Stakeholders urge Ottawa to weigh job losses and retaliation against workers as Bill C-35 import rules take shape
Canada’s plan to tighten its forced labour import ban should account for what happens to workers caught up in enforcement – not only the goods stopped at the border – according to a federal consultation report released this week.
The What We Heard report from Global Affairs Canada summarizes input from 129 participants on regulations supporting Bill C-35, An Act respecting the prohibition of the importation of goods produced by forced labour. Many warned that listing goods could cost workers their jobs or push production to suppliers that are harder to monitor.
Canadian law defines forced labour as work or services provided under circumstances that could reasonably lead a person to believe their safety, or the safety of someone they know, would be threatened if they refused. The definition, set out in the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act, also covers forced or compulsory labour under an International Labour Organization (ILO) convention – work that is involuntary and exacted under the threat of a penalty.
Anita Anand, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Patty Hajdu, Minister of Jobs and Families, released the findings in Gatineau, Que., with a second Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) report on possible supply chain due diligence rules.
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