Senate Hearing on Bill S-211 –

An Act to enact the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act and to amend the Customs Tariff Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights Monday February 28th, 2022 at 5:00 pm Ottawa/Washington (ET) time Chris Crewther, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Global Fund to End Modern Slavery 1.

Briefing – Speaking Notes (Chris Crewther) Introduction ● Thank you for the opportunity to attend this hearing on Bill S-211 before the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights. ● I acknowledge Chair Salma Ataullahjan, Deputy Chair Wanda Thomas Bernard, Committee Members, and fellow panellist Emily Dwyer from the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability. ● For background, I’m Head of Strategic Partnerships with theGlobal Fund to End Modern Slavery.

I’m also on the Australian Government’s Modern Slavery Expert Advisory Group. ● Formerly, I was an Australian Member of Parliament, Chair of the Australian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Aid Sub-Committee, and Chair of the Australian Government’s Home Affairs and Legal Affairs Policy Committee. ● Through those roles I instigated and led Australia’s Modern Slavery Inquiry, resulting in the Hidden In Plain Sight report and recommendations, and Australia’sModern Slavery Act 2018. ● I’ve also been liaising with Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne, MP John McKay, MP Marcus Powlowski, and others since July last year and more recently, and addressed Canada’s All Party Parliamentary Group to End Modern Slavery in December. ● I congratulate you all on your efforts to bring about Canadian transparency in supply chains legislation, including gaining Government and Opposition support to pass such legislation, and the recent Ministerial mandate letters.

The Global Fund & the need to tackle modern slavery ● Firstly, on the Global Fund, we were launched as a multi-donor initiative in 2017, with initial matching contributions from the US and UK, followed by Norway, Liechtenstein, philanthropists and private sector actors. ● With this support, the Global Fund is mobilising resources, designing innovative public-private partnerships, funding new tools and methods, and equipping partners to scale and replicate solutions that have demonstrated impact in tackling modern slavery. ● The Global Fund has granted US$45 Million to more than 40 partners in 9 countries, including Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, Uganda and Kenya. 1

● We are also encouraging nations to put in more resources against the fight, to better enforceexisting legislation, and to implement further legislation against modern slavery.● So we strongly support Canada’s efforts to bring about this legislation.● This is important as the global fight to end modern slavery, human trafficking, and forcedlabour stands at a crossroads. Over 40 million people live in modern slavery, deprived oftheir fundamental rights and freedoms.

More than 70% are women and girls; one in four is achild.● Despite significant commitments and investments,thenumber of people living in modernslavery is rising, not falling. Covid-19, corruption,authoritarianism, and indeed crises such asin Ukraine, are only exacerbating these issues.● While being mostly illegal, modern slavery persists almost everywhere.

Tens of billions ofdollars worth of everyday goods and services, from coffee and chocolate, to cell phones andthe clothes we wear, are tainted by forced labour.● It persists because it is profitable, with perpetrators making an estimated $150 billionannually.● Yet despite these terrible trends, there is hope.

Evidence shows we can make seriousprogress to break the cycles of vulnerability, profit, and impunity that perpetuate humantrafficking.● First, thanks to leaders like you, we can turn the tide.● Second, nations must follow through on their commitments to eradicate forced labour fromglobal and domestic supply chains and hold governments and corporations accountable.● Third, modern slavery is deeply integrated with many of the biggest problems facing theplanet, being strongly linked to environmental degradation, clean energy supply chains andclimate change, inequality (particularly for women, girls and excluded minorities), instability,unsafe migration, corruption, and criminal networks.● And, there is no fair economic competition when some are using forced labour.

Australia’s Modern Slavery Act● In Australia, I had the opportunity to launch an Inquiry to do something about these crimes,one that didn’t sit on a shelf gathering dust, but which could have real life outcomes.● So in late 2016 I sought a referral for a Parliamentary Inquiry into establishing a ModernSlavery Act in Australia.● I often use the example that you don’t get from 0 to 100m in one step. In Australia it was astep-by-step process, which is why I encourage you all.

