The pandemic has changed our lives. She took loved ones away from us. It changed our habits and opened our eyes to certain realities. Among them, a global scourge unworthy of our humanity: forced labor and child labor, which help provide consumers in rich countries, like us, with a multitude of products at low prices.
There is nothing new about these unfair human rights violations, which affect at least 90 million children and adults around the world. But the pandemic has put them back on the agenda, because suddenly there has been a lot of talk about our disrupted supply chains.
The race for protective gear has worsened the exploitation of the most vulnerable. In October, the United States seized at its border a shipment of medical gloves from a Malaysian company targeted for forced labor allegations – the fourth Malaysian company to face such a sanction in 15 months. Canada has purchased and used millions of gloves from two of these tainted suppliers, Top Glove and Supermax. Yet we have had a law in place for over a year at the border to prohibit the entry of such cargo.
There is nothing exceptional about this: forced labor or child labor (sometimes referred to as modern slavery) has long infiltrated our everyday consumption. A shock investigation by the CBC has just revealed the origin of tomato products from Del Monte, Nestlé, Unilever and La Doria in our supermarkets – Loblaws and Walmart in particular. These middleman-processed tomatoes come from the Xinjiang region of China and are likely to be linked to the forced labor of the Uyghur minority in the fields and factories. You can’t tell by reading the label.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. According to World Vision estimates, 10% of Canadian food imports are likely to be related to child labor, particularly in Mexico.
Among the most targeted products: coffee, cocoa, seafood, palm oil and sugar cane.
Sadly, Canada has stood still as countries like the UK, France and Germany have already passed laws to require their companies to investigate and report on the risks of forced labor in their chain. supply.
Since 2018, MP John McKay and I have tried three times to pass modern slavery bills. An improved version of this initiative will be presented to the Senate as soon as work resumes. It is about forcing companies to be transparent in their efforts to eradicate the risks of forced labor and child labor in their supply chains.
For the first time, the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party have pledged to act against forced labor in their most recent election platforms. The pressure is getting stronger and that’s good.
This is what gives us some hope that this fourth attempt to pass legislation will be the right one.
Of course, such a bill will not eliminate forced labor or child labor, complex issues related to poverty, insecurity and gender inequalities. But it is an essential first step in forcing large companies to assume their responsibilities, which some are already doing… and others are not. This is also what consumers are asking for.
It is also our duty to be consistent: it is time for our public policies to live up to our claims and our rhetoric on the international scene.
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