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submitted 11 hours ago by Scotty@scribe.disroot.org to c/canada@lemmy.ca

Here is the open letter by the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project to Canadian PM Mark Carney (pdf)

The Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project (URAP) has published an open letter to Canadian PM Mark Carney to ban the import off goods made with forced labour, calling on the government to adopt a legal presumption that would treat all products from China’s Xinjiang region as tainted by forced labour unless importers can prove otherwise.

"Uyghur Forced Labour is Abhorrent to Canadian Values"

"Canadians do not want to consume goods produced by Uyghur forced labour," the letter reads.

"The gaps in Canada’s enforcement have resulted in products made by Uyghur forced labour entering Canada. This will continue to happen until Canada’s prohibition is enforced in a principled and consistent manner."

"In our view, Chinese EVs can only be sold in Canada for under $35,000 because they incorporate cheap aluminum parts from Uyghur forced labour. It will be critical for importers of EVs to Canada to demonstrate verifiably transparent supply chains that do not track the aluminum processing back to Xinjiang."

The URAP notes that "Uyghurs in China are working in slave labour conditions 12 hours a day under armed surveillance as you read this. This is of grave concern to many Canadians. Screening out such products is a measure of the extent to which Canada’s forced labour implementation is working overall. It is also a measure of the extent to which Canada can trade with China in a manner consistent with Canadian values.

"Of all the countries in the world, China is most known for forced labour. This is true for many products, including fabrics, tomato products and Chinese electric vehicles that are to be imported into Canada."

...

Referring to one of Mr. Carney's recent remarks, the letter says that Canada does have legislation to prevent the import of product made by forced labour, but it is "not strong by any international comparison".

...

Among the signatories are Mehmet Tohti, executive director of the URAP, and Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, senior fellow at the Institute for Science, Society and Policy at the University of Ottawa.

They detail a series of legal adjustments and secure adequate staffing and resources to enforce a stricter law.

...

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[-] grey_maniac@lemmy.ca 5 points 7 hours ago

If we're blocking forced labour products, does that mean we block imports from the US that have any production stages in their prison industrial complex? Or that go through any organization where the employees have to supplement their income with government sources just to reach the poverty line?

this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2026
15 points (85.7% liked)

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