On Oct. 17, Global Affairs Canada rolled out a month of public consultations with the stated aim of obtaining “stakeholder views on additional measures to strengthen Canada’s import ban on all goods mined, manufactured or produced, wholly or in part, by forced labour.”
Feedback is requested by Nov. 15, 2024.
“Our government is committed to eliminating forced labour from, and tackling exploitation in, global supply chains,” Mary Ng, the minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development, said in a statement.
The forced labour imports ban is part of the commitments that Canada made under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) that will “inform whole-of-government approaches and measures to enhance Canada’s regime to address compliance with international human and labour rights in supply chains,” the government said.
“These consultations will help inform us on how to shape the effective enforcement of Canada’s ban on the import of goods produced by forced labour,” Ng said. “They will also help us work in collaboration with our CUSMA partners and strengthen the protection of workers’ labour rights around the globe.”
Global Affairs Canada said it wants to hear the views of “stakeholders on the potential benefits and risks of the following potential measures”:
- publication of a list of goods at risk of forced labour, informed by the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) forced labour indicators and definitions and supplemented by other sources of information;
- creation of a supply chain “minimum traceability” process in which importers of goods appearing on the aforementioned public list would have the reverse onus to provide additional documentation regarding the imported goods’ supply chain journey;
- this new process would be an addition to the current import ban — as the overall ban and previous assessment processes would still exist for those goods not on the public list;
- changes to the cost-recovery model whereby the importer of goods deemed to be made by forced labour would be responsible for the payment of all costs associated with the detention, removal, abandonment and/or forfeiture, including any transport, storage, and/or disposal fees;
- creation of a streamlined mechanism for settling disagreements between importers and the government on decisions that prevent the entry into the market of specific goods; and
- a strengthening of the legislative and regulatory authorities regarding information collection/sharing, enforcement and disposition, including “enhanced collaboration and cooperation” with the United States and Mexico to prevent transhipments.
The federal government said its consultation on how to “strengthen” the forced labour import ban under art. 23.6 of the CUSMA — via possible new measures to boost requirements “to prove transparency and traceability of goods while providing the tools for robust enforcement” to prevent violations of international labour and human rights and its impact on Canadian importers, exporters, industry, and the public” — will assist in advancing Canada’s foreign and trade policy goals of strengthening critical supply chains, combating unfair trade practices, as well as promoting human rights.
The forced labour import ban under the federal Customs Tariff, which came into force further to the Labour Chapter of the CUSMA, prohibits all goods — regardless of their country of origin — from entering Canada that are mined, manufactured or produced — in whole or in part — by forced labour.
The Federal Supply Chains Act came into force in January 2024, thereby creating a supply chain transparency regime for certain Canadian entities and government institutions and making Canada the only country to have both supply chain legislation and an import ban in place, the government said.
Global Affairs Canada called labour exploitation in global supply chains “a prevalent issue,” citing an ILO report on modern slavery, which estimated that about 27.6 million people were subject to forced labour in 2021 — an increase of three million people from 2016. Of the total, about 3.3 million people are children who are compelled to participate in forced labour, “and this figure is only a fraction of the number that are subject to exploitation within global supply chains,” the federal government said.
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