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Decentralized Democracy

Kalpona Akter

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 21, 2022
Context: Bill S-211 (FAAE) - Nov/21/22
Ms. Kalpona Akter (Director, Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity, Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability)
  • 05:19:20 p.m.
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If I may, with permission from the chair and with all due respect, what I understand is that this is a bill for supply chain people. You are the champions for the bill. You know what to do with that. What I can say is how workers are living today. What they want is any kind of bill that is taken by a country like Canada, countries in Europe or the U.S. The workers are earning $78 a month. I really want you to know what you are talking about with forced labour...in your eyes, what forced labour is. I was in the factory. Before me, my mom went to the factory. She had to leave the factory because she had a two-month-old infant at home, so she had to send me and my brother, rather than work herself. The two of us were the breadwinners for the seven of us in the family. The whole reason for us to go to the factory was because my mom was not paid a living wage. I don't see that anywhere. Child labour will not be eliminated. Forced labour will not be eliminated from any supply chain if the parents don't get a living wage, if the parents don't have freedom of association on their production floor or in their factories where they are working, and if other labour aspects that are supposed to be respected are not respected. It is so difficult for a woman to live with the little money she is getting today, let alone if she has two children in the family. She is toiling every day of her life in these factories. She thinks there will be some changes in the sourcing country and that their legislation will make some difference in our lives. However, what I can see from the discussion that you are having is very minimal. Yes, we are looking at the European Union due diligence law. The directive they just proposed includes a living wage. It includes freedom of association. It includes health and safety. It includes the elimination of forced labour. It includes human rights. I think you are talking about one of the elements of it. My feeling is that Canada can do it way better. To give an example, many of you may know Bangladesh for Rana Plaza. Rana Plaza was a factory that collapsed with 5,000 workers inside. That was nine years ago. A binding agreement has made a huge difference back home. Now, over 2.2 million workers are working in safe factories because we have the Accord for Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. The beauty of this is that it is a binding agreement. For every law, if you cannot bring these corporations to account under any mandatory act, there will be no difference made down the supply chain. Thank you.
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Context: Bill S-211 (FAAE) - Nov/21/22
Ms. Kalpona Akter
  • 05:26:06 p.m.
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If it has mandatory accountability and it keeps companies accountable, yes, it does. But without any teeth in the legislation, that doesn't help at all.
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