Chilenye Nwapi

Abstract

Canada has not seen much transnational litigation along the lines of the United States Alien Tort Statute. Until the decision of the Superior Court of Ontario in Choc v Hudbay Mineral Inc., no such case had survived pretrial challenges. This article explores the significance of the Hudbay decision for the future of transnational justice in Canada. The paper argues that Hudbay is significant for its attempt to recognize a novel duty of care between Canadian corporations and local communities harmed by the activities of Canadian corporations’ subsidiaries abroad. It is also significant for the plaintiffs’ successful use of the direct liability theory. Lastly, the decision underscored the need for plaintiff lawyers to place sufficient particulars of all allegations on the pleadings, a lesson that must have been learned from the failure of the previous cases.

Keywords: Transnational litigation, transnational corporations, duty of care, corporate complicity in human rights abuses