YOUTH2ACT
Rescue a child today
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I’ll be your guide through this education module. Let’s investigate together.
What Do We Mean by Child Slavery and Forced Labour?
The phone in your hand.
The food in your kitchen.
The clothes in your closet.
All of them travelled through global supply chains. Somewhere along the way, someone may have worked without a real choice.
About 137.6 million children are in child labour, and 27.6 million people are in forced labour worldwide. These are not rare cases. They are part of how global production can work.
Exploitation usually happens far from what we see, earlier in the supply chain, where poverty, weak protections, and hidden responsibility make workers more vulnerable.
Where It Happens
Risk is not only in factories. It often happens on farms, fishing boats, mines, small workshops, and during worker recruitment.
By the time materials reach a brand, the harm may be several steps earlier in the supply chain, far from what we see.
Why It Is Hard to See
Supply chains have many layers. A company buys from one supplier, who buys from another, who may rely on recruiters or small producers.
Responsibility becomes harder to track. Many workers are afraid to speak up because of retaliation or deportation, so the real numbers are likely higher.
How Exploitation Enters a Supply Chain
A supply chain turns raw materials into the products we buy. For example, a smartphone sold in Canada may include minerals mined under pressure or without real choice. As materials move through traders and manufacturers, the connection becomes harder to see.
Forced labour and child labour often show up earlier in the supply chain, not at the final brand. Risk usually exists deeper in subcontracting, recruitment systems, and informal work, before products reach stores.
The Chain Reaction
Raw materials → traders → processors → manufacturers → brands → logistics → retail
At each step, companies try to reduce cost and meet deadlines. Labour becomes the adjustment mechanism.
Why Supply Chain Visibility Is Difficult
Modern supply chains have many layers. A retailer can be several steps removed from where the highest risks happen, which makes problems harder to see.
The highest risks often appear in small workshops, seasonal farms, remote mines, and migrant labour systems, where protections are weaker and debts can grow.
Companies can lose track when sourcing passes through many producers, stays confidential, changes quickly, or is subcontracted without notice. Some workplaces cannot be inspected, and many workers fear retaliation, so the real numbers are likely higher.
Today, not seeing is no longer an excuse if companies did not try to look. Better visibility helps journalists trace materials, border officials stop risky goods, investors assess responsibility, and citizens like you ask informed questions.
What Has Canada Done So Far?
Canada has created laws that connect global supply chains to accountability at home.
The Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act requires some companies to publish yearly reports explaining where risks exist and what they are doing about them. These reports are public. Canada can also stop goods at the border if they are linked to forced or child labour.
Transparency increases pressure, but it does not fix problems by itself. Change usually happens when companies face real consequences, like shipment delays, public criticism, legal risk, or questions from governments and citizens.
Citizens are part of supply chains as consumers, voters, students, workers, and voices in the media. Supply chains exist to serve society. When people change their expectations, supply chains adjust.
One message can feel small, but many signals together can move institutions.
Citizen attention can encourage journalism, push companies to respond, motivate politicians to act, support regulators, and influence investors. Exploitation continues when it stays profitable and low risk. Public attention increases scrutiny and raises that risk.
You may not be able to audit a factory, but you can ask elected officials questions, support investigations, join campaigns, and demand transparency.
Improvements in supply chains have happened before. Recruitment systems have been reformed, hazardous child labour has declined in some regions, and import restrictions have changed sourcing decisions. These changes followed sustained pressure from people who refused to accept exploitation as inevitable.
Your Role in the System
