By Bird Bouchard
Protestors hit the streets to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the deadliest disaster in the global garment industry.
On April 24, approximately 20 people gathered at the corners of King Ouest and Belvedere St. to commemorate the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factories in Bangladesh. The incident killed more than 1,130 textile workers and injured more than 2,500 others, the majority of them women.
The demonstration was held to denounce the impunity of international textile companies and to support the adoption of a law by Canada to make transnational companies accountable in the event of violation of human rights
“It is time to ask Canada and the Canadian companies to do their part to prevent another catastrophe,” said Lucie Levasseur, of the Lennoxville and District Women’s Centre.
Levasseur said she also encourages citizens to sign a petition to make a real change. The petition, which can be found on the LDWC Facebook page, calls upon the House of Commons to adopt human rights and environmental due diligence legislation that would require companies to prevent adverse human rights impacts and environmental damage throughout their global operations and supply chains.