Feds say no slavery-made goods from China have been seized
Although an order paper question response from the Ministry of Public Safety indicated that border officials made no interceptions of the products of coercive labour since 2016, the CBSA has previously told the Globe and Mail that one such seizure was made in late 2021.
The inquiry of ministry posed by Conservative MP Kyle Seeback asked:
Public Safety to detail how many times such goods have been intercepted or seized at points of entry by the Canada Border Services Agency or the RCMP, the details of the products, including the point of entry and if any resulting charges were laid. According to Public Safety, neither the Canada Border Services Agency nor the RCMP have made any confiscations or laid any charges.
Canada Seizes Goods Produced by Slave Labour in China
— Scott Spidle (@ScottSpidlePPC) November 16, 2021
The ban was put in place by the trilateral USMCA trade deal signed by Canada in 2018, although the prohibition did not go into force until July 2020. https://t.co/bTibFApr6g
However, in November 2021, a spokesperson for the CBSA told the Globe and Mail that officials had seized a shipment of Chinese-made women’s and children’s clothing headed to Quebec on suspicion it had been “manufactured or produced wholly or in part by forced labour.”
That seizure occurred on or before November 3, 2021.
Parliament outlawed the importation of goods made using forced labour in 2021.
According to a study of supply chain risks of forced labour conducted by the federal government:
There is documented evidence of human rights violations in the People’s Republic of China against members of the Uyghur ethnic minority and other minorities within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang) that includes repressive surveillance, mass arbitrary detention, torture and mistreatment, forced labour, and mass transfers of forced labourers from Xinjiang to provinces across China. It is illegal for a Canadian firm to import goods mined, manufactured or produced wholly or in part by forced labour.
Retail giant Reitmans brought more than 100 shipments of clothing into Canada from a Chinese factory suspected of secretly using North Korean forced labour.
— Arnold Viersen, MP (@ArnoldViersen) November 5, 2021
And they're not alone. Sirens, Stitches, Bluenotes & UrbanKids #endslavery @EndSlaveryCA https://t.co/s0XXFRsElw
In 2021, Canadian women's wear retailer Reitmans severed its relationship with Dandong Huayang Textiles and Garment Co Ltd, a factory on the Chinese border with North Korea, and will give all remaining garments made by the supplier to charity after it was uncovered the supplier was using forced labour in factories.
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