I went from not even being sure Icould get the Inquiry approved and referred; to having it commence but not being sure theInquiry would lead to a Bill; to having possibly a very weak Bill; to having a much strongerAct than expected.● It’s been similar in Canada. Even over the last six months, you’ve gained support andmomentum from both the Government and Opposition, as well as amongst minor parties,independents, the media, and the public. 2

● Another saying is, ‘don’t let the perfect get in the way of the good’. Had we insisted on theperfect, we likely wouldn’t have got an Australian Modern Slavery Act at all.● While we didn’t get everything that we wanted, in many ways Australia’s Act was muchstronger than the UK’s original 2015 Act.● On the weaker side, our Act requires entities above a A$100 million threshold (about C$91million) to report annually on modern slavery, compared to about A$67 million in the UKand A$50 million recommended in our inquiry report.

Australia also doesn’t have anindependent anti-slavery commissioner, a modern slavery hotline, or national labour hirelicensing like the UK does, and as we recommended.● However, Australia’s Act was stronger then the UK’s in many ways, including havingvoluntary reporting below the threshold, world-first government reporting, a legislatedpublic register of modern slavery statements, prescribed reporting criteria, some compliancesection 16A ‘name and shame’ measures to list entities who don’t report or don’t reportproperly, and the legislated three year review.● Of note it requires principal governing body sign-off, which has brought modern slavery toboard attention nationally.

It’s great Canada’s updated Bill S-211 now incorporates this.● While the strength of Australia’s Act has copped recent criticism, and many statements arenot yet up to scratch, thanks to Australia’s Act, thousands of entities (and people) are nowmore aware; paying attention every year; actively looking into their operations and supplychains; taking action to stamp out and remediate modern slavery; and identifying andreporting crimes.

I know that many reporting entities are taking a lot of action, even behindthe scenes, beyond what they are putting in their public statements.● Australia’s Act is also having a global impact, including in Canada, given numerousmultinational companies with operations in both Australia and Canada having to report inAustralia on their global supply chains.

Canada’s Bill S-211 / transparency in supply chains legislation● A Canadian Act done well would “up the bar” internationally.● In terms of Canada’s Act, I liaised with SenatorJulieMiville-Dechênein July last year onquite a number of areas that could be improved with the Bill at the time, and repeated a fewof these points in my address to the All Party Parliamentary Group in December.● So it’s good to therefore see a number of these recommended changes incorporated into BillS-211, and effectively replicated inBill C-243, asbrought to the House by Government MPMarcus Powlowski working closely with MP McKay.● I’ve made a number of suggested changes, relating to S-211 but also to C-243, in the writtendocument provided to you, that I’m happy to go through more.

There are as follows:○ Under the

Section 2 ‘entity’ definition, I’d question the conditions being subject to‘at least one of its two most recent financial years’.What if an entity was successful 3

in the prior financial year, but then went broke in the most recent financial year. Iwould suggest changing this to the most recent financial year only.○ Also, my view is that the current definition limits the entities who should be covered.For example, large churches, charities, funds, etc, may be excluded.

That said, I notesection 23 gives the ability to make regulations expanding the entity range.○ I would also expand the Bill beyond forced labour and child labour, for example toinclude human trafficking, forced marriage (which can for example be in theoperations of say a large church being paid a fee to perform a marriage), and otherforms of modern slavery.

This would align with the UK and Australian Acts.○ Voluntary reporting should also be added for entities below the threshold.○ On compliance measures, it is worth requiring that the Government ‘list those whomay need to report’, in an ‘including but not limited to’ manner. ‘Name and shame’powers similar to

section 16A of Australia’s Act, in addition to penalty powersalready there, should also be added. This allows the Minister to list those who don’treport, or don’t report sufficiently, even after Ministerial follow up. Bigger entitiesmay not mind the penalty level if it is private,

whereas naming and shaming can bepowerful. I’d also suggest positively listing those who report voluntarily.○ There needs to be an expansion to both goods andservicesin the

summary,preamble,

definitions, purpose, application, and more, not just goods. I note thatC-243 does improve on S-211 by referencing services, but only as it relates to theGovernment (such as in

section 22(1) of C-243).○ The legislated review period should also be reduced from five years down to three.Otherwise it may be seven years before any necessary changes are made post an Actcoming into force.○ An issue raised in the UK, when I led Australia’s Modern Slavery delegation there,was the burden on small entities being asked to submit multiple and repeating setsof information to a large range of reporting entities. We had recommended that thisbe catered for in Australia’s Act, but it wasn’t. It is an issue now.

