Read the final statement issued by the Canadian NCP - 13 June 2019
On 14 March 2018, a specific instance was submitted to the Canadian NCP by three former employees of Flemish Investment Burundi s.a., a subsidiary of the now defunct Flemish Gold Corporation, a Canadian exploration and development company formerly headquartered in Toronto, Canada. In June 2014, Flemish Gold Corporation transferred all its shares to Manicouagan Minerals Inc., which later became Murchison Minerals Ltd., also based in Toronto, Canada.
The submitters allege that the employees of Flemish Investments Burundi s.a. were payed compensation instead of severance when the company closed its operations in Burundi in 2014. Additionally, the notifiers allege that the company did not honour a decision of the Bujumbura Labour Court. The submitters cited that the company’s actions constitute a non-observance of the concepts and principles chapter and the employment and industrial relations chapter of the OECD Guidelines.
The NCP in its initial assessment determined that while the termination of employment of the submitting party was material to the Guidelines, the main objective of the submitter, namely the enforcement of a court decision compelling the company to pay compensation, is not within the mandate of the NCP to enforce. Additionally, since the corporations directly involved have been defunct since 2014, the NCP was unable to verify the corporate governance structure and internal policies and mechanisms of these organizations to help establish the necessary accountabilities to facilitate the resolution of the issues raised.
In light of these issues, the NCP concluded the case and issued a final statement on 13 June 2019.