Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault's department complimented China for being a leader in environmental issues on Thursday. .However, they did not talk about China's use of slave labour to make solar panels..Earlier, a member from Guilbeault's caucus pointed out that China used slave labour to export renewable energy products, according to Blacklock’s Reporter..“The Government of Canada will challenge China when it ought to and will cooperate with China when it must,” the department wrote in a statement. .“One of the key objectives of our strategy is to ensure a sustainable and green future for Canadians.”.On Thursday, Guilbeault left the final yearly meeting of the China Council for International Cooperation for Environment and Development..“For more than 30 years, the Council has served as a vehicle to advance policies and practices that prevent pollution, protect biodiversity and combat climate change,” said Guilbeault’s department..Guilbeault is the first environment minister to attend Council meetings since the Canadian Parliament censured China in 2021 for committing genocide against the Uyghur Muslims, a minority group in Xinjiang Province..“We know that 41.7% of polysilicon used to produce solar panels, for all the environmentalists in the House, comes from Xinjiang,” Liberal MP Sameer Zuberi (Pierrefonds-Dollard, QC) told the Commons at the time..U.S. Customs in 2021 intercepted shipments of solar panels from China’s Longi Green Energy Technology Company Limited as slave-made goods. Longi calls itself the world’s largest solar module manufacturer..In 2021, the U.K.'s Sheffield Hallam University mentioned Longi in a research paper about slave labour..“Longi is a customer of many of the polysilicon companies that are engaged in labour transfers in the Uyghur region,” said the Sheffield report In Broad Daylight: Uyghur Forced Labour And Global Solar Supply Chains. Longi contractors were implicated in wrongdoing, wrote researchers..Canadian companies have bought solar panels from Longi. As recently as 2022, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board had $4 million worth of Longi shares..In 2022, the Senate Human Rights committee heard that the renewable energy industry was importing products made by slaves..“Look at issues like modern slavery and the environment not just from a domestic standpoint but also from an international standpoint,” testified Chris Crewther, head of the U.S.-based Global Fund to End Modern Slavery..“If you look at the renewable or clean energy supply chain issues, you have situations such as in the Democratic Republic of Congo where over 35,000 children are in child labour mining cobalt, which is used in lithium-ion batteries in electric cars.”.“Another example on the environmental topic is the balsa wood in Ecuador, which is being illegally logged and is impacting Indigenous populations,” said Crewther. .“That balsa wood is being used for wind turbines.”.“You are helping one country in terms of producing renewable energy while deforesting another nation and impacting indigenous populations linked with forced labour,” said Crewther. .“We need to look at those issues on a holistic global basis.”
