Growing Trends in Supply Chain Transparency Requirements

Exploitative or forced labour, termed "modern slavery", in supply chains is an increasingly recognized global problem. Discovery of modern slavery in a company's supply chain can seriously impact its reputation and business and increasingly its share price and access to capital.

Jurisdictions such as the U.K. and California, have already passed legislation to try and tackle the problem by setting standards for supply chain hygiene and transparency for companies doing business within their borders. Many other countries are expected to follow suit and introduce their own legislation. Canadian companies will be increasingly required to have in place corporate governance procedures to ensure a clean supply chain if they want to do business in these countries.

Mark and Frank will discuss the prevalence of modern slavery and how other jurisdictions are combatting it. They will then discuss possible approaches Canada itself might consider in its own “modern slavery” legislation.