November 20, 2025 – In testimony today to Parliament’s Standing Committee on International Trade, representatives of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Canadian Labour Congress, Canada-Tibet Committee, and Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability urged the government to take strong action against forced labour in Canadian supply chains, as well as other serious abuses of human rights, labour rights, and environmental destruction linked to the global operations of Canadian companies.
Speaking as witnesses to the committee’s study of “forced labour, supply chains, and related imports”, the four organizations each urged Canada to adopt comprehensive mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation. Such legislation would require Canadian companies and importers to prevent human rights abuse throughout their supply chains and would help ensure forced workers and people experiencing other human rights abuses have access to remedy in Canadian courts. The CNCA has developed model legislation, based on the consensus recommendations of Canadian civil society organizations and endorsed by hundreds of organizations in Canada and around the world.
With Parliament considering measures to strengthen Canada’s forced labour import ban, CNCA recommended any such measures be accompanied by a firm and time-bound commitment to comprehensive due diligence legislation, which would complement and reinforce the import ban. For example, import bans address harm after it has occurred, while due diligence legislation helps prevent harm in the first place. We further urged the government to closely engage with rights-holders in the development of any regulations under the import ban, to avoid unintended consequences that could negatively impact vulnerable workers.
Finally, CNCA recommended that the government’s approach to addressing forced labour in supply chains include a clear commitment to adequately staffing and empowering the Office of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise, an office with considerable potential that has been hamstrung by the government’s failure to provide independent investigatory powers and effective resourcing. The office has already received a significant number of forced-labour related cases.
A recording of the committee meeting can be viewed here.
