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2026 Annual Report under the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act

Table of contents

  1. About this report
  2. Submission information
  3. Annual report

1. About this report

The Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act came into force on January 1, 2024. The Act stipulates that any government institution producing, purchasing or distributing goods in Canada or elsewhere must, on or before May 31 of each year, submit a report to the Minister of Public Safety. The report must detail the steps the government institution has taken during its previous financial year to prevent and reduce the risk that forced labour or child labour is used at any step of the production of goods produced, purchased or distributed by the government institution.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) has prepared its third annual report on forced labour in Canadian Supply Chains, for the fiscal year 2025-26 in parallel with the mandatory questionnaire. The report outlines the steps taken by DFATD to prevent and reduce the risk that forced labour or child labour.

In accordance with section 8 of the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act, this report is made publicly accessible, including through publication in a prominent location on DFATD’s website. Further, pursuant to section 22 of the Act, DFATD’s annual reports are included in the electronic registry maintained by the Minister of Public Safety and are publicly accessible via the Public Safety Canada (PSC) website.

More detailed information on the Act and reporting obligations can be found on PSC's page on Forced Labour in Canadian Supply Chains.

2. Submission information 

3. Annual report

3.1 Structure, activities and supply chains

The Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD), as Global Affairs Canada, is a federal department.

Under the leadership of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of International Trade, the Minister responsible for Canada–U.S. trade, Intergovernmental Affairs, Internal Trade and One Canadian Economy, and the Secretary of State (International Development), is responsible for advancing Canada’s international relations, including:

Global Affairs Canada’s mandate is derived from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act.

DFATD’s activities included the following:

DFATD has integrated Public Services and Procurement Canada’s (PSPC) Code of Conduct for Procurement (the Code) in our purchasing activities to prevent and reduce the risk of forced labour or child labour in our procurements. DFATD has integrated PSPC’s updated Standard Instruction for services and goods and General Conditions for services and goods where the Code has been incorporated. The Code applies to all vendors and sub-contractors who respond to bid solicitations and/or provide goods/services to Canada. The Code was updated in May of 2023 to include language specific to Human trafficking, forced labour and child labour. DFATD contracting templates incorporate general conditions for goods which form a part of the contract, anti-forced labour requirements are part of the General Conditions.

Since November 2021, PSPC implemented anti-forced labour clauses in all goods contracts to ensure that it can terminate contracts where there is credible information that the goods have been produced in whole or in part by forced labour or human trafficking. Additionally, since November 20, 2023, all PSPC Standing Offers and Supply Arrangements for goods that have been issued, amended, or refreshed include anti-forced labour clauses. As such, DFATD’s contracts for goods resulting from the use of these tools include clauses relating to forced labour which set out, among other things, human rights and labour rights requirements.

Since November 2021, Shared Services Canada (SSC) has implemented anti-forced labour clauses in all goods contracts to ensure that it can terminate contracts where there is credible information that the goods have been produced in whole or in part by forced labour or human trafficking. Furthermore, as of November 20, 2023, all SSC Standing Offers and Supply Arrangements that have been issued, amended, or refreshed include anti-forced labour clauses as part of the general conditions for goods. As such, DFATD’s contracts for goods resulting from the use of SSC’s tools include PSPC’s clauses relating to forced labour, which outline, among other things, human rights and labour rights requirements

DFATD has used the following list of PSPC and SSC tools:

3.2 Steps taken to prevent and reduce risks of forced labour and child labour

DFATD has integrated Public Services and Procurement Canada’s (PSPC) Standard Contract Clauses into its purchasing activities, including the Code of Conduct for Procurement and contractual clauses addressing forced labour and child labour.

DFATD aligns all its procurement practices with the Treasury Board Directive on the Management of Procurement and incorporates PSPC’s Standard Contract Clauses, including the Code of Conduct for Procurement, into its purchasing activities. To prevent and reduce the risk of forced labour or child labour in its procurements, DFATD uses the following PSPC procurement tools:

PSPC has developed awareness‑raising guidance materials, including risk mitigation strategies for suppliers operating in higher‑risk sectors. These materials are progressively becoming available on Canada.ca. DFATD has published these materials on its internal information management system, directing employees to the relevant PSPC webpages to support awareness‑raising and due diligence activities.

As of April 1, 2023, amendments to the Treasury Board Directive on the Management of Procurement required contracting authorities to incorporate the Code of Conduct for Procurement into their procurements. In compliance with these amendments, Shared Services Canada (SSC) has integrated the Code into its procurements.

