We speak with Bob Kirke, the executive director of the Canadian Apparel Federation William Pellerin, a lawyer in Ottawa who focuses on Canadian laws surrounding forced labour imports and Canada's Minister of Labour Seamus O'Regan. Canada has a blanket forced labour ban, but advocates are concerned it’s not being enforced. The Current 23:01 Advocates are concerned Canada’s blanket forced labour law isn't being enforced The treatment of the Uyghur ethnic minority in China’s Xinjiang province has spurred the United States to ban the import of goods made with cotton picked using forced labour. The Integrity Declaration of Doing Business with Xinjiang Entities, first introduced in July 2020, required Canadian companies to file declarations they are not directly or indirectly sourcing products from Chinese entities implicated in forced labour or other human rights violations related to Xinjiang.īut according to the Supply Chain Risk Report 2023, released in January by aid agency World Vision Canada, statistically 7.5 per cent (or one in every 13) imported products that come into Canada could be made by an enslaved labourer.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and most of his cabinet were absent for the vote. The motion - which passed 266 to 0 - was supported by all opposition parties and a handful of lawmakers from the governing Liberal Party. In 2021, Canadian MPs passed a motion saying China's treatment of the Uyghur population and other Turkic Muslim minority groups amounted to a genocide, according to the definition set out in the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.

The report puts the weight of the UN behind years of accusations from human rights groups and Beijing is furious. Duration 2:13 In a new report, the United Nations accused China of a ruthless, repressive campaign against the country's Uyghur minority that could amount to crimes against humanity.

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