An investigation has been launched in Canada into fashion company Ralph Lauren Canada over allegations of forced Uighur labor, the office of the Canadian Corporate Accountability Ombudsman announced on Tuesday (August 15th).

A complaint submitted in June 2022 by a coalition of 28 Canadian organizations states that Ralph Lauren Canada “has supply relationships with companies that use or profit from forced Uighur labor.”

The Initial Assessment Report, available online on the Canadian government’s website, explains that the plaintiffs had asked the company to “sever relations” with three Chinese companies suspected of using forced Uighur labor.

“I have decided that the complaint (…) warrants an investigation,” mediator Sheri Meyerhoffer said in a statement, noting that each complaint is “thoroughly and effectively” assessed.

In response, Ralph Lauren, the American parent company, recalled that it was she who supervised “the overseas activities” of its Canadian subsidiary, adding that the ombudsman’s office “had no jurisdiction over the matter”, indicates the report.

Tangible evidence

On Tuesday, the Ottawa-based Uighur Rights Project welcomed the launch of the formal investigation.

“There is tangible evidence that the fashion company is linked to many Chinese companies that use Uighur forced labor in their supply chains,” the group said in a statement.

For several years, the Chinese authorities have been accused by Western countries of having massively locked up Uighurs and members of other predominantly Muslim minorities in re-education camps, after bloody attacks in the Xinjiang region.

In February 2021, the Canadian Parliament passed a non-binding motion equating China’s treatment of its Uyghur minority with “genocide”, angering Beijing. The Office of the Canadian Ombudsman will also investigate the mining company GobiMin, which “disputes these allegations”. It clarifies that the company “does not own any property and has no employees in China.”

A similar process was launched last month on the practices of the Canadian subsidiary of the giant Nike as well as the mining company Dynasty Gold.