CBERN hosted a Business and Human Rights Symposium from February 25-28, 2010 at the Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Ontario. In all, 23 participants attended the Symposium. Canadian and international scholars along with representation from Non-Governmental Organizations and the Public and Private sectors, participated in the four-day roundtable discussion that sought to engage dialogue and debate about issues surrounding the interface between business and human rights.

The Symposium afforded participants with a unique opportunity. 18 papers were drafted specifically for the Symposium with the goal to foster dialogue, collaboration and feedback to address the issues at the forefront of business and human rights.

Symposium participants read the papers prior to the event. The papers drafted will be revised by their authors based on the feedback and written commentaries prepared by the Symposium participants with the goal that all papers will be published in a special anthology by publisher Edward Elgar. Participants will also be submitting their revised paper to a special issue of Business Ethics Quarterly, an issue dedicated to Business and Human Rights that will be guest-edited by the Symposium’s leaders.

The Business and Human Rights Symposium was sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Export Development Canada (EDC), and York University’s Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies.