QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety
Canada Border Services Agency
December 3, 2024
Senator Gold, we know that the border has become an issue in our relations with President-elect Donald Trump. There is a great deal of dissatisfaction in Congress about the fact that, over the past three years, Canadian customs officials have intercepted only a single shipment containing goods made with forced labour, while U.S. customs officials have rejected 4,500 suspicious shipments worth $808 billion from countries such as China, Vietnam and Malaysia since 2022. Is our leaky border letting in consumer goods that are made from products of forced labour?
Thank you for your question and thank you for your ongoing commitment in this area, as well. I want to recognize the work that you’ve done to advance Bill S-211 and to get it passed. This bill will require companies to adhere to stricter standards regarding information on forced labour in their supply chains, which is a very important change.
It is prohibited to import products made with forced labour into Canada, no matter where they come from. I’ve been assured that the CBSA is assessing incoming shipments to make sure that they meet those standards. If a shipment is found to contain goods that were made using forced labour, the CBSA can seize that shipment and refuse to let it enter Canada.
We also learned that 47 containers of solar panels were denied entry into Canada. The investigation, that eventually proved fruitless, lasted over two months. Charge Solar is suing the Canadian government for that delay, which cost the company customers and contracts. In short, our methods seem less effective than those of the United States, and yet we too should be fighting these terrible human rights violations.
Thank you for the question. As you know, I can’t comment on individual cases that are before the courts. However, I can say that, once a shipment has been intercepted and assessed, the detailed information provided by the importer on the supply chain is thoroughly reviewed in order to determine whether the goods were made using forced labour.
