[In June 2018,] a group of 130 Canadian and global institutional investors with $2.3 trillion assets under management [Candian dollars] are sending a statement to the Minister of Labour, Patty Hajdu, urging the Government of Canada to enact legislation to help identify and eliminate forced labour and child labour in supply chains through effective company due diligence and disclosure.

Last September, Canada joined with 36 other nations in committing to working with business to eliminate forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labour from global supply chains. That commitment was reiterated in the recent G7 Security Ministers’ Commitments paper in preparation for the upcoming G7 Summit in Charlevoix, Quebec on 8-9 June [2018].

[...] Legislation would help investors to better assess human rights related risks of particular investments and to work with investee companies to improve human rights due diligence where appropriate. “We consider a company’s management of environmental, social and governance risks – including human rights related risks – in our investment decision-making processes,” says the statement. “In order to do so, however, we require up-to-date, clear and comparable information from companies abouttheir due diligence on priority issues like modern slavery and child labour in their supply chains.”