Liberals reject balanced budget and mandatory voting as official policy, May 6
This Canadian Press story, authored by Mia Robson and Mickey Djuric, reports the claim that Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joy has been so very involved “in every single international initiative.”
Not so! There is an important international initiative in whichJoly and the other Ministers of Global Affairs Canada have been remarkably uninvolved, namely, the growing trend toward comprehensive mandatory human rights due diligence legislation.
The Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability reports that “such legislation would require Canadian companies to prevent human rights abuse and environmental harms in their global operations and supply chains, or face real consequences for failing to take all reasonable steps to prevent harm.”
Very recently, our Prime Minister insisted that “we don’t use slave labour.” Yet, Canadian brands and importers are still sourcing their clothes from garment factories in Bangladesh, where, on April 24, 2013, the Rana Plaza garment factories collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people, most of whom were women, and injuring 2,500 others.
For 10 years, Canadians have been waiting for their government to enact mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation requiring Canadian companies and importers to respect human rights throughout their supply chains.
William Hayes, Oshawa
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