Forced Labor-Made Goods Are Illegal In Canada, And That Might Be A Problem For U.S. Automotive Manufacturers

Canada takes forced labor very seriously, going to date as to scrupulously ban products from China that might need been made by folks under duress. That law, the Supply Chains Act, was written to focus on Chinese human right’s abuses, nevertheless it applies just as much to American products, Canadian human rights lawyers say. A number of car-focused manufacturers were put within the crosshairs of their criticism. 

Sandra Wisner, director of the International Human Rights Program on the University of Toronto, got along with a few of her colleagues and submitted a criticism with the Canada Border Services Agency about American produce and products made within the U.S. with prison labor, specifically in Alabama. Their argument? The Canadian law that was meant to ban goods made by forced labor in China applies just as much to the U.S., and it’s hard to not see their point. From The Canadian Press: 

“Discussions about forced labour are inclined to give attention to global supply chains within the Global South, so in factories in Southeast Asia or agricultural fields in Latin America. But using forced or prison labour within the U.S., including under deeply coercive and abusive conditions, receives far less attention, especially here in Canada.”

Wisner’s team submitted an in depth criticism this month to the Canada Border Services Agency asking it to dam goods made with forced labour coming in from america.

Nabila Khan, a researcher who co-authored the criticism, said her team of fellow lawyers examined reports from government and citizen groups within the U.S. about prisoners being coerced into working on parts for Hyundai and Genesis vehicles and Dorsey Trailer products. The also conducted interviews with currently and formerly incarcerated employees.

Hyundai categorically denies that it continues to be involved with any parts supplier that uses forced or child labor and hasn’t since…2023. Well, higher late than never, I say. One in all those parts suppliers “…employed child refugees to operate heavy equipment,” in keeping with Automotive News, which is only a wild sentence. 

A report from researchers at Columbia University just last 12 months surveyed Hyundai’s supplier employees in Alabama and located 13% of them were in a “prison work release program,” AL.com reports. Hyundai is aware a few of its suppliers take part in these programs, but they’re all still required to stick to a strict code of conduct. 

An entire lot of stuff is made within the U.S. under what could conceivably be called slave labor. All the things from playground equipment to fruit and veggies may very well be produced under coercion, because the U.S. structure doesn’t ban slavery for incarcerated people. Funnily enough, parole rates are dropping fast in Alabama, a state with considered one of the very best incarceration rates within the nation. Here’s how the Canadian Press — mainly the Associated Press, only in Canada — describes conditions within the U.S.:

The U.S. Structure bans slavery and involuntary servitude, except when used as punishment for a criminal offense — resulting in so-called chain gangs of shackled prisoners performing road construction.

American academics have argued that using prisoners for labour shouldn’t be appropriate once they are denied health and safety protections afforded to regular employees, and when private corporations running prisons punish and reward inmates based on the standard of their work output.

Last fall’s report noted that the proportion of Alabama prisoners granted parole has dropped from greater than half in 2018 to lower than 10 per cent in 2023, amid a rise in prison labour.

That part about chain gangs? It seems like an anachronism, but Alabama actually brought those back in 2021 after the practice rightfully spent 30 years within the dust bin of history. 

Canada is America’s second largest trading partner simply attributable to the indisputable fact that they’re right round the corner, but the connection between the 2 countries have been strained ever since Donald Trump got back into the White House. Between him slapping tariffs on goods on the border, calling the country the 51st state, and raising a stink a few bridge we didn’t even pay for, Canada has nearly had it with our antics. 

Wisner and Co.’s criticism is not meant to throw a wrench into already un-oiled gears, nonetheless, but a call for greater visibility about what goes into U.S. products sure for the north. “We’re nervous that there is a real risk that forced labour becomes an element of a tariff strategy and the danger is that enforcement becomes selective or politicized. The fact is that forced labour is not one-sided,” Wisner told the Canadian Press.