So I would suggestbuilding into your Bill an ability for entities to provide their own modern slaverystatement (voluntary or mandated), and/or a standard regulated supplierquestionnaire, to reporting entities. It should be regulated that that be deemedsufficient, and that a reporting entity cannot ask for further information, unless areporting entity is asking for information not already contained in the supplier’sstatement.○ I’d also suggest more international consistency for the mandatory sections 6 and 11criteria, while concurrently making the Canada Act stronger.

For example, theidentity of the reporting entity is missing. I suggest adding that as subsection (

a) toalign with the Australia’s Act, then change (

a) about structure to (b). Also, move upthe current (

c) to become the new (c), and change the word“business”to“operations”or“activities”. In addition, take out“the steps it has taken to assess and 4

manage that risk”from the current (c), making that a separate (d), add the word“including”, thenmove the current (

b) about due diligenceto become a sub-point ofthe new (d), and the current (

d) about remediation to become the second sub-pointof the new (d). Subsection (

e) about training should become (f), and add training formanagement, not just employees. And subsection (

f) about effectiveness shouldbecome (e), again changing“business”to“operations”or“activities”. Also, I suggestadding a subsection (

g) about innovative measures or other information theorganisation wishes to report, to not make it just a tick-box exercise.○ Attestation should also be added for government entities, from the head orgoverning body of that government institution, as has been done for entities insection 11(5).○ On accessibility of the report, I would eliminate the legislated requirement forentities to put their statement on their website, with the exception of governmentinstitutions. This is perhaps regulatory overreach, as statements will already be inthe public registry. Also, it’s not necessary to have offences associated with this inmy view, so I’d remove reference to

section 13 from

section 19(1). If

section 13 isretained in 19(1),

section 8 should also be included in

section 19(1) to cover thegovernment as well.○ On a Bill error,

section 16(1) should refer to 15(1), not 11(1).○ On a designated person’s powers, I’d ask whether there should be a warrant to enterinto a place generally, not just a warrant only for dwelling places? In my view, adesignated person’s powers are perhaps over the top, and such powers could beabused. This could be an area of compromise in the Bill.○ On

section 18, I’d change it to say“section 15 orotherwise”, as information can beobtained on non-compliance, under say

section 11, apart from using

section 15powers.○ On

section 19(1) offences, these offences should only be applicable if an entity hasfailed to or refused to comply with Ministerial direction/s under

section 18. At themoment it seems open to apply offences even for a simple breach of the mandatorycriteria, even without a corrective ask being made first.○ More broadly, if possible, I’d suggest also legislating for a compensation/redressscheme, modern slavery hotline, and a truly independent anti-slavery commissioner.○ I’d also suggest Canada working together with Australia and the UK to build acombined international register, with more nations introducing such legislation.

Canada resourcing global action to end modern slavery to match its legislative efforts● There is also an opportunity for Canada to match its legislative efforts, by contributingfurther to global efforts, such as by joining the UK, the US, Norway and others in the GlobalFund. 5

● This would complement Canada’s legislative efforts and the mandate letters, which call onsay the Minister of Labour to“introduce legislationto eradicate forced labour from Canadiansupply chainsandensure that Canadian businessesoperating abroad do not contribute tohuman rights abuses”. 2.

Further background information Definition of modern slavery:● Modern slavery is an umbrella term, including the crimes of human trafficking, forcedlabour, debt bondage, forced child labour, forced marriage, servitude, slavery, andcommercial sexual exploitation.● It is given a legislated definition under Australia’sModern Slavery Act, which could thoughbe improved upon. Environment/slavery nexus:There is a significant and growing correlation between climate change, environmental destruction,and modern slavery. These two issues don’t just co-exist; they reinforce each other, often in cyclicalways.

