World Vision Canada recently released a report that uncovers the great risk of child and forced labour in Canadian households and shows the nation’s imports of products made by child labour totals $34 billion.  

World Vision released the findings of the report titled “Canada’s Child and Forced Labour Problem,” showing a 31 per cent increase over the past five years in Canadian imports of what are called “risky products,” World Vision said in an announcement.

“There are at least 1,200 Canadian companies importing up to $34 billion in goods that may have been made by child or forced labourers overseas,” World Vision Canada’s president Michael Messenger said in a statement.  

Other findings from the World Vision report show that 84 per cent of Canadians feel frustrated that it is difficult to determine where, how and by who the products they buy are made. The report also showed that 91 per cent of Canadians feel the government should require companies to publicly report who makes their products and what their efforts are to reduce child labour in their supply chains.

“While we put pressure on other governments to eliminate child labour from their own countries, we put little pressure on the Canadian companies that source from these places to try to ensure kids aren’t part of their supply chains,” Messenger said.