Child labour is defined as work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally harmful to children, and that interferes with their ability to receive an education. Whether or not work can be called child labour depends on a child’s age, the type of work and the working conditions. Child labour is outlawed in some form in virtually every jurisdiction in the world. The international community has made it a priority to eliminate the worst forms of child labour, including hazardous work likely to harm children’s health, safety or morals, but also slavery, forced labour and human trafficking. Nevertheless, child labour remains widespread—in 2016, one in 10 children engaged in some form of child labour. Progress in reducing its prevalence has been measurable but uneven and, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), has plateaued since 2012. Child labour most often occurs at the lowest tiers of the supply chain, out of sight of buyers, labour inspectors, and ultimately, consumers. The garment and seafood industries are at a particularly high risk for using child labour. In recent years, in response to growing demand by civil society and the private sector, other national and state-level jurisdictions have used legislation to motivate the private sector to take action.

In light of these developments, the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (the Subcommittee) undertook a study on child labour in supply chains in November and December 2017. The Subcommittee received testimony from representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, academics, the ILO, and Government of Canada officials. The Subcommittee received a high volume of written briefs, indicating Canadian and international civil society’s strong interest in how Canada can act to combat the use of child labour in supply chains.

Children often work because their families’ livelihoods depend on it. Poverty, vulnerability and crisis create difficult economic choices for caregivers—who themselves may be children. Witnesses told the Subcommittee that child labour can be reduced by: ensuring that caregivers—especially women—have access to decent work and are free of exploitative circumstances such as forced labour; enhancing social protections; improving access to quality education; strengthening justice systems; and combatting corruption. The Government of Canada, chiefly via Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), implements its international commitments to address child labour through development assistance and by including labour obligations and technical assistance in free trade agreements. The Subcommittee recommends that the Government of Canada systematically focus on eliminating all forms of child labour, including by enhancing its support for programs that target child labour’s root causes, particularly among groups and within regions in which progress has stalled. In particular, the Government of Canada should combat the use of child labour by taking advantage of opportunities to enhance access to quality education for children and adults, as well as to assist states in building their capacity to hold those who would perpetuate the use of child labour to account. The Subcommittee also recommends that the Government of Canada include a discussion of child labour and forced labour in its free trade negotiations.

Voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) guidelines and initiatives, developed at the international, national and industry level, have proliferated in recent years. Canada has implemented an Extractive Sector CSR Strategy, whose principles could be applied to other sectors. Despite the progress made by certain industries, including the Canadian mining sector and the global chocolate industry, witnesses identified persistent challenges. For example, companies’ internal audits usually extend to only the first tier of production and capture just a single point in time, while human rights violations such as child labour tend to exist further down the supply chain and represent an ongoing issue. Likewise, when best practices are not disseminated, the result is an uneven playing field for businesses. The Subcommittee thus recommends that the Government of Canada enhance its support to Canadian businesses abroad to build their capacity to monitor their supply chains for child labour and to share best practices.

In recent years, other jurisdictions have introduced legislation to galvanize the private sector to eliminate forced labour, human trafficking and other forms of exploitation, including child labour, from supply chains. California and the United Kingdom (U.K.) passed legislation in 2010 and 2015, respectively, requiring businesses over a certain size to disclose what efforts, if any, they have made to end the use of forced labour, human trafficking and other forms of exploitation in their supply chains. Australia has committed to passing similar legislation. More recent legislative initiatives in France (passed in 2017) and, potentially, the Netherlands go further, requiring large companies to identify risks and develop due diligence strategies. The French legislation targets a broad array of human rights violations as well as harm to health and the environment. The Dutch bill focuses specifically on child labour. Transparency and due diligence legislation have already affected Canadian companies operating in these jurisdictions.

Given that legislation in other jurisdictions is relatively new, its effectiveness is not yet clear. However, witnesses provided assessments of the relative strengths and weaknesses of such legislation. They noted that supply chain legislation should address not only child labour but also forced labour or labour rights more broadly. Witnesses considered whether legislation should apply to specific sectors or all businesses, and the size of businesses subject to reporting and/or due diligence requirements. Witnesses compared the effectiveness of legislation requiring disclosures of efforts to reduce the use of child labour in supply chains, and legislation requiring that efforts be made. Transparency and due diligence legislation both give an important role to civil society and consumers to reward socially responsible behaviour. Witnesses thus stressed the importance of ensuring that disclosures are of high quality and readily comparable.

Government officials informed the Subcommittee that an interdepartmental working group, which includes ESDC and GAC, has been actively studying the development of supply chain legislation for over a year. Canada’s constitutional division of powers means that existing models cannot be neatly transposed into the Canadian context. ESDC views supply chain transparency or due diligence legislation as the joint responsibility of the federal and provincial governments. Canada’s constitutional division of powers shaped witnesses’ suggestions, but all agreed that the federal government should take concrete action as Canada risks “falling behind.”

With due consideration for Canada’s constitutional division of powers, the Subcommittee recommends that the Government of Canada advance legislative and policy measures to further motivate businesses to eliminate the use of all forms of child labour in their supply chains. The Government of Canada will have the benefit of evaluating models chosen by like-minded states. The diversity of ideas presented by witnesses reflected a variety of potential avenues to achieve compliance in the Canadian context. Witnesses considered the desirability, or lack thereof, of establishing a criminal offence for companies that do not meet disclosure requirements; others discussed imposing disclosure obligations on importers or exporters, corporations established pursuant to the Canada Business Corporations Act, and federally regulated industries. Witnesses also discussed a prohibition on the import of goods produced or manufactured using child labour, an approach already taken by the U.S. They also considered potential changes to procurement policies to require suppliers to certify that their supply chain is free of child labour. The Subcommittee recommends that the Government of Canada consider how to use its import regime and procurement policies to incent businesses to eliminate the use of child labour in their supply chains.

There is no single “silver bullet” in the fight against child labour, which takes many forms. Canada has already taken the first steps towards the elimination of child labour in supply chains. Nevertheless, global progress to eliminate the use of child labour has stalled. The time to take more concerted action, in the form of legislative and policy initiatives that motivate businesses to end the use of child labour, is now.