The senator’s bill is one of a number of private bills cracking down on forced labour in supply chains that politicians have attempted to get backing for in the past four years.
Liberal MP Marcus Powlowski recently tabled the same bill as McKay’s and the NDP have tabled two similar bills. A report by the House of Commons international human rights subcommittee said that in 2016 some 4.3 million children were involved in forced labour, a figure the International Labour Organization warned was an underestimate.The report warned that child labour most often occurs at the lowest tiers of the supply chain out of the sight of buyers, inspectors and consumers. In South and Southeast Asia, children have been found making clothes, fishing and processing seafood.
Rocio Domingo Ramos, business and human rights policy and research officer at Anti-Slavery International, has warned that Canada is lagging behind countries such as France, Germany and Norway which have already introduced laws requiring firms to check their supply chains to make sure their products are not made using forced labour.
Yes that's right, up until now it's been completely acceptable for Canadian companies operating in other countries to use slaves.