The Coalition Against Forced Labour in Trade (CAFLT) welcomes the opportunity to submit budget recommendations for consideration by the Department of Finance. CAFLT is an international network of 18 civil society organisations working to introduce and enforce import bans of goods made using forced labour. Our members are active in Canada, the US, Mexico, Chile, Japan, South Korea, Australia, the UK and EU.
Our recommendation relates to the government’s commitment to uphold Canadian values, which are reflected in part in Canada’s domestic and international labour and human rights commitments. The Prime Minister has repeatedly emphasized the importance of Canadian values, and recently instructed his ministers to “remain true” to them when carrying out the government’s priorities.
We recommend that the Government of Canada move forward the proposal in the 2024 Fall Economic Statement to allocate additional resources to Global Affairs Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency for effective enforcement of Canada’s import ban on goods made by forced labour.
Close to 28 million people are victims of forced labour on any given day, according to the most recent figures from the International Labour Organization. Public concern over Canadian business ties to forced labour abroad has intensified in recent years, as one investigation after another has found instances of Canadian companies sourcing goods produced under circumstances indicative of forced labour. There is concern that Canadian companies and consumers are benefiting from human rights abuse in Canada’s supply chains, and that forced labour is driving down labour standards for all workers, in Canada and abroad.
Canada pledged to ban the importation of all products of forced labour when it signed the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement in 2018. The prohibition was added to Canada’s Customs Tariff and came into effect in July 2020. However, Canada has been criticized for failing to enforce the import ban. Since 2021, Canadian border agents have reportedly intercepted a mere fifty shipments of goods on suspicion that they were products of forced labour, and only a single shipment was ultimately denied entry into Canada. Several US members of Congress, a US undersecretary of state, and the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery have called on Canada to step up its enforcement of the ban.
The Canadian government committed to improving enforcement of the ban in the 2023 and 2024 budgets. In the 2024 Fall Economic Statement, the government proposed to do this by introducing legislative amendments, “including increasing the onus on importers to demonstrate that their supply chains are free of forced labour,” and allocating additional resources to Global Affairs Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency.
We call on the Government of Canada to take these proposals forward.
In recent years, more countries have begun exploring import bans as a strategy for tackling forced labour in their supply chains. The US has been actively enforcing a forced labour import ban for a decade. Mexico adopted its ban in 2023, and in 2024, the EU adopted a regulation to ban products made with forced labour from the EU single market. Similar bans are being discussed in Australia, the UK, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and elsewhere.
In this context, Canada has an opportunity to lead. By enforcing the Canadian import ban in an effective manner – including by providing adequate resources to the appropriate enforcement bodies – the Canadian government would help set a higher level of ambition for other jurisdictions. It would demonstrate that a “Canada Strong” agenda includes Canadian global leadership to protect the rights of workers worldwide.
About us
The Coalition Against Forced Labour in Trade (CAFLT) is an international network of 18 civil society organisations working to introduce and enforce import bans of goods made using forced labour. Our members are active in Canada, the US, Mexico, Chile, Japan, South Korea, Australia, the UK and EU. We are one coalition of many seeking to leverage import bans to tackle forced labour. Others include the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region, the Cotton Campaign, and the IUU Fishing and Labour Rights Coalition.
CAFLT’s Canadian members include Above Ground, a human rights and corporate accountability project that promotes policy and law reform to end abuse by companies with ties to Canada, and Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project (URAP), a research and advocacy organization that documents abuses against Uyghurs and promotes human rights through legal action.