Your laptop, computer and cell phone come at a high price: Canada imports more than US$7.6 billion of these products from countries where there is a risk of slavery being used to produce them.

Fast fashion costs more than you think. The textile and fashion industry grapples with slavery throughout its supply chain. Slavery can appear all along the creation of a garment: harvesting cotton, the spinning mill, or sewing the garment. Fashion is Canada’s second highest value import at risk of slavery, at approximately US$4.7 billion.

Canadians drink more coffee than most people in the world, ranking 3rd worldwide for coffee consumed inside and outside the home. But the difficult truth is that some of that coffee has been produced by people in slavery, including children.

Canada imports over US$390 million worth of fish from countries suspected of having slavery in their fishing industries. Recently, IJM has partnered with the Thai government to eradicate slavery in its fishing industry.

Gold comes from the mining industry, where slave owners have trapped entire families in slavery for generations with no hope of freedom. Canada imports nearly US$1.6 billion worth of gold annually. The work in these mines is so dangerous that the use of children in this type of mining officially falls under some of the worst forms of child labour.