Abject failure: Canada’s would-be human rights watchdog leaves Bangladeshi garment workers languishing in poverty

In many Bangladeshi garment factories, the women and men who make clothes for export around the globe endure gruelling schedules – six days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day. But no matter how long and hard they work, their wages are so low, these workers cannot escape poverty. 

The appalling working and living standards faced by Bangladeshi garment workers compelled the United Steelworkers union (USW) and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) to file a joint complaint to the Office of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) against retailer Mark’s and its parent company Canadian Tire. 

The joint USW-CLC complaint was one of the first of its kind filed with the CORE, created by the federal government to investigate complaints of human rights abuses involving Canadian companies working in other countries in the garment, mining and oil sectors.

The joint USW-CLC complaint alleged that Mark’s acted in contravention of international human rights principles by paying workers in its supplier factories less than a living wage. Our complaint was rooted in our mutual, longstanding commitment to improving living and working conditions for Bangladeshi garment workers.

For over a decade, the USW and CLC have worked with Canadian trade unions and civil society allies to bring forward the voices and concerns of exploited workers to Canadian authorities, companies and consumers. In this context, there were high hopes that the Office of the CORE would investigate the allegations of human rights abuses in Mark’s Bangladesh supply chain.

The CORE initially agreed that it would investigate the claims made in our complaint in March of 2024. However, a drastic shift occurred a few months later, following the end of the mandate of the first appointed Ombudsperson, Sheri Meyerhoffer. On Dec. 23, 2024, the CORE published its final report, closing our complaint without investigating the issues we raised, and without recommending any follow-up actions to be taken by Mark’s.

In our view, the CORE’s report reflects an approach that undermines this would-be watchdog’s mandate to such a degree, it is difficult to conceive of any human rights abuse it would deem to have jurisdiction to investigate. As a result, the USW and the CLC are currently seeking a judicial review of the decision. 

The CORE final report, including our full comments on those conclusions, can be found here. 

It is worth highlighting that the Office of the CORE was created as a result of more than a decade of civil society advocacy for greater corporate accountability to address mounting evidence of human rights and environmental abuses caused by Canadian companies in their operations abroad.

However, the government failed to empower the Office with the independence and essential powers needed to effectively investigate allegations of abuse by Canadian corporations and to demand accountability. Therefore, even had the CORE proceeded with an investigation into the complaint against Mark’s, next steps would have been unclear given its lack of power to compel documents and testimony from witnesses. 

The drawn-out, resource-heavy process that characterized our complaint further strengthens the position of many Canadian civil society groups that the Office of the CORE desperately needs genuine independence and legal powers to fulfill its mission. Ongoing failure to act in this regard will further expose the limited intentions of the government to ensure real corporate accountability for Canadian companies operating abroad.

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