cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/9569876

Opinion piece by Mehmet Tohti, executive director of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project; Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, senior fellow at the University of Ottawa; Sarah Teich, co-founder of Human Rights Action Group; Charles Burton is a senior fellow at the think tank Sinopsis.

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Under current legislation, Canada has rejected only two shipments from China, despite clear evidence of forced labour across a broad array of Chinese exports to Canada.

Instead, we’re welcoming Chinese EVs, which likely have aluminum parts made with forced labour: Human Rights Watch documented that bauxite is shipped thousands of miles to be processed into aluminum by Uyghur slaves. The aluminum is then shipped to EV factories, where Chinese brands, and major international brands such as Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen and General Motors, make vehicles.

It’s no wonder they’re cheap – they don’t pay for labour on dozens of their components.

We’re not just talking about the 12-hour work days, six days a week for $2 an hour that increasingly constitute working conditions in China.

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We’re also talking about slave labour of Uyghurs working for no money, 15 hours a day, seven days a week, under armed surveillance with little food. If you think of the 1700s and 1800s in the U.S. South, you have the right picture. That’s also what’s happening to Uyghurs picking cotton for your clothes and tomatoes for your spaghetti sauce.

That’s why it’s important Canada is strengthening its legislation – and just in time. Last month, China proclaimed a new regulation that all sources in their supply chains now come under a national security umbrella and cannot be revealed. Beijing doesn’t want anyone asking pointed questions. They don’t want to be blocked from using slave labour.

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Much will turn on the specifics in the forthcoming [Canadian] regulations and independent product testing regime.

It will also turn on political will to list high-risk industries and regions, including in China, with full disclosure required. The list should include clothing made in cities such as Guangzhou with cotton from the Uyghur region, and EVs made in Shanghai with aluminum processed by Uyghur slaves. And there should be a process by which civil society can submit information to ground listings.

Until then, we must resume implementing our current legislation. The staff positions at Global Affairs Canada should be reinstated. Customs notices for EV imports must include the requirement to abide by current forced labour laws. And if companies provide inadequate information on sourcing, it should be assumed that the imports are made with slave labour and sent back.

Canadians don’t want to buy cars, clothing, or any other products made by slaves, no matter how low the price.