Good afternoon, Madam Chair and committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.
My name is Lily Chang. I am the secretary-treasurer for the Canadian Labour Congress. I am joining you today from the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, known as Toronto. My pronouns are she and her.
The Canadian Labour Congress advocates on national issues on behalf of three million working people. We speak on behalf of workers in all sectors of the economy across Canada. These workers contribute directly to trade, from production to manufacturing to transportation, as well as at ports that ship and receive goods.
Given that trade negotiations in the Indo-Pacific region only just recently started, my comments today will be general and will highlight labour's priorities for trade in the region.
First, let me quickly lay out some thoughts on the context of the trade negotiations for the region. Globalization based on economic efficiencies has clearly made countries vulnerable and less resilient to major disruptions such as the pandemic, the war in the Ukraine and the zero-COVID lockdowns in China.
The ongoing and cumulative effects of these global events have been profound. There have been disruptions of the global economy and global supply chains, increased isolationism, setbacks in labour standards resulting in immense human suffering, breakdowns in social cohesion and growing inequality, especially for the most marginalized and vulnerable in our societies.
It is even more important now to have effective mechanisms in trade agreements and trade policies to enforce sustainable development commitments and to uphold and promote strong labour, social and environmental standards and protection. We need resilient and sustainable social, economic and cultural systems that foster social cohesion and collective prosperity through a human-centred recovery, in line with the ILO global call to action.
Canada’s trade agreements must be coherent with domestic policy priorities and, at a minimum, contain a strong, enforceable labour chapter that includes but is not limited to the protection of the fundamental principles and rights at work in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, 1998; as well as the eight fundamental ILO conventions that include Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention; Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention; Forced Labour Convention and its protocol; Abolition of Forced Labour Convention; Minimum Age Convention; Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention; Equal Remuneration Convention; and Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention.
Next month the ILC will discuss adding occupational health and safety to those fundamental principles and rights at work.
This must also be central to Canada’s trade priorities: combatting forced and compulsory labour, and child labour in the supply chains; addressing violence against workers exercising their labour rights, including single instances of violence or threats; ensuring that migrant workers are protected under labour laws; ensuring non-discrimination in employment on the basis of sex, including sexual harassment, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender-based wage discrimination; and ensuring decent conditions of work with respect to minimum wages, hours of work and occupational health and safety.
The CLC also supports other domestic policy priorities in trade negotiations including strong environment and equity commitments.
We were heartened to see that the trade objectives for Indonesia and ASEAN included comprehensive and enforceable labour commitments, comprehensive and enforceable environment commitments, dedicated provisions on trade and gender, and dedicated provisions on trade and indigenous peoples.
Trade agreements have real impacts and consequences for workers, their families and their communities. Workers must not be displaced from their jobs from increased labour mobility and outsourcing, local food security and production as well as local industries must not be undermined, and workers’ rights, including migrant workers’ rights, must be protected.
Fundamental human and labour rights, equity and environmental protection must be integral in trade negotiations. Canada must model internationally fair and human-centred trade agreements that are strong, comprehensive and enforceable for our common prosperity.
Thank you for this opportunity to present workers' views today. We look forward to questions from the members.