Honourable senators, my question is for the government leader in the Senate. Despite forced labour provisions in the new NAFTA and additional measures announced by the Trudeau government in January, it does not appear that Canada has prevented the importation of goods produced under forced labour from places such as China’s Xinjiang province. In March, the Toronto Star reported that not a single shipment had been prevented from entering Canada under these rules.

In late April, the Minister of International Trade appeared before a committee in the other place and was asked for an updated figure. Minister Ng refused to say at that time how many shipments had been stopped.

Leader, perhaps you can shed more light for us. To date, has your government stopped any shipments of products made by forced labour from entering Canada? If so, how many and what was their country of origin?

Leader, it seems that the United States has been much more proactive than Canada as of late, stopping shipments of goods made through forced labour. Between October 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website says it detained 371 shipments related to forced labour.

On Friday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials announced that it had banned the importation of seafood from China’s Dalian Ocean Fishing Co., Ltd., based on information that reasonably indicates the use of forced labour in its fishing operations. This order applies to the entire fleet of 32 vessels owned by this company.

Leader, how can the Trudeau government say this is a priority for them when we are not even permitted to know if Canada has stopped any such shipments?