In February 2001, the Ethical Trading Action Group (ETAG) - a broad coalition of church, labour, and non-government organizations (NGOs) concerned about “sweatshop” labour practices, or ethical sourcing, in the manufacture of apparel - launched a new initiative to support labour standards in the international apparel industry. The initiative proposes that the Canadian government amend the current Textile Labelling and Advertising Regulations of the Textile Labelling Act to require manufacturers to disclose the addresses of all manufacturing sites involved in the production of a garment on the labels of apparel sold in Canada. Through this proposal, the group is seeking to facilitate the verification of the international labour standards and practices in place at manufacturing sites that supply apparel to the Canadian market.

A study was commissioned by the Competition Bureau, on behalf of the Minister of Industry, to assess this proposal and to identify the implications that the implementation of these amendments would have for consumers, governments, the domestic apparel industry, international trade and on the implementation of various trade agreements. In the study, which was released on May 30, 2003, the Conference Board sought to clarify the policy objectives of the ETAG initiative, set evaluation criteria and test whether these criteria would be met. The Conference Board also sought to propose alternative policy measures that would effectively address ETAG’s policy objectives.

In May 2003, the Competition Bureau asked the Public Policy Forum to lead a national consultation on the outcomes of the Conference Board study and craft strategic recommendations as to how the government should address the issue of fair labour practices in the apparel industry. The consultation process included the following activities:

Discussion Paper

Submissions Phase

The convening paper for the multi-stakeholder roundtable held on November 28, 2003, provided an overview and amalgam of the key issues and ideas that stakeholders identified in their submissions. Every effort was made to capture the key concerns of various stakeholders; however, the purpose of this document was not to relay the individual concerns of every stakeholder, but rather to provide a sense of the areas of commonality and difference, and to provide a useful vehicle to inform the discussion which took place at the roundtable. (The text of the convening paper is appended to this document as Annex VI.)

In general, stakeholders accepted the proposition that the Canadian public is interested in buying apparel that is produced using fair labour practices. There was also general support for the notion that the issues of corporate social responsibility and corporate citizenship are increasingly important to the Canadian public, and that the public has high expectations that industry will take action. Other comments made in the submissions were captured under three broad headings:

Principles - The underlying reasons why actions such as amendments to the Textile Labelling Act are/are not necessary and/or useful. The principles that were identified included:

Objectives and Goals - The ends the proposed amendments are meant to achieve:

Issues and Concerns -Specific thoughts and concerns on the proposed amendments to the Textile Labelling Act: