On April 28, Bill S-211 was passed by the Senate. He is intitulated Law on Combating Forced Labor and Child Labor in Supply Chains. Introduced by Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne, supported by a partisan initiative and backed by the All-Party Parliamentary Group to Fight Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, this project is a milestone.
Posted yesterday at 6:00 p.m.
The fight against modern slavery is a priority for the Canadian government. The numbers give the spin. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that over 150 million children are victims of child labor and 25 million people are subjected to forced labour.
World Vision Canada estimates that over $40 billion in forced labor goods were imported into Canada in 2020.
So far, the government has moved little on the issue. Admittedly, the use of modern slavery abroad is discouraged, but the law does not expressly prohibit this practice. Customs have recently been empowered to seize imported goods they deem to be the result of forced labour. However, such an observation is difficult to establish for customs officers.
The momentum created by Bill S-211 is an opportunity for the government to take matters into its own hands. With the passage of such a law, Canadian companies should produce a report in which they should explain how they respond to the risk of forced labor and child labor in their supply chains.
This obligation would apply to large businesses and federal institutions that market goods in Canada. The production of a false or misleading report would be punished by a fine of $250,000, and criminal liability of the officers at fault would also be possible.
Obligation to say and not to do
Bill S-211 is based on an obligation of transparency. Companies are only required to explain how they protect themselves against the use of forced labor and child labor in their globalized production of goods. The law does not impose any guidelines for them to do so. Moreover, they remain free to ignore the issue, as long as they admit it in an annual report.
Bill S-211 raises other reservations. Seen as the solution to the societal problems of which companies are the cause, transparency does not always achieve its objective, as lawyers have demonstrated in numerous works.
Moreover, the success of this strategy implies guarantees as to its implementation. Considerable resources will indeed have to be allocated to checking company declarations. However, will these means exist? Finally, the field of transparency turns out to be limited. Forced labor and child labor are only part of workers’ rights and, more broadly, of human rights. Environmental and climate issues are also largely ignored.
A first step
To appreciate Bill S-211 at its fair value, we must keep in mind what it is: a step forward. The representatives who defend a text centered on transparency are well aware of the limits of such a device, but their approach is intended to be resolutely pragmatic.
So far, all bills that have ambitiously dealt with the responsibility of Canadian companies internationally have failed. The hope is that this project will succeed where others have failed due to the middle way that is chosen. Despite the criticisms, Bill S-211 makes the law an instrument for promoting social responsibility and gives substance to the government’s discourse.
But the interest of Bill S-211 also lies elsewhere: its adoption could pave the way for the adoption of an obligation of vigilance (already enshrined elsewhere in the world), which would require Canadian companies to take concrete to prevent the risks they generate. Bills C-262 and C-263, tabled last March and still at the first reading stage in Parliament, are in this direction.