Report on Forced Labor and Child Labor
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Report on Forced Labor and Child Labor
Report on Forced Labor and Child Labor
1. INTRODUCTION
This report concerns the fiscal year ending December 31, 2023. It is published by
Fenplast Inc. and its concerned subsidiaries, in compliance with the Combating Forced
Labor and Child Labor in Supply Chains Act (the “Act”) in force in Canada.
References in this report to "Company," "we," "our," and similar terms refer to Fenplast
Inc. ("Fenplast") or its subsidiary 9446-1753 Quebec Inc. (operating under the name
Altek Doors and Windows) ("Altek"), which is included within the scope of this report.
This report presents the measures taken to prevent and mitigate the risk of using forced
labor or child labor at any stage of the production of goods in Canada by the Company
or their importation into Canada by the Company.
2. PREVENTION AND MITIGATION OF FORCED LABOR AND CHILD LABOR RISKS
The Company recognizes the fundamental importance of human dignity and equality.
We believe that economic growth and social progress go hand in hand and, therefore,
do everything possible to provide a safe working environment. We are committed to
protecting human rights within our operations and business relationships.
During the previous fiscal year, we continued to conduct our business in accordance
with our policies promoting employee well-being and due diligence in our contractual
relationships with business partners. Additionally, we implemented the following
measures to combat forced labor and child labor:
This report describes these measures and some additional initiatives we foresee in combating forced labor and child labor, which are constantly evolving.
3. OUR BUSINESS ACTIVITIES AND SUPPLY CHAINS
3.1. Our Activities
The Company is a Quebec-owned enterprise, in business since 1989, located on the
South Shore of Montreal. The Company specializes in manufacturing doors and
windows and distributes its products to retailers. The vast majority of sales are made in
Quebec, with the remainder in Ontario.
Our head office is in Candiac, and we operate six manufacturing facilities in Quebec: in
Candiac, Delson, Terrebonne, Drummondville, Saint-Apollinaire, and Saint-Joseph-deBeauce.
We care about the well-being and development of the people in our community, as
evidenced by our continued involvement in charitable works and social causes related
to children's well-being, physical activity, and health. This sustained community
engagement demonstrates our roots in the community and our desire to conduct our
business in a socially responsible manner.
Fenplast and Altek, along with their affiliated companies, employ approximately 1,100
employees. We sometimes use placement agencies to recruit temporary staff
composed of agency employees, permanent employees referred by agencies, and
foreign workers, who later become full-time employees of the Company. When we
employ these workers, checks are conducted to ensure that all hiring respects workers'
rights.
We select placement agencies based on several criteria, such as reputation,
compliance with applicable laws and regulations, internal processes and rules aligned
with our values (including identity and age verification, criminal background checks,
employment references, and credit history), and personalized services offered to ensure
proper worker integration.
In this regard, the integration of these workers is supported by our human resources
team, and these workers benefit from furnished housing near the workplace and
vehicles provided by the Company. Additionally, when recruiting a foreign worker, we
commit to providing private medical insurance until the worker is eligible for provincial
health insurance, and we ensure that there is at least one resource person at each site
who can communicate in the workers' native language, ensuring continuous fluent
communication with them.
3.2. Our Supply Chain
Our supply chain is characterized by the presence of numerous direct suppliers with
whom we maintain long-term business relationships. Our senior management has had
the opportunity to visit several of their facilities, demonstrating our in-depth knowledge
of these business partners.
The Company's production activities require the use of the following main inputs: glass,
thermos, stained glass, aluminum, PVC resin, secondary manufacturing products, and
finished products. Secondary manufacturing products include hardware, wood, spacers,
chemicals, and paint.
Generally, we procure most of our products from suppliers located in the United States
and Canada (80%). Among the products purchased in North America are glass sheets,
thermos, PVC resin, wood, spacers, and extrusion equipment. The same goes for
hardware products, purchased from American suppliers, and paint, which we procure
locally.
However, we recognize that our Canadian and American suppliers have their own
supply chains, which may include suppliers located in foreign countries, particularly in
various Asian countries, including China.
Moreover, in a small proportion, some of our direct suppliers are located overseas,
notably in the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, representing about 15% of our total
purchases, while the rest of our overseas products are purchased from suppliers
located in China (5%). For example, the aluminum we use comes from the United Arab
Emirates and Turkey, and the stained glass, representing minimal imports, is acquired
in Asia or from local suppliers who themselves source from Asia.
In addition to production inputs, the Company procures machines and equipment for
door and window manufacturing, notably from Germany, Italy, and Austria.
We believe that managing the social risks inherent in supply chains is our responsibility,
as well as that of our suppliers, because respecting human rights is a collective
responsibility, engaging all businesses, regardless of where they conduct their activities.
POLICIES AND DUE DILIGENCE PROCESSES
We recognize our responsibilities regarding human rights, consistent with our mandate,
vision, and values, as reflected in our policies and practices. Additionally, we continue to
integrate responsible business conduct into our policies and management systems, as it
is an important issue that we care about.
3.3. Our Policies
Code of Conduct
The Company's Code of Conduct outlines certain rules and guidelines that we and our
employees commit to respecting with regard to suppliers, customers, consultants,
employees, and other business partners. The Code of Conduct requires the Company
and its employees to exercise due diligence in concluding business transactions to
avoid entering into agreements with individuals or companies involved in malpractices
that could harm the Company's reputation. Although not expressly mentioned in the code, this could include avoiding contracting with companies that use forced labor or
child labor in their operations.
