Canada is importing more goods linked to child labour, but legislative changes could combat the increase: World Vision Canada report

Climate change, COVID-19, conflict and rising costs have increased the number of child labourers for the first time in 20 years, according to a newly released World Vision Canada report.

Approximately 160 million children are working globally — 79 million of them in dirty, dangerous and degrading jobs — and an increasing number of the goods they produce are being imported into Canada. Michael Messenger, president and CEO of World Vision Canada, said Canadians would avoid those products if they were able to better identify them.

“Progress in the global fight to end child labour is being lost,” Messenger said. “Clearly, we need leadership from the federal government to ensure that companies are doing everything they can to both support Canadians who wish to make informed purchasing choices and to reverse these trends in their global supply chains.”

World Vision Canada found that, over the last 10 years, imports of “risky goods” have increased by more than 50 percent. The largest increase was in personal protective equipment; imports of rubber gloves with possible ties to child labour increased 869 per cent over that period, representing a value of $800 million. Risky electronic imports also surged by 71 per cent over the last decade — an import value of $22.1 billion. Clothing with potential links to child labour jumped by 67 per cent.

New legislation could help change that.

Bill S-221, Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act, is currently awaiting third reading in the House of Commons. The bill, if passed, would force companies to report publicly on efforts to prevent the use of both child labour and forced labour within their global supply chains.

Independent senator Julie Miville-Dechêne sponsored the bill and said “modern slavery is a complex problem rooted in global poverty, inequality and opaque supply chains.” The legislation won’t solve the issue on its own, she added, but it’s an important first step that must be followed by meaningful enforcement.

Liberal MP John McKay, speaking in the House of Commons, said the bill, if passed, will take Canada “from laggard to leader in the fight against forced labour.” 

Describing it as an opportunity to make the people behind the products Canadians purchase more visible, Messenger said Bill S-211 is an important “first step in Canada’s journey to do more” noting the European Union is slated to finalize their corporate sustainability due diligence directive later this year, which obligates companies to avoid and mitigate human rights risks.

According to SOS Children’s Villages, an estimated 5.2 million children lost a caregiver or parent during the first 20 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, pushing them further into poverty and an increased risk of child labour.

Human Rights Watch has also raised the alarm, reporting that the “unprecedented economic impact of the pandemic, together with school closures and inadequate government assistance, is pushing children into exploitative and dangerous child labor.”

The number of children engaged in child labour fell by 38 per cent between 2000 and 2016, according to the International Labour Organization, but that progress has been steadily eroded over the last three years.

“Unfortunately, Canada is a significant contributor to this global problem,” Messenger said. “Canada imported nearly $48 billion in risky goods in 2021, representing over 7.5 per cent of our total imports.”

While electronics, clothing, gold, textiles, footwear, toys, rubber gloves, coffee, sugar and fish represent the imports most likely to have ties to child labour, other products are areas of growing concern, including vanilla, citrus fruits, tobacco, pepper and tea.

The World Vison Canada report also lists precious and semiprecious gems, like rubies, sapphires and emeralds, as having potential tied to child labour, along with carpets, coal, ceramics, bananas and artificial flowers.

Bill S-211 would amend the Customs Tariff to allow the prohibition of goods manufactured with the use of child labour, as well as forced labour. It would also obligate certain government institutions and private-sector entities to report the measures they’re taking to reduce the risk that child labour is being used by their suppliers, while creating an inspection regime.

The Act would also give the federal Labour Minister the power to compel companies to provide information relating to child labour.

“We have a tremendous opportunity to put businesses in Canada on a real, pragmatic path to implement a do no harm approach,” Messenger said. “Girls and boys are at risk of harm today, and this legislation is a critical tool we can use to fight the scourge of child labour.”

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