| | | | This is your Marketplace Watchdog for Friday, January 15, 2021. Here are some of the stories we're following. | | |  | Hidden camera reveals unsafe conditions in Malaysian PPE factory supplying Canadian hospitals | A Marketplace investigation into the global PPE trade reveals that some of the life-saving equipment Canadian health-care workers are using appears to be made in sweatshop-like conditions — raising doubts about Canada's commitment to international human rights and its ability to prevent unethically sourced goods from entering the country. "We can say without doubt that the [glove] industry remains a hotbed of systemic forced labour and modern slavery," says Andy Hall, an international migrant worker rights specialist based in Southeast Asia. Read more | | | | | | | | | |  | | Daughter moves into retirement home to care for 98-year-old mother with COVID-19 | | When her 98-year-old mother was diagnosed with COVID-19, Mary Sardelis moved into her retirement home. She worried that the staff would be overwhelmed and believed moving in to care for her mom 24/7 would give her the best chance for survival.
Her days were spent cleaning surfaces and trying to convince her mother to take a bite of food or a sip of water. At night, she slept on a mattress on the floor when she wasn't helping her mom through bouts of delirium and coughing fits.
Now, she's thinking about all the Canadians who didn't have the opportunity to fight for their loved ones' survival. Watch | | | | | | |  | Federal government moves to seal off Canadian companies from human rights violations in China | The federal government announced a suite of new regulations this week meant to ensure that Canadian companies are not complicit in human rights abuses or the use of forced labour in China's Xinjiang province.
The measures include new requirements for firms that do business in the region and a pledge to ban the export of products from Canada to China if there is a chance they could be used by Chinese authorities for surveillance, repression, arbitrary detention or forced labour. Read more | | | | | | | | | | | |  | | | PPE wasn’t really a common acronym pre-pandemic. Now it’s something we say all the time and a huge part of our daily lives.
It plays an essential role in keeping us safe from the virus, but our latest Marketplace investigation shows many workers overseas who make it may not be safe themselves.
Some of these products, particularly disposable gloves, are produced in Malaysian factories with dangerous conditions.
We show videos taken from a whistleblower to experts. They say there are strong indicators of forced labour. And millions of these unethically sourced gloves could be ending up in our healthcare system.
We track down the importers and suppliers in our country and share our findings with them. We also uncover that the Canadian government has not been doing enough to stop the importation of PPE from manufacturers suspected of forced labour and human rights abuses.
It’s an eye-opening episode and we hope you’ll tune in.
-Asha Tomlinson and the Marketplace team | | | | | Marketplace needs your help | | |  | | | | We want to know what you think of tinted windows. Love them? Hate them? Do you have a story to share? If so, we want to hear from you. Email us at marketplace@cbc.ca | | | | |  | | | | If you're struggling with your mental health during the pandemic, we want to hear from you. Are you having trouble finding the help you need online? Send us an email at marketplace@cbc.ca | | | | |  | Catch up on past episodes of Marketplace anytime on CBC Gem. | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
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