Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Forced Labour Goods Permitted Entry to Canadian Markets

"What we've uncovered from this limited search may be just the tip of a much larger iceberg linking Canadian importers to forced labour overseas."
"Canada must move beyond words and use legal methods to cut Canadian business ties to forced labour abroad."
Creating Consequences, Above Ground report
Hidden camera footage inside the world's largest glove manufacturer in Malaysia shows several employees working in close quarters. Shortly after, there was a massive COVID-19 outbreak that led to nearly 6,000 infections. (Name withheld)
 
Above Ground -- a workers-rights group -- has issued a new report releasing new evidence of goods likely produced with forced labour, entering Canada from China and other geographic spots, to be sold in Canada, in contrast to the United States where such products are banned and the government in the U.S. takes all necessary precautions to ensure that record-keeping is open and accurate, leading to hefty fines should any companies in the U.S. seek to evade legislation barring the entry of forced-labour- produced goods entering the country.

Canada may have an unenforced position on not permitting goods produced under slave conditions entering Canada, but like much of what Canada does and says as a liberal, union-friendly, progressive country led by the 'wokest' of Parliaments, there's no bite to its bark; no formal steps have been taken to ensure that what it claims are its moral values are followed up by stringent, enforced regulatory assurances backed by consequences for any companies found to be side-stepping the prohibitions.
 
An insider documents conditions inside his factory and workers’ dorms and a labour activist reacts to what he calls “appalling” conditions at a Top Glove factory in Malaysia
 
Shipments of palm oil from Malaysia, for example, and clothing produced in China arrive in Canada from companies blacklisted by U.S. authorities, according to the report issued by Above Ground. Despite Canadian law whose purpose is to ensure products of slave labour do not enter Canada, such goods in fact flow into Canada with virtual impunity. What Above Ground has managed to reveal implicating Canada in general disinterest in following up its pledges is a suggestible minimum, with many more instances of proscribed products arriving to the Canadian market.

Above Ground was able to access import records from the United States while in Canada data from shippers' "bills of lading" are kept confidential, not permitted in the public sphere for all interested parties to scrutinize. The files rarely reveal the manufacturer of the imports; when such data is available, the producer of the finished product is revealed, not the suppliers who may be using forced labour. Companies in Canada can request authorities in the U.S. to remove their shipments from the public records. 
 
A Top Glove employee took a camera inside his factory to show the unsafe working and unsanitary living conditions at the company (Name withheld)
 
Belying the federal government's legislation implemented last year, barring the importation of goods produced wholly or in part with forced labour, much of which originates in China and according to evidence Uyghur people along with other Turkic minorities from Xinjiang province face coercion to working in cotton fields and factories. No such ship bearing these proscribed goods has yet been barred from entry to Canada. Any shipping records can be scrutinized, courtesy of U.S. shipping records which detail when imports arrive at American ports and are sent onward to Canada.

Hero Vast Group, a China-based clothing manufacturer that U.S. Customs and Border Protection banned which employs prison labour is revealed by American records to have transferred six Hero Vast shipments into Canada, imported by several separate Canadian companies. Palm Oil produced by Malaysia's Sime Darby Plantation employing 11 of the International Labour Organization's forced-labour indicators also arrived to offload their goods in Canada, again imported by two separate companies.
 

A precision seeder machine sows seeds near workers on a cotton field of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, in Alar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. CHINA DAILY/Reuters

The products of 8ingda Tackweang Shoes which holds thousands of Xinjiang minority people at its factories where they work and are subjected to after-hours 're-education' programs, delivered close to 200 shipments of its shoes to Canada. U.S. rules speak of evidence which "reasonably but not conclusively" point to the involvement of forced labour. Rigorously enforcing its own laws and implementing "human rights due-diligence" legislation proactively obliges companies  to cleanse their supply chain of forced labour.
"In Canada, forced labour exploitation affects migrant workers, particularly those migrating to Canada under the ‘low-skilled’ temporary visa streams of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP), including the low-wage and primary agricultural streams, the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP), and the Live-In Caregiver program (LCP).  Although the Canadian government ceased accepting any new applications for the LCP from 30 November 2014, there are still many migrants working as caregivers who entered Canada under the former LCP stream. In addition, since the abolition of the LCP, migrants looking to work as caregivers in Canada can still do so by applying for a regular work permit."
"Workers employed under these streams may work in restaurants, hotels or other hospitality services, agriculture, food preparation, construction, manufacturing, or domestic work. Migrant workers, particularly those in low-skilled and caregiving positions, reportedly experience a wide range of abuse including verbal, physical, and sexual abuse. Specific examples include working without pay, performing tasks outside the scope of the employment contract, not receiving vacation or overtime pay, working extremely long hours, deduction of “fees” for food or accommodation from pay cheques, and particularly for women, sexual violence. In 2017, foreign workers who claim they paid thousands of dollars to obtain non-existent jobs at Mac’s convenience stores had their claims certified as a class action lawsuit in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. The four workers named in the suit allege they paid up to US$8,500 each in illegal fees to Surrey-based immigration consultant firms to obtain jobs as temporary foreign workers in Western Canada, but upon arrival in Canada discovered there was no job awaiting them."
Walk Free -- Global Slavery Index

A worker unloading cotton picked from Xinjiang at a railway station in Jiujiang in China's central Jiangxi province.   STR/AFP/Getty Images

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posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, June 23, 2021

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