Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act
Date: 2023_04_26
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Hon. John McKay: I want to thank colleagues for participating in this debate. I am probably a bit more enthusiastic about some colleagues than others. Nevertheless, I thank them. This is close to the end of a four-year journey for us. We have introduced this bill a couple of times. However, for World Vision, it has been a 10-year journey. I want to commend the work of Martin Fischer, Michael Messenger and Matthew Musgrave for their tireless work over the last 10 years to get this legislation to where it is today. I also want to recognize my staff, Shawn Boyle; my colleague in the Senate, Senator Julie Miville-Dechene; and her staff, Jerome Lussier. Yesterday, Stop the Traffik, a world-leading, U.K.-based anti-trafficking organization had a press release that began, "The Canadian Parliament Debate World-Leading Bill." I will repeat that for my colleagues who seem to be a little skeptical. It said, "world-leading bill". The press release continues on the "supply chain transparency and the application of company law and then introduced the concept of governing body signing off on the modern slavery statement, to make the law more meaningful by triggering Director duties and other elements of the legal system." I will note that it is not just anybody signing off on any statement anytime, anyplace. It continues, "Canada is now proposing to take this legislative approach much further and to add serious penalties - including fines and direct criminal liability for noncompliance." Those people, who are knowledgeable and working abroad, have noticed the work of Canadians working here at home. Border controls have been tried with not a lot of success. Trade treaties, again, were tried with not a heck of a lot of success. Criminal prosecutions are spotty. ESG and social responsibility efforts are good and are to be encouraged, but again, they are non-enforceable and somewhat sporadic. We are not debating a phantom bill such as my colleagues in the NDP want to debate. Bill C-262 has little or no chance of getting on the floor. What is on the floor is Bill S-211 , and Bill S-211 is a transparency bill which, over time, has morphed into more of a due-diligence bill with due-diligence characteristics. I want to remind colleagues that Bill S-211 carries fines, and not insignificant fines. The bill would entitle the minister to search and seize computers and other records, entitle the minister to a warrant, create indirect criminal liability for non-compliance and false statements, and have financial consequences for failure to file a report. To be truthful, these have consequences, financial and regulatory, which some of my hon. colleagues may not fully appreciate. The bill would also give the minister the ability to draft regulations that may over time become tougher each year. I sincerely want to acknowledge the work of the Minister of Labour and his commitment in budget 2023 to introduce legislation in 2024 that would eradicate forced labour from Canadian supply chains and to strengthen the ban on goods produced using forced labour. I am not pretending that Bill S-211 is the final step. It is a first step, and the first step actually puts us at the head of all nations who have legislation such as this. I encourage my colleagues to vote in favour of the bill, as it is a useful way to move us from laggard to leader.