Canada's industry minister says the federal government will 'always follow' findings from the United Nations when it comes to the issue of forced labour in China, as she declined to say directly whether she believed it was taking place herself.
Mélanie Joly testified Monday before a parliamentary committee about Prime Minister Mark Carney's policies toward electric vehicles. Conservative MPs used the hearing to press the minister on the deal Canada struck with China earlier this year, which allows a portion of Chinese-made electric vehicles to enter the market in exchange for Beijing reducing tariffs on products like canola seed.
While representatives from Canada's auto sector have raised concerns about the competitive impacts of allowing heavily-subsidized Chinese-made electric vehicles into the country, others have pointed to reports from human rights groups about forced labour being used to manufacture these vehicles.
Asked directly on Monday whether she believed there was forced labour in China, Joly told MPs 'that's a question that you should ask the minister of foreign affairs.' She added that the federal government was working with the United Nations, pointing to findings from its human rights commissioner that raised such concerns in a report.
Joly also noted that the vehicles Canada was considering were produced in China by companies such as Tesla, General Motors, and Ford.
Conservative MP Ted Falk asked a second time whether she believed forced labour was a practice taking place in China. The minister replied: 'I've already stated my point of view on that. My point of view is we will always follow what the UN is saying, and the UN was unequivocal.'
After underlining that she was no longer foreign affairs minister — a role she held until after last year's federal election — Joly said Canada stands against all forms of forced labour and that it has existing laws that do not tolerate such exploitation.
'You say you agree with the UN position and the UN position is that there is forced labour happening, especially among the Uyghur people in China. Are you saying that you would agree with that statement?' Falk asked.
'Listen,' Joly said. 'I agree with everything I've said in the past tense, so you know, now, I'm before you as minister of industry and as minister of industry my job is to protect autoworkers here,' adding that her role was 'internally-focused.'
Back in March, Liberal MP Michael Ma apologized for questioning a retired former bureaucrat who appeared before the committee raising concerns about China's forced labour practices in a way that cast doubt on those claims. Margaret McCuaig-Johnston had cited a 2024 report by Human Rights Watch that 'dozens of parts in each Chinese EV are made with aluminium from Uyghur forced labour,' which Ma at the time responded to by questioning whether she had witnessed such activities herself.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has only said he has seen evidence of forced labour being used around the world, when asked specifically about whether he believed it was happening in China.
