Ottawa, November 20, 2025 – On November 20, 2025, the Canada Tibet Committee (CTC) appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade as part of its study on Canadian supply chains, forced labour, and related imports. CTC’s testimony was delivered by Sherap Therchin, Executive Director, alongside other witnesses, including Stuart Trew (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives), Elizabeth Kwan (Canadian Labour Congress), and Aidan Gilchrist-Blackwood (Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability).
Sherap emphasized the call to ensure that any imports entering the Canadian market, especially products tied to the green transition, are free from forced labour and environmentally destructive extraction linked to coercive systems.
CTC’s testimony focused on a major but often overlooked dimension of global supply chains: Tibet’s central role in China’s critical minerals strategy, particularly lithium. Therchin highlighted research, including findings referenced in the Turquoise Roof Bulletin, indicating that a significant share of China’s domestic lithium reserves are located on the Tibetan Plateau, including historically Tibetan regions of Kham and Amdo. Chinese state geological surveys have described this area as a “vast ore belt,” and as home to what they call Asia’s largest lithium deposit. These minerals, he noted, feed the supply chains of major EV and battery manufacturers such as BYD and CATL.
As Canada considers importing low-cost Chinese EVs, CTC urged policymakers to recognize that Tibet, though geographically remote, is economically central to China’s green-technology ambitions. Because lithium is essential to EV batteries, Therchin warned that there is a credible risk that Chinese-manufactured EVs and battery products imported into Canada could incorporate minerals sourced from Tibetan regions under conditions that may violate international labour and human rights norms.
Therchin described documented concerns, including contaminated rivers, livestock and fish deaths downstream of mining operations, and community protests met with force, detention, or disappearance, alongside heavy militarization that limits public oversight.
The testimony included recommendations for the Committee to consider in its final report. These included requiring full supply-chain transparency for Chinese EVs and batteries entering Canada; adopting mandatory human-rights due diligence legislation requiring companies to identify, mitigate, and remedy forced-labour risks; applying a presumption of non-compliance for EVs with untraceable mineral supply chains; coordinating with G7 partners to treat high-risk minerals similarly to conflict minerals under shared frameworks; and supporting independent monitoring of Tibet, including satellite-based monitoring, open-source analysis, and civil-society research to bridge the transparency gap created by Chinese state restrictions.
