The contributors to Corporate Citizen explore the legal frameworks and standards of conduct for multinational corporations. In a globalized world governed by domestic and international law, these corporations can be everywhere and nowhere at once, reaping financial benefits and enjoying the protections of investor-state arbitration but rarely being held accountable for the economic, environmental, and human rights harms they may have caused. Given the far-reaching power and success of the transnational corporation, and the many legal tools allowing these companies to avoid liability, how can governments protect their citizens?

Broad-ranging in perspective, colourful and thought-provoking, the chapters in Corporate Citizen make the case that because the success of corporate global citizenship risks undermining national and international democratic governance, the multinational corporation must be more closely scrutinized and controlled – in the service of humanity and the protection of the natural environment.

Oonagh Fitzgerald is the acting chief legal counsel and manager of the Public Law Sector, Justice Canada, comprising specialized public law advisory, policy, and international litigation functions. Previously, she served as special advisor for international law at Justice Canada, and she continues to have responsibility to promote, support, and coordinate the Department of Justice's work in the field of international law. Before that, she held public law positions as director of the International Law Section, senior counsel for regulatory reform in the Constitutional and Administrative Law Section, and counsel in the Human Rights Law Section. Before joining the Department of Justice, Oonagh was counsel at the Immigration Appeal Board, commerce officer at the Competition Bureau, and legal consultant at the Law Reform Commission of Canada.

Oonagh has a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Laws, Masters of Law, and a Doctorate of Juridical Science, and she is a member of the Ontario Bar. She has written two books, Understanding Charter Remedies and The Guilty Plea and Summary Justice, and a number of articles. She has taught at Carleton University Law Department, Ottawa University Law Faculty, and the International Institute for Human Rights.

Oonagh E. Fitzgerald's profile page