Occupational Health and Safety
The Company places great importance on the health and safety of its employees. All
new factory employees must consult local regulations to ensure they are aware of the
standards required by the Company before starting their work within the company. We
also place great importance on supervising the application of health and safety rules at
work to prevent any situation that could harm the well-being of our employees.
Policy on Workplace Violence, Harassment, and Discrimination
The Company has a Policy to counter workplace violence, harassment, and
discrimination to offer and maintain a workplace where everyone is respected and
treated with dignity. This policy aims to inform all employees about what constitutes
workplace violence, harassment, and discrimination and that such behaviors will not be
tolerated by the Company. It also encourages employees who are victims of such
behaviors to seek immediate help through the reporting mechanism provided in this
policy.
Whistleblower Policy
Our Whistleblower Policy emphasizes the importance of offering protection against
retaliation in the case of good faith reporting and allows anonymous reporting. Our
Company fully recognizes the importance of encouraging our employees to express
their concerns in case of wrongful acts or imminent situations, always aiming to provide
a work environment that fosters professional development, respect, and the well-being
of our employees.
3.4. Due Diligence Processes
As part of our initiatives to identify and mitigate risks related to forced labor and child
labor, we have implemented a supplier evaluation system. This process covers a wide
range of analysis criteria and includes the sourcing activities of our direct suppliers. We
are currently at the preliminary stage of our process, but we intend to evaluate at least
80% of our direct suppliers by the end of 2024 and then conduct these evaluations
periodically and provide qualitative feedback to the evaluated suppliers.
The Company has also visited some direct suppliers located in regions considered to
have a higher risk of forced labor or child labor. In this regard, we conducted visits to our
direct suppliers located in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to verify product quality.
During these visits, our inspectors did not identify any issues related to forced labor or
child labor. In the future, we intend to include a human rights and working conditions
component in our foreign inspection procedures, particularly when operations take place
in a country where there is an increased risk of forced labor or child labor.
4. RISK ASSESSMENT AND CORRECTIVE MEASURES
As part of our risk assessment, we have begun identifying activities and supply chains
that present risks of forced labor and child labor.
Although our risk analysis is at an initial stage, we recognize that some of our direct
suppliers are located in regions that may present a higher risk of forced labor and child
labor, particularly concerning goods manufactured in Turkey and the United Arab
Emirates. We are sensitive to this reality and have therefore undertaken in-person visits
to the production facilities of our direct suppliers located in these regions.
Additionally, we recognize the complexity of obtaining complete visibility over
manufacturing activities that occur upstream in our supply chain. Nevertheless, we
remain vigilant and committed to taking reasonable measures to avoid any association
with business partners who use, directly or indirectly, forced labor or child labor.
The Company is committed to adhering to the highest possible standards of ethics,
morality, and business conduct. Our Code of Conduct clearly outlines our employees'
responsibility to exercise due diligence in concluding commercial agreements, and we
have every intention of continuing to evaluate the activities of our suppliers, particularly
in terms of sourcing.
To date, we have not identified any cases of forced labor or child labor within our
operations and supply chain that would require remediation measures, nor have we
identified any cases of income loss for vulnerable families that could result from such
measures. We encourage our employees to report any wrongful acts, including human
rights violations.
5. TRAINING
Understanding and complying with the Code of Conduct are employment requirements
within the Company. Our employee integration programs include training on our Code of
Conduct, our values, and a number of our human resources and safety policies.
Although the Company currently does not offer specific training to employees on the
issues of forced labor and child labor, we remain attentive and sensitive to these issues.
6. EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF OUR APPROACH
Ensuring that forced labor and child labor practices do not occur in our company and supply chain is and will always be subject to continuous improvement. Although we have not yet taken specific measures to evaluate the effectiveness of our actions, we are currently setting certain milestones that could allow us to conduct this analysis in the near future. Indeed, we intend to enhance the evaluation of our direct suppliers during 2024 by questioning them about the working conditions offered to their employees and visiting additional facilities. We will subsequently document and monitor the evolution of human resources practices of these suppliers and thus evaluate the effectiveness of our actions.
7. APPROVAL AND CERTIFICATION
This report was approved by the board of directors of Fenplast Inc. on May 30, 2024, in
accordance with subparagraph 11(4)(b)(ii) of the Act and constitutes the report of our
group for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2023.
In accordance with the requirements of the Act, and in particular its section 11, I certify
that I have reviewed the information contained in the report for the entities listed in the
first section of this report. To the best of my knowledge, and after exercising reasonable
diligence, I confirm that the information contained in the report is true, accurate, and
complete in all material respects for the purposes of the application of the Act for the
aforementioned reporting year.
I have the authority to bind Fenplast Inc.
(s)Jean Marchand
Full Name : Jean Marchand
Title : Prsident
Date : May 30th, 2024
Fenplast Advantages
Fenplast offers a limited lifetime warranty on PVC studs and profiles, the lack of tightness of the seal of sealed units and the hardware built into its doors and windows. This warranty is fully transferable, provided that the owner of the building can provide the original contract or invoice.
Fenplast recommanded by Protégez-vous!
Protégez-vous, the authority on product testing and recommendations in Quebec, recommends Fenplast for the quality of its products and its commitment to customer satisfaction.
Always on the cutting edge of energy-saving trends, most Fenplast windows and doors are ENERGY STAR® qualified.
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