Canada’s Modern Slavery Initiatives

Canada is under pressure internationally and domestically to introduce a modern slavery law. In October 2018, the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development and Subcommittee on International Human Rights released a report advocating a form of supply chain transparency legislation similar to that introduced in California in 2010, the UK in 2015 and Australia in 2018. At the end of June 2019, the federal government completed consultations on the possibility of introducing legislation to regulate supply chains. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Nevsun Resources Ltd. v. Araya in 2020 incorporates customary international law, including prohibitions against slavery, into Canadian law.