Learning from Lululemon: If Canada wants to get serious about forced labour, disclosure laws won’t do
Resource Details
Author(s): Gayathri Krishna, Judy Fudge, Kaitlyn Matulewicz
Date: 2023
The Canadian government recently passed the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act. The new law is designed to address forced labour and child labour in supply chains by requiring companies to disclose their efforts in eliminating labour abuse from their supply chains.
The legislation, known colloquially as Canada’s Modern Slavery Act, does not require large Canadian companies to actually take actions to prevent or reduce the risk of forced labour and child labour in their supply chains.
The act also doesn’t hold companies accountable when forced labour is found. Similar weak disclosure laws in California, the United Kingdom and Australia have already been found to be ineffective by academic researchers.
Our recent investigation at the Governing Forced Labour in Supply Chains Project into the Canadian apparel company Lululemon Athletica casts doubt on the ability of this new law to tackle labour abuse.
The new law falls short of what is required to make large corporations exercise due diligence to prevent labour abuse from occurring within their supply chains.
The legislation, known colloquially as Canada’s Modern Slavery Act, does not require large Canadian companies to actually take actions to prevent or reduce the risk of forced labour and child labour in their supply chains.
The act also doesn’t hold companies accountable when forced labour is found. Similar weak disclosure laws in California, the United Kingdom and Australia have already been found to be ineffective by academic researchers.
Our recent investigation at the Governing Forced Labour in Supply Chains Project into the Canadian apparel company Lululemon Athletica casts doubt on the ability of this new law to tackle labour abuse.
The new law falls short of what is required to make large corporations exercise due diligence to prevent labour abuse from occurring within their supply chains.