Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I thank the committee for allowing me to appear today. It's a great honour and a great opportunity from our point of view.
Walk Free is engaged in the measurement of global slavery, in advocacy, in working with faiths on mobilizing faith leadership, and in business. We've done some measurement work with the ILO. I won't go over that sort of ground. But I thought what I would say, Mr. Chairman, to start is that this is a man-made or person-made problem. It's something we can fix. So many times parliamentary committees have to deal with issues that cannot be fixed. This can be fixed. It requires action not only from those countries that are, if you like, suffering from having child labour and forced labour within their countries, although all countries do have some, including Australia and Canada.... But we know that in Asia and Africa and other places there are widespread issues involving modern slavery and child labour. It is something that we can attack and end.
The world came together at the United Nations when it developed the sustainable development goals and made target 8.7, which is to take measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and trafficking, and eliminate the worst forms of child labour, and by 2025 end all forms of child labour. Now, that's an ambitious target, but it's one that Canada signed on to, along with about 180 other nations. My submission to you is that we have to be serious about it and we have to get on with it. We have to do things that will make a difference.
One of the things I want to focus on today is this question of supply chain transparency, because it will and can make a difference. It's something that is within the power of each nation's parliaments to do. It's not a question of NGOs coming before you today saying, “Give us lots more money and find solutions to insoluble problems.” It's about saying, “There are things you can do, and we'd urge you to do them.”
I'm conscious that I shouldn't try to lecture another Parliament, but there are a lot of international developments that I think you should be cognizant of and you should be made aware that organizations like mine, and the Australian government, the U.K. government, and others are looking to Canada to help lead. We have made much progress in the last couple of years, but we need more voices, more people standing up and making an impression.
May I just say that the G20 last year really focused on some of these supply chain issues, and Canada signed on to those recommendations as well. Effectively, it said that globalization, we think, is a good thing. The opening up of trade and economic activity among all nations has brought benefits not only to the wealthier nations but to the poorer nations as well in terms of economic development and jobs. But there's also a downside. There is an increase in inequality. The benefits of globalization have not been shared as much as they should have been. They've not been as inclusive, fair, or sustainable as they should have been. That's an analysis I think all G20 countries have come to, and I think most people accept that.
That's why it's important that the issue of child labour and slave labour be addressed by those wealthier countries, by the G20 countries. While their problems might not be nearly as significant in terms of their domestic concerns, what we know is there's exploitation of children and forced labour and traffic labour in those supply chains of Canadian companies operating or using suppliers from around the world. It's true of all those G20 countries.
We also know that local enforcement is not sufficient to solve these problems. Sometimes it's down to weak regulation. Sometimes it's down to lack of enforcement. Sometimes it's down to plain corruption. The reality is we've been living with this for many years. In many cases, we've had some good progress on child labour, but quite frankly, the estimates we have of about 40 million people in modern slavery, I think, are widely agreed to be conservative, very conservative. Without leadership from the developed countries, we're not going to solve these issues; we're not going to free those people from slavery or give those children a chance of an education and remove them from child labour.
The other thing we know, Mr. Chairman, is that we can't do without business engagement. Governments and NGOs have been trying for years, but we know now that a large part of the problem we're dealing with is about the economics of international business and the supply chains of businesses that are ultimately generally owned in the developed world. We've seen around the world the beginnings of a demand for supply chain transparency reporting from those companies; to engage with them to make sure that what they do is morally correct and that it provides opportunities for jobs for people in these countries, but does not exploit them, enslave them, or see children at work.
You've seen the U.K. lead with their Modern Slavery Act. You've seen the EU engage, the French, the Netherlands, and in Australia, we are about to introduce legislation into Parliament next year with bipartisan support to require it of Australian companies as well.
You're seeing a movement, but equally a lot of people are reluctant to take up the issue. I think it's important to say we have more voices. Canada has made a range of commitments in this space. The Canadian government is committed to the sustainable development goals, the G20 resolutions, to the ILO, and made a further commitment at the child labour conference last week. It signed up to the U.K. call to action on modern slavery at the UN General Assembly week this year. Canada has made those commitments to act. It has identified the need to activate all its resources in modern slavery and child labour. The question is what do you do to make that happen. I would suggest that supply chain legislation is one important step. It's a step that can be taken.
I'd just like to make two points about the experience in the U.K. and Australia. One is that businesses are up for it. They're open to the idea. Many businesses are way in front of politicians and governments on these issues. They've been dealing with it for 20 or 30 years, but the performance is sketchy. Some are doing really good work, and we've got others, quite frankly, who don't care and don't look. The idea is that regulation helps bring them all along. Legislation helps them all conform and take the issue seriously. It also provides leadership in the debate.
Two is to say that parliamentary inquiries have driven the change in the U.K. and Australia. It's come from Parliament, not from government. The government has followed Parliament as a result of serious and major parliamentary inquiries in both those nations. The calling of your inquiry is a really important development as far as I'm concerned because with the engagement of a parliamentary committee, particularly when you move out to engage with business and wider groups, I think you'll see a consensus can be built. In both those countries, it's been politically bipartisan. There's no difference between the Conservative or Labour or Liberal sides in those Parliaments. It's not an issue that divides. It's an issue that can unite and bring business and NGOs together.
The other thing I'll quickly say is that a number of your companies are already reporting against the U.K. act, so the U.K. act is already impacting on Canadian companies. The Australian act will also impact on Canadian companies. Many are already having to deal with these sorts of regimes. The other thing to say is a lot of work is going on in Canada already. NGOs like World Vision have done a lot of work on child labour. I met with the Mining Association of Canada today. They've done a preventing child and forced labour verification protocol. That's business being proactive on these issues already, and you have the investment industry as well.
Mr. Chairman, I won't take up much more of your time other than to say that I think it's a great opportunity for the Canadian Parliament to really engage with this issue, to help deliver on Canada's commitments, and quite frankly, make a real difference to the exploitation and abuse of children and workers around the world. We'd appreciate your work, and hopefully it will lead to a wider debate, both in Parliament and in the Canadian community.
Thank you.