Thank you, Chair. Thank you to the members of the panel for their intervention. They have provided us with some updates from a year ago when we were seized with this issue, Chair. Of course, it's the anniversary of the collapse of the Rana Plaza this past week.
When we were seized with it last year I tried to put it in a human context. From reading the witness statements and some of the articles in the press, I was really taken with the story of the 11-year-old girl, Tahmina, who I think represented what was going on here for the many people trying to understand. Of course, her case scenario was that she didn't want to go to work because she was concerned about her safety—an 11-year-old girl. Those of us who are parents try to conceptualize having our kid at 11 years of age having to go to work, and then, to add to that, having to go to work in a place they felt was unsafe.
So I think if you put this in the right context that is what we're dealing with. To be very blunt, they are going to work to give us cheap clothes. I'm not saying I'm for or against it, but that it just seems to be the fact.
So I think, Chair, our responsibility is a collective one. We must have our government doing the right thing and being engaged, as we hear from our friends from the department. But we also have to say that we must have some goals here. So what are those goals? My goal on this auspicious day—because today of course is the day that we commemorate those who have died and been injured in the workplace in Canada—would be that a young girl like Tahmina at 11 years of age doesn't have to choose between going to work and dying.
So to the departmental officials, I'm glad that we're engaged. I'm hearing some of the things that they are doing. But when it comes to these two initiatives, we have the one initiative, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, and the accord. In regard to the accord, I acknowledge and give credit to Joe Fresh and Loblaws for signing on to that accord. But I also note that the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety is a voluntary process. I would like to get from our guests an explanation for the following. We have our high commissioner participating over there, but are we not concerned that we are taking part in a process that doesn't have teeth right now at a time when this is an urgent issue? In my opinion this isn't about studying the situation, but about trying to study how we deal with this situation. So my concern is that while the government is supporting both of these processes, why do we feel we're going to be able to make a difference in a process that's voluntary in nature? And are we, including the high commissioner, asking for something that involves absolute compliance like the accord on fire and building safety?