured guests will be Joel Bakan, Anita Dorett, Shin Imai, and Mónica Ospina.

This program is eligible for up to 1.5 substantive hours of Continuing Professional Development with the Law Society of Ontario.

To join the panel, please register in advance.

By |April 9th, 2022|Current Events, News Releases|
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Nevsun Resources Ltd. v. Araya: What the Canadian Supreme Court decision means in holding Canadian companies accountable for human rights abuses abroad

By James Yap, CLAIHR President

This post originally appeared on the blog of the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC).

Momentum continues to gather for transnational human rights litigation brought in Canadian courts against Canadian corporations, with the release on February 28 2020 of the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Nevsun Resources Ltd. v. Araya.

The key legal takeaways from the decision can be summarized as follows:

• There is no independent act of state doctrine[1] in Canadian common law (unanimous)

• Violations of customary international law may be civilly actionable in Canadian courts (5-4 majority)

• Rules of customary international law that are binding on individuals are also binding on corporations (5-4 majority)

The decision looks to be foundational in terms of the treatment of customary international law in Canadian common law courts. This and certain other aspects of the decision, notably the ruling on corporate liability under international law, may also have implications further afield.

By |April 23rd, 2020|Blog, Mining and Extractives|
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Updates from the US-Mexico Border: A Week in the South Texas Family Residential Center

By Heather Cohen, CLAIHR Board Member

“Aren’t I human? Am I not the same as you?” my client asks.

She sits across the small, round table from me in the neon sweatsuit that marks her as an inmate of the South Texas Family Residential Center. Words do not seem enough, particularly when chosen in my second language. I want to reach across the table and take her hand to convey our shared humanity, but I cannot. Core Civic, the corporation that runs the jail, has decreed that we may never touch the thousands of women and children that the Dilley Pro Bono Project assists each year.

By |March 7th, 2019|Blog, Immigration|
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