Modern slavery and supply chain statement

1. Purpose and scope

This statement sets out the steps Corpshore Canada, the Canadian operation of Corpshore Solutions Corporation, takes to prevent and reduce the risk of forced labour and child labour in its operations and supply chains. It reflects the aims of Canada's Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act, and it supports our code of ethics. Our head office is at The Exchange Tower, 130 King Street West, Suite 1900, Toronto, Ontario M5X 2A2, Canada. This statement covers our own activities and the activities of the suppliers and other parties in our supply chains, and it describes both what we do today and where we intend to strengthen our approach. It is written to be read alongside our code of ethics and our whistleblowing policy, which give the routes to raise a concern.

2. Our commitment

We do not tolerate forced labour, child labour, human trafficking or any form of modern slavery in our own operations or in the operations of those we do business with. We are committed to acting ethically and with integrity, to respecting the human rights of the people who work in our operations and supply chains, and to improving our practices over time. This commitment is set by our leadership and reflected in our code of ethics, our whistleblowing policy and the way we recruit our people and select our suppliers. We treat respect for human rights as a condition of doing business with us, not an optional extra.

3. Our business and supply chains

We provide business process outsourcing, information technology outsourcing and artificial-intelligence delivery services, run from Canadian operations and supported by a global delivery network. Our supply chain is largely made up of professional services and technology, including software and cloud providers such as the hosting and business-application providers named in our privacy policy, together with the goods and services needed to run offices and equip our people. The nature of our activity means our direct exposure to the highest-risk sectors for forced and child labour is limited, but we recognise that risk can exist in the deeper tiers of any supply chain, including in the manufacturing of the computing hardware and devices our people use, and in some categories of facilities and support services.

3a. The risk of forced labour and child labour

Forced labour is work or service exacted from a person under threat and not offered voluntarily, and child labour is work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally harmful to children or that interferes with their schooling, including work that is unlawful for a person of their age. We understand these risks are typically higher in lower tiers of a supply chain, in certain geographies and sectors, and where workers are recruited through intermediaries or are in a vulnerable position. We focus our attention where the risk is most likely to arise rather than treating every supplier the same.

4. How we assess and address risk

We take a risk-based approach proportionate to our size and activity. Our measures include:

• Policies. This statement, our code of ethics and our whistleblowing policy set out the standards we expect of ourselves and of those we work with.
• Our people. We recruit in accordance with employment-standards, human-rights and occupational-health-and-safety law across the provinces in which we operate, we pay lawful wages, and we do not use forced or child labour.
• Our suppliers. We expect our suppliers to comply with applicable labour and human-rights law and to prohibit forced and child labour in their own operations and supply chains. Where a supplier presents a higher risk, we seek assurances and we prefer suppliers who can demonstrate responsible practice.
• Due diligence and remediation. We consider human-rights risk when we select and review significant suppliers, and where we identify a concern we address it, which may include working with a supplier to correct it or, where necessary, ending the relationship.

5. Raising a concern

Anyone who has a concern about forced labour, child labour or other human-rights abuse in our operations or supply chains can raise it through our whistleblowing policy, including by email to privacy@corpshore.ca. We do not tolerate retaliation against anyone who raises such a concern in good faith.

5a. Remediation and support for affected people

If we were to find that forced labour or child labour had occurred in our operations or supply chains, our priority would be the affected people. We would act to stop the harm, work with the supplier on a corrective plan with clear timelines, and, where appropriate, seek to support the remediation of the harm to the people affected rather than simply ending the relationship, since an abrupt exit can leave workers worse off. Where a supplier is unwilling or unable to correct the problem, we would end the relationship. We are not aware of any forced labour or child labour in our operations or supply chains, and we have not had to take remediation measures or measures to remediate lost income to affected families in the period covered by this statement.

6. Training and awareness

We raise awareness of forced-labour and child-labour risk among the people responsible for recruitment and for engaging suppliers, so that they can recognise warning signs and know how to respond and escalate. We aim to build this awareness into how those people work, so that human-rights risk is considered as a normal part of hiring and of selecting and managing suppliers rather than as a separate exercise.

6a. What we ask of our suppliers

We expect the organisations we buy from to share our standards. In practice this means complying with applicable labour, employment and human-rights law; prohibiting forced labour, bonded labour, child labour and human trafficking in their own operations; not charging workers recruitment fees that can lead to debt bondage; respecting freedom of association and lawful working hours and wages; and passing comparable expectations down their own supply chains. Where a significant supplier presents a higher risk, we may ask for further information or assurances, and we prefer to work with suppliers who can demonstrate responsible practice and who engage openly if a problem is found.

7. Assessing effectiveness

We review the effectiveness of our approach over time, taking account of any concerns raised, changes in our supply chain, and developments in the law and in good practice. Because our programme is developing, we focus first on the areas of greatest risk and on building human-rights considerations into recruitment and supplier management, and we intend to strengthen our due diligence, including any use of indicators to gauge effectiveness, as our operations grow. We are transparent that this is an evolving effort rather than a finished one.

8. Governance and approval

This statement is made on behalf of Corpshore Canada as the Canadian operation of Corpshore Solutions Corporation, and it is reviewed and updated as our operations and the law evolve. Our leadership is responsible for the commitments in it and for the resources needed to act on them. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last revised. Questions about this statement, or concerns about forced labour or child labour in our operations or supply chains, can be sent to privacy@corpshore.ca, and can also be raised through our whistleblowing policy, which protects those who report in good faith.