Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise Sheri Meyerhoffer made the announcement Tuesday, in response to complaints lodged with her office by a coalition of 28 civil society organizations, including the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project.
"I have decided to launch investigations into these complaints in order to get the facts and recommend the appropriate actions. I have not pre-judged the outcome of the investigations. We will await the results and we will publish final reports with my recommendations."The complainants' allege that Nike Canada is the primary customer of Qingdao Taekwang Shoes Co. Ltd.
Earlier this year, Nike Inc., the parent company, turned down the ombudsman's request for a meeting but sent a statement saying it is "committed to ethical and responsible manufacturing and we uphold international labor standards," said the ombudsman report. CORE said it will proceed with an investigation through independent fact-finding on the Nike assertions, but added that mediation is available at any stage of the complaint process.
"DYG [Dynasty Gold Corp.] only provided its comments to the draft initial assessment report. Prior to that, DYG appears to have deliberately avoided participating in and cooperating with the CORE's dispute resolution process without providing any explanation," said the report.The mining company eventually did send a comment denying it has operational control over the Hatu mine. Meyerhoffer said that might not be true.
In a statement issued to CBC News, Dynasty's CEO Ivy Chong called the initial assessment "totally unfounded."