Correspondence
Email sent to the PR team at Giant Tiger.
The email said that High Liner’s range of fish products are stocked by Giant Tiger. High Liner sources fish, including haddock fillets, pollock fillets and Pacific cod, from the processor Yantai Sanko Fisheries, based in China. Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd. has received persons from the Xinjiang region of China under a state-imposed labor transfer program since 2019 and until at least 2022. The United Nations, human rights organizations and academic experts agree that since 2018, the Chinese government has systematically subjected Xinjiang’s predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities to forced labor across the country via state-sanctioned employment schemes which use coercive methods in worker enrollment. The U.S. has prohibited the importation of goods produced from state-imposed forced labor. The email asked for comment.
Email sent to the PR team at Giant Tiger. The email said that Giant Tiger stocks a range of High Liner Foods products containing white fish. High Liner has imported shipments of cod, pollock, haddock, yellowfin sole, ocean perch and flounder from Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd., a seafood processor based in China. Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd. has received persons from the Xinjiang region of China under a government labor transfer program since 2019 and until at least April 2023. High Liner has also imported shipments of yellowfin sole from Yantai Longwin Foods Co. Ltd. Yantai Longwin is linked to Yantai Sanko through corporate ownership. The investigation also found evidence of Uyghurs working at Yantai Longwin, since August 2020 and until as recently as March 2023. The email asked for confirmation on whether white fish sourced from Yantai Sanko or Yantai Longwin has been used in any of the High Liner branded white fish sold by Giant Tiger since 2019.
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed Giant Tiger: "We previously emailed you on July 14, 2023, and August 22, 2023, regarding our investigation into the use of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry. Since then, our ongoing investigation has uncovered further evidence which we wanted to bring to your attention.
We have investigators on the ground in China who have been engaging with labor brokers directly involved with the transfer of North Korean workers to factories in China. Through this and other investigative means, including collecting online footage from the plants and interviews with workers recently returned to North Korea from China, we’ve found large numbers of North Korean workers at a range of seafood processing plants in Liaoning province, on China’s border with North Korea.
We have information that as recently as December 2023, there were 50-70 workers at Dalian Haiqing Food Co. Ltd. in Liaoning.
According to trade records seen by The Outlaw Ocean Project, Aqua Star was the consignee for multiple shipments of seafood from Dalian Haiqing between 2017 and 2023.
The use of overseas North Korean workers was prohibited by the United Nations Security Council in 2017, with Resolution 2397 setting a deadline of December 2019 for the repatriation of all such workers to North Korea. Under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), passed in 2017, the United States prohibits the import of any goods produced by North Korean nationals unless clear and convincing evidence is provided that indicates the materials were not made with forced labor.
Giant Tiger stocks Aqua Star products (for example, pink salmon fillets).
In light of this, we have some questions for Giant Tiger:
- While we understand that you may not be aware of the above issues, we want to ask if Giant Tiger has any comment to make in response to this email?
- Can you confirm or deny if Giant Tiger has been supplied any products from Dalian Haiqing, via Aqua Star or any other supplier?"