The True North—Strong but Not Free: How Canada’s Modern Slavery Act Fails to Mitigate Forced and Child Labor in Supply Chains

Kiayla (Kiya) Amos-Flom*

In May 2023, Canada passed its highly anticipated Modern Slavery Act.  The law is designed to tackle the increasingly complex problem of illegal forced labor and child labor in international supply chains by requiring Canadian companies to publish reports on the risks of modern slavery in their supply chains and what they are doing to prevent it.  Neither the first of its kind nor the most progressive, the law is preceded by other reporting legislation (i.e., in the United Kingdom and Australia) and more radical due-diligence schemes (i.e., in France, Germany, and recently in the European Union).  Laws creating reporting requirements are, in general, less likely to result in any actual reduction of forced and child labor; the Canadian Act is no exception.  However, certain provisions, including a fine on companies which do not report, suggest new consequences.  This Note seeks to accomplish three things: first, to evaluate the potential effectiveness of the Act to eradicate forced and child labor in supply chains; second, to compare its provisions to its contemporary laws in different jurisdictions; and, third, to identify both a realistic proposal and an ideal proposal to fill the gaps the Modern Slavery Act leaves open.

* Public Affairs Editor, Columbia Journal of Transnational Law; J.D. Columbia Law School, 2025. She is grateful to Professor Mark Barenberg for his insight and invaluable guidance. She would like to thank Jonathan Greenberg, Jonathan Shapiro, Jessica Betancourt, Lara Manbeck and the rest of the editorial staff of the Journal for their tireless and spectacular work, including on this piece. She also extends the greatest gratitude to Laura Amos and Michael Flom, who have supported her dreams (and listened to her rants) from the very beginning.