Canada Must Strengthen Bill C-35 to Stop Uyghur Forced Labour
July 21, 2026
Justice For All Canada welcomes the introduction of Bill C-35, the Ban on Importing Goods Made with Forced Labour Act, introduced by the federal government on June 12, 2026. The bill meaningfully responds to years of weak enforcement under Canada’s existing forced labour import ban. Under the proposed legislation, Canada would be allowed to identify high-risk goods produced with forced labour, along with the producers and/or the location of origin. Importantly, importers would be required at the request of a customs officer, to provide further information before those goods are allowed into the country.
Given that state-imposed Uyghur forced labour is among the most egregious systems of coercive employment in the modern era, Canada’s response is critical, although late. According to the U.N. Human Rights Office (OHCHR) labour programs connected to the Chinese government’s policies in East Turkistan (the Uyghur Region) may involve coercion and discrimination on ethnic and religious grounds. The OHCHR also found that the broader program of arbitrary and discriminatory repression may constitute a crime against humanity. In January 2026, U.N. human rights experts warned of a persistent pattern of coerced labour affecting Uyghurs and other Turkic groups. They found that some cases may be severe enough to amount to forcible transfer or enslavement.
Canada’s absence of an effective enforcement regime until now is indefensible. While Canada has prohibited forced labour imports since 2020, the Canada Border Services Agency says it does not track whether detained goods involve labour relating to a specific ethnic group, like the Uyghurs. It has detained only 50 shipments over nearly six years. A recent U.S. government investigation examining Canada’s enforcement of the prohibition found that only two of these shipments were ultimately denied entry. By comparison, U.S. authorities denied entry to 6,386 shipments under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in 2024 alone.
Bill C-35 would give Canada stronger tools, including:
While these measures are encouraging, they remain incomplete. Bill C-35 gives the Minister discretion to establish a list of high-risk goods and sources, without requiring that such a list be created. This makes the bill’s enhanced list-based enforcement measures dependent on future ministerial action. The bill also fails to establish a rebuttable presumption for goods made in the Uyghur Region (i.e. to assume the goods are made with forced labour unless otherwise demonstrated). Goods outside any future list would remain subject to shipment-specific determinations within complex global supply chains where raw materials and components can be difficult to trace. This falls short of the U.S. approach adopted under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
Justice For All Canada calls on Parliament to allow Bill C-35 to proceed, with the following amendments to strengthen the bill before passing it:
The government’s elimination of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) already widened a serious gap in Canada’s corporate accountability framework. As CORE could not compel documents or testimony, its closure removes a critical federal mechanism for examining human rights abuses involving Canadian companies abroad. However, Bill C-35 still cannot fill that gap as long as it does not investigate corporate conduct abroad, establish responsibility or support access to remedies.
Canada still requires an independent body with authority to investigate, compel evidence and publish findings. We urge the government to prevent goods excluded from jurisdictions with stronger forced-labour laws from being redirected to the Canadian market.
Justice For All Canada welcomes the introduction of Bill C-35, the Ban on Importing Goods Made with Forced Labour Act, introduced by the federal government on June 12, 2026. The bill meaningfully responds to years of weak enforcement under Canada’s existing forced labour import ban. Under the proposed legislation, Canada would be allowed to identify high-risk goods produced with forced labour, along with the producers and/or the location of origin. Importantly, importers would be required at the request of a customs officer, to provide further information before those goods are allowed into the country.
Given that state-imposed Uyghur forced labour is among the most egregious systems of coercive employment in the modern era, Canada’s response is critical, although late. According to the U.N. Human Rights Office (OHCHR) labour programs connected to the Chinese government’s policies in East Turkistan (the Uyghur Region) may involve coercion and discrimination on ethnic and religious grounds. The OHCHR also found that the broader program of arbitrary and discriminatory repression may constitute a crime against humanity. In January 2026, U.N. human rights experts warned of a persistent pattern of coerced labour affecting Uyghurs and other Turkic groups. They found that some cases may be severe enough to amount to forcible transfer or enslavement.
Canada’s absence of an effective enforcement regime until now is indefensible. While Canada has prohibited forced labour imports since 2020, the Canada Border Services Agency says it does not track whether detained goods involve labour relating to a specific ethnic group, like the Uyghurs. It has detained only 50 shipments over nearly six years. A recent U.S. government investigation examining Canada’s enforcement of the prohibition found that only two of these shipments were ultimately denied entry. By comparison, U.S. authorities denied entry to 6,386 shipments under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in 2024 alone.
Bill C-35 would give Canada stronger tools, including:
- Prohibiting goods produced wholly or partly through forced labour.
- Permitting border officers to detain suspected shipments for up to 90 days.
- Allowing the Minister of Foreign Affairs to establish a list of high-risk goods, along with producers and/or locations.
- Requiring importers to provide, upon request from a customs officer, supply-chain information before those goods enter Canada.
While these measures are encouraging, they remain incomplete. Bill C-35 gives the Minister discretion to establish a list of high-risk goods and sources, without requiring that such a list be created. This makes the bill’s enhanced list-based enforcement measures dependent on future ministerial action. The bill also fails to establish a rebuttable presumption for goods made in the Uyghur Region (i.e. to assume the goods are made with forced labour unless otherwise demonstrated). Goods outside any future list would remain subject to shipment-specific determinations within complex global supply chains where raw materials and components can be difficult to trace. This falls short of the U.S. approach adopted under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
Justice For All Canada calls on Parliament to allow Bill C-35 to proceed, with the following amendments to strengthen the bill before passing it:
- Create a rebuttable presumption for the Uyghur Region: Goods made wholly or partly in the region should be presumed to involve forced labour unless the importer provides clear and convincing evidence proving otherwise.
- Require the first list to cover known Uyghur forced-labour risks: This should include the Uyghur Region, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, entities linked to state labour-transfer programs and entities already identified under credible forced-labour enforcement regimes.
- Involve civil society formally: Uyghur organizations, workers, survivors and human rights groups should be able to submit evidence and request that goods, regions or entities be listed, with an expected government response within a fixed period, with published reasons for its decisions.
- Require transparency and timely enforcement: Publish information on detained, released and prohibited shipments. The importer-information provisions should take effect at the same time as the rest of Bill C-35 (delaying them would leave the framework without a critical component). CBSA must have the staff, training and systems needed to trace the origins of goods and their components.
The government’s elimination of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) already widened a serious gap in Canada’s corporate accountability framework. As CORE could not compel documents or testimony, its closure removes a critical federal mechanism for examining human rights abuses involving Canadian companies abroad. However, Bill C-35 still cannot fill that gap as long as it does not investigate corporate conduct abroad, establish responsibility or support access to remedies.
Canada still requires an independent body with authority to investigate, compel evidence and publish findings. We urge the government to prevent goods excluded from jurisdictions with stronger forced-labour laws from being redirected to the Canadian market.