CEDAW/C/CAN/CO/8-9 (d) The lack of impact assessments explicitly taking into account women’s human rights prior to the negotiation of international trade and investment agreements. 19. The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Strengthen its legislation governing the conduct of corporations registered or domiciled in the State party in relation to their activities abroad, including by requiring those corporations to conduct human rights and gender impact assessments prior to making investment decisions; (b) Introduce effective mechanisms to investigate complaints filed against those corporations, including by establishing an Extractive Sector Ombudsperson, with the mandate to, inter alia, receive complaints and conduct independent investigations; (c) Adopt measures to facilitate women victims of human rights violations access to justice and ensure that judicial and administrative mechanisms put in place take into account a gender perspective; (d) Ensure that trade and investment agreements negotiated by the State party recognize the primacy of its international human rights obligations over investors’ interests, so that the introduction of investor-State dispute settlement procedures shall not create obstacles to full compliance with the Convention. National machinery for the advancement of women and gender mainstreaming 20. The Committee welcomes the creation, within the newly appointed Federal Government, of a full-fledged Minister of Status of Women. The Committee is, nevertheless, concerned about: (a) The lack of clear and coherent coordination and management of gender mainstreaming efforts between the federal and the provincial/territorial level, the uneven level of implementation of the Convention at the provincial/territorial level, as well as the lack of comprehensive monitoring and impact evaluation mechanisms and measures; (b) The absence of a comprehensive national gender equality strategy, policy and action plan that address the structural factors causing persistent gender inequalities; (c) The fact that the indigenous women organizations are not included in the national nation-to-nation relationship on equal footing with other indigenous people´s organizations; (d) The closure of 12 of the 16 Status of Woman Canada regional offices, which has limited women’s access to the services provided by Status of Women Canada, in particular in remote and rural areas. 21. The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Ensure that the Ministry of Status of Women is provided with a strong mandate and the human, technical and financial resources necessary to effectively coordinate gender equality plans, policies and programmes in all areas and at all levels of government, including through allocating earmarked resources to provincial and territorial governments; (b) Develop a comprehensive national gender strategy, policy and action plan that addresses the structural factors causing persistent inequalities, including intersecting forms of discrimination, against women and girls, with a special focus on disadvantaged groups of women and girls, including First Nations, Inuit, Métis, Afro-Canadian, disabled, migrant, refugee, asylum-seeking, single parent, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and intersex women and girls; 5