To further prevent and reduce the risk of forced labour or child labour, DFATD relies on SSC procurement tools to which the Code applies, including:

As a common service provider, SSC is responsible for ensuring that government departments have access to reliable, secure, and cost-effective IT infrastructure and solutions, including shared services related to networks and network security, data centres and Cloud offerings, digital communications, and IT tools.

As such, all DFATD contracts for goods resulting from the use of PSPC and SSC tools include clauses relating to forced labour, which outline, among other things, human rights and labour rights requirements.

While PSPC and SSC support government institutions in their daily operations by acting as central purchasing agents and common service providers for the Government of Canada, DFATD undertakes activities under its own procurement authority, independently of the aforementioned PSPC and SSC tools. During the previous fiscal year, DFATD purchased goods and services under its own procurement authority.

3.3 Policies and due diligence processes in relation to forced labour and child labour

Effective April 1, 2023, amendments to the Treasury Board Directive on the Management of Procurement required contracting authorities from all departments listed in Schedules I, I.1 and II of the Financial Administration Act (with the exception of the Canada Revenue Agency) and commissions established in accordance with the Inquiries Act and designated as a department for the purposes of the Financial Administration Act to incorporate the Code into their procurements.

The Code requires that vendors, providing goods to the Government of Canada and their sub-contractors, comply with all applicable laws and regulations. In addition, the Code requires vendors and their sub-contractors to comply with Canada’s prohibition on the importation of goods produced, in whole or in part, by forced or compulsory labour. This includes forced or compulsory child labour and applies to all goods, regardless of their country of origin.

Pursuant to the aforementioned amendments, DFATD has continued to integrate the Code into our procurements, with a view to safeguarding federal procurement supply chains from forced labour and child labour. Contracts that DFATD has awarded included the Code through the General Conditions for goods.

The prohibition on the importation of goods produced wholly or in part by forced labour came into force under the Customs Tariff on July 1, 2020. This amendment implemented a commitment in the Labour Chapter of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) and applies to all imports, regardless of origin.

3.4 Identifying parts of your institution’s activities and supply chains that carry a risk of forced labour or child labour being used and the steps taken to assess and manage those risks

In May 2021, a risk analysis of PSPC’s supply chains was completed by Rights Lab, of the University of Nottingham (U.K.), to determine which goods were at the highest risk of exposure to human trafficking, forced labour, and child labour. The analysis, and subsequent report, recommended key strategies for PSPC to leverage public spending power to raise awareness about forced labour in supply chains.

DFATD took note of the recommendations of this risk analysis, and are monitoring related follow-up action, including the development and implementation of a human rights due diligence framework. DFATD has not started the process of identifying parts of our activities and/or supply chains that carry risks of forced labour or child labour being used.

3.5 Measures taken to remediate any forced labour or child labour

To date, DFATD has not been made aware or does not have any information supporting that any forced labour or child labour has occurred in its procurement activities or supply chains.

3.6 Measures taken to remediate the loss of income to the most vulnerable families that results from any measure taken to eliminate the use of forced labour or child labour in the institution’s activities and supply chains

DFATD has not identified any loss of income to vulnerable families resulting from measures taken to eliminate the use of forced labour or child labour in our activities and supply chains.

3.7 Training provided to employees on forced labour and child labour

PSPC has developed an online, self‑paced course for procurement officers titled “Introduction to Ethical Procurement.” The course is available to federal public servants through the Canada School of Public Service-learning platform.

In January 2026, DFATD issued a department‑wide communication to all employees involved in procurement, encouraging them to complete this ethical procurement training. The training introduces core ethical procurement principles, addresses risks associated with forced labour, human trafficking, and child labour in supply chains, and provides an overview of annual reporting obligations under the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act.

In addition, PSPC supply chain–related awareness materials are available through DFATD’s internal information management system for use by the procurement community as well as by business owners, to support awareness and the application of ethical procurement practices.

3.8 Assessing effectiveness in ensuring that forced labour and child labour are not being used in activities and supply chains

DFATD is leveraging guidance and resources provided by PSPC and will continue to leverage both existing resources and new as they are released. In addition, PSPC supply chain related to ethical procurement materials are available through DFATD’s internal information management system for use by the procurement community as well as by business owners, to support awareness and the application of ethical procurement practices.

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