Unscrupulous actors responsible for environmental degradation often rely on forced labour toboost profits. The more people are trafficked into this work, the worse the environmentaldegradation becomes. Over time, local populations become more vulnerable to extreme climateevents, which in turn creates forced migration and increases vulnerability to different forms oftrafficking.

On this nexus:● 12.2 million workers are trapped in forced labour in environmentally degrading activities.● An estimated 40% ofdeforestationiscarried out byworkers subjected to forced labour, inplaces such as the Amazon and Sumatran rainforests.

In particular, the Sundarbansmangrove forest in Bangladesh and India, a massive carbon sink and UNESCO WorldHeritage Site, hashighly-polluting shrimp harvesting,illegal deforestation, and significantforced labour.● The extraction of cobalt from the DRC – one of the poorest and most unstable countries,where 60% of cobalt originates from – has been linked to human rights abuses, corruption,environmental destruction andchild labour.

Cobaltis used inlithium-ion batteriespoweringelectric cars, smartphones, laptops, solar battery backup sites, etc.● Theglobal solar panel industryis implicated in theUyghur forced labour system, withpolysilicon manufacturers in the Uyghur Region accounting for approximately 45% of theworld’s solar-grade polysilicon supply (used in solar panels globally).● Thewind-power boom has set off a scramble for balsawood, used in blades forwind-powerturbines, with evidence of rising forced labour anduncontrolled logging, such as in Ecuador.● Warming and sea level rise is spurringclimate migration,with estimates of millions moresuch migrants.

Vulnerability linked with forced migration leads to increased trafficking. 6

● Modern slavery as a country would be the 3rd-largest emitter, after China and the US, at2.54 billion tons.● Abolishing modern slavery is one of the most effective instruments to mitigate climatechange. Yet, there is little-to-no global action onjoint initiatives to tackle modern slaveryand climate change. Examples of tackling modern slavery through the Global Fund:● I would like to share one such story with you. Leah was an overseas Filipino worker with 5children. With limited employment options in her hometown, she took out a loan to securea job overseas.

After arriving in the foreign country, she was repeatedly beaten; she didn’teven have her own room and was forced to sleep in the bathroom. She initially stayedbecause she wanted to pay off the loan but, when things got unbearable, she ran away tothe placement agency that brought her to the country. They took her back to her abusiveemployer. Much later, she was finally able to escape while taking out the trash. A kindstranger helped her get to the Filipino Embassy but, by that time, her family had not heardfrom her in 7 years.

When she finally arrived home, the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery(GFEMS) partners helped provide Leah with rehabilitative services and started a legal caseon her behalf. With our support, Leah has now established her own micro-enterprise.● We’ve helped thousands of women like Leah, but we saw the need to go upstream toprevent modern slavery before it starts. That’s why we helped establish the first ethicalrecruitment agency in the Philippines for low skilled workers.

This agency prohibits chargingfees, which has saved workers an estimated $7.5 million and is now independentlyprofitable, resulting in a sustainable win for workers, the community, and the business.GFEMS specialises in designing projects to shift systems and meet multiple objectives.● For some time now, GFEMS has observed that the industries most responsible forenvironmental degradation also have high rates of forced labour.

In Bangladesh where wecurrently work, the Sundarbans forest is the habitat of the endangered Bengal tiger, but it isalso a natural barrier protecting Bangladesh from extreme weather events like cyclones.● The Sundarbans are currently being destroyed by shrimp cultivation with manyworkers–including children–in forced labour.

If this continues, more than 13.5 million peopleliving around the Sundarbans are at risk of climate-induced displacement.● GFEMS has mapped out a 3-pronged approach to provide families with economicalternatives to shrimp cultivation, shift international market incentives towards ethicalshrimp production, and increase Bangladeshi law enforcement capacity to investigate andstop environmental and labour abuses. This is just one example of how an integratedstrategy could achieve both environmental and anti-slavery objectives. 7