Report on Forced and Child Labour in our Supply Chains

Weston Wood Solutions Inc.
Business Registration: 843884743RP0002
300 Orenda Road, Brampton Ontario L6T 1G2

About Us:

Weston Wood Solutions Inc. (“Weston”) is a Canadian based importer, manufacturer and distributor of Finger joint wood, MDF, LVL and PVC millwork products. Weston manages all aspects of the supply chain, while providing superior customer service.

Weston has been servicing the market since 1985, operates a distribution centre in Brampton, and utilizes multiple third-party warehousing services across North America.

We commit to address forced labor, human trafficking, slavery and child labour, or services and other similar conduct (collectively, “modern slavery”) in our business and supply chains. This report (our first filing) outlines our FY 2023 activities and related planned activities as per the requirements set out in Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act (Bill S-211).

Our Structure, Activities and Supply Chain:

Our headquarters are based in Brampton, Ontario in Canada, and we have a manufacturing site in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. We have 94 full time employees in Canada.

The Company leverages long-standing relationships with manufacturers on 4 continents to work with customers as a full-service supplier. We deploy rigorous processes to ensure compliance, including site visits and facility audits.

Policies And Due Diligence Processes

Weston has a Policy Statement and Commitment to Compliance Bill 211 Policy Statement And Commitment to Compliance that addresses our prohibition against forced and child labour within our supply chains. We provide suppliers with a Code of Conduct during our onboarding process and obtain information on their policies regarding forced and child labour to ensure they align with Weston’s commitments.

The Company adheres to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, R.S.O. 1990, Chapter O.1. abides by the Employment Standards Act, 2000 S.O. 2000, Chapter 41, and does not engage in or endorse discrimination in employment as per the Ontario Human Rights Code R.S.O. 1990, Chapter H.19.

As FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) Certificate Holder SGSCH-COC-000249 and in compliance with the Chain of Custody audits and due diligence process, we abide by all indicators of section 7 of FSC Std. 40-004 V3.1, on the Core Labour Requirements. This includes having a Standard Operating Procedure that outlines the employment processes, sourcing decisions and partnerships made by Weston. This SOP also addresses the ongoing dialogue between our company and current and future suppliers to ensure ethical practices and high degree of awareness about the harms of forced or child labour.

We have an onboarding audit checklist that our suppliers must adhere to, which includes requirements to identify and prohibit the use of forced labour or child labour in their activities and supply chains. We conduct site visits with trained company staff to ensure that our policies and procedures are adhered to.

Risk Of Child or Forced Labour in Our Supply Chain

To mitigate exposure or risk in our supply chain, we regularly visit our suppliers and have onboarding audit checklists. We provide a Code of Conduct during our onboarding process with new suppliers to obtain information on their policies regarding forced and child labour.
We have started the process of identifying risks to the best of our ability and will continue to monitor and identify them. While we work to evaluate our entire supply chain for forced and child labour, we believe that Asia-Pacific supply chains could have greater risk and as a result, we prioritize our activities to these high-risk areas.

Remediation Measures

We have not identified any forced labour or child labour in our activities and supply chains. We will continually monitor our risk and follow due diligence to minimize future risk through our supplier policies, Code of Conduct and supplier audits. These audits include review of local labour laws and conformance to them by our suppliers. On-site audits to date have shown full compliance with Weston’s policies to not use forced or child labour.

Remediation Of Loss of Income

We have not identified any loss of income to vulnerable families resulting from measures taken to eliminate the use of forced labour or child labour in our activities and supply chains.

Training

Our Policy helps raise awareness of this issue with our employees and is posted on our Intranet for reference. There is mandatory training for some of our employees such as those who work directly with our suppliers. We include the Policy as a reference in our new hire onboarding acknowledgement process. Where applicable, relevant resources (articles, statements etc.) on the topic will be shared with our staff through the intranet.

As part of our FSC chain of custody Core Labour requirements, there is mandatory training on this topic, and this was most recently conducted with our employees on October 18, 2023. Below is a summary of content shared with our employees:

We are committed to compliance with the FSC Core Labour Requirements, and all applicable legislation in place in the Province of Ontario including the following:

1. We shall not use child labor; the company adheres to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, R.S.O. 1990, Chapter O.1.
2. We shall avoid all forms of forced and compulsory labor; the company applies the Employment Standards Act, 2000 S.O. 2000, Chapter 41.
3. We shall ensure that there is no discrimination in employment and occupation; the company follows the Ontario Human Rights Code R.S.O. 1990, Chapter H.19.

Assessing Effectiveness

We arrange regular review or audit of the organization’s policies and procedures related to forced labour or child labour.

We collaborate closely with our suppliers to measure the effectiveness of their actions to address forced labour or child labour, including tracking relevant performance indicators. We review employee registers at our suppliers to validate compliance by verifying the age of employees and confirming that mandatory social payments have been made on employees’ behalf by the supplier.

Conclusion

In accordance with the requirements of the Act, and in particular section 11 thereof, I attest that I have reviewed the information contained in the report for the entity listed above. Based on my knowledge, and having exercised reasonable diligence, I attest that the information in the report is true, accurate and complete in all material respects for the purposes of the Act, for the reporting year listed above.

Signed by Alan Lechem, CEO of Weston Wood Solutions on May 13, 2024