Below are the responses sent to The Current from the publicly traded Canadian companies with connections to Rana Plaza

Reitmans - Did not reply to our request for an interview or written statement

Canadian Tire Corporation currently partners with 47 factories in Bangladesh – however no products for any CTC brands were manufactured at the Rana factory. We are proud to be a founding member of the Alliance for Worker Safety, an organization that implements safety initiatives in factories and compensates workers displaced by factory remediation – including payments to more than 4,300 workers to-date. We will continue to partner with factories and the Alliance as we ethically and responsibly source products for our customers.

Joscelyn Dosanjh
Manager, Corporate Communications
Canadian Tire Corporation, Ltd.

Sears Canada Inc.

As an indication of our commitment to improve safety conditions in the factories we use for production, we joined the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety in July 2013, and remain an active, contributing member.

Together with the other member companies, millions of dollars have been committed toward efforts to improve working conditions for factory workers in Bangladesh. We believe that these funds have already made meaningful changes for factory workers, and their families.

The Alliance's website has a comprehensive assessment on what it has accomplished if you require further information.

Vincent C. Power
Sears Canada Inc.

Gildan

Following your request for information concerning Gildan Activewear Inc.'s presence in Bangladesh and how we address safety risks, please find below an overview of our actions and programs in the country.

First, it is important for you to understand that Gildan did not have any connections to the Rana Plaza factory. The bulk of Gildan's production in Bangladesh is conducted at our wholly-owned facility, located near Dhaka. This facility was purchased in March, 2010, as a strategic initiative to service the company's growing European and Asian business. Gildan's facility in Bangladesh has knitting, dyeing, cutting and sewing operations. It mainly produces ring-spun t-shirts. While our operations in Bangladesh remain relatively small, we are fully committed to providing the highest standards of safety as well as healthy working conditions to our employees, which are now approximately 2,300 in the country.

Since the time of the acquisition of our wholly-owned facility in Bangladesh, Gildan has successfully implemented our Code of Conduct and Environmental Code of Practices, cornerstones of our leading Genuine Stewardship program. We have also invested heavily to align this facility with our other facilities in Central America, the USA and the Caribbean Basin. Amongst the many safety measures implemented are the following:

- The building structure has been reinforced;

- External fire escapes have been added;

- A Fire safety policy as well as an Evacuation policy and procedures have been put into place;

- Implemented an earthquake emergency response plan for the facility;

- Regular inspections are performed on the building and fire equipment (for example on fire extinguishers, water hoses, smoke detectors, emergency lights, eye wash & shower stations, and first aid kits);

- Fire drills are performed regularly;

- Over 200 brigade members were fully trained by local agencies and Gildan's Employee Health and Safety experts;

- In the past three years, 3,231 hours of training related to health and safety were provided at the facility.

As part of its due diligence process when it acquired the facility, the Company engaged a US-based engineering firm to perform an assessment of the physical property and buildings. As a result of their findings, considerable resources were allocated to reinforce the building structures with structural steel and reinforced concrete. In addition, our building is currently being audited by safety and loss prevention specialists on an annual basis.

As a vertically integrated manufacturer with more than 43,000 employees worldwide, Gildan understands the importance of treating workers with respect and fairness and providing them with the opportunity to work in safe and ethically run facilities. Occupational health and safety is a top priority at Gildan, and as such we have established formal Health and Safety Committees within each facility, including at our facility in Bangladesh, comprised of production workers, supervisors and managers. These committees are also responsible for performing employee training as well as regular fire and safety drills.

Gildan provides frontline healthcare to its employees in Central America (Honduras and Nicaragua), the Dominican Republic and Bangladesh through fully equipped medical clinics at each of these manufacturing facilities. While focusing on workplace-related health issues, our worldwide medical team composed of 27 doctors and 55 nurses are also often called upon to provide such services as pre-natal care and vaccinations. Medical staff provides medical attention and general treatment for medical issues such as sudden headaches, fever, diarrhea, as well as general health awareness. In Bangladesh alone, our medical team provides more than 45,000 instances of medical attention to our employees per year.

Over the years, Gildan has implemented an extensive social responsibility compliance program to ensure our employees are treated with respect and fairness. Gildan is committed to having all of its own manufacturing facilities and contractors comply with its strict internal code of conduct which encompasses local and international laws, the code of conduct of the Fair Labor Association (FLA), the Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production's (WRAP) set of principles and best practices in the industry.

Gildan's code of conduct is the base for the development of our social compliance program, which was accredited in June 2007 by the FLA, a multi-stakeholder coalition of companies, universities and non-governmental organizations committed to the implementation of a rigorous code of conduct based on the fundamental labour standards of the International Labor Organization. Gildan became the first vertically-integrated basic activewear apparel manufacturer to have its labour compliance program accredited by the FLA. Participating Companies in the FLA are eligible for accreditation after a three-year period during which the FLA verifies their compliance with its workplace code of conduct requirements. Accreditation is the FLA's most advanced recognition of a company's labour compliance program.

To ensure that our Code of Conduct principles are respected, we regularly conduct internal and external audits. In 2014, a total of 244 monitoring visits were performed by internal and external auditors at our Gildan-owned facilities as well as third party contractors the Company uses to source production. Each audit is followed by an action plan which allows us to identify remediation actions and areas of improvement. Our approach to sustainable compliance encompasses the identification of non-compliant situations and finding root causes to develop long-term solutions.

I would like to take this opportunity to highlight that Gildan was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World) for a second consecutive year and currently is the only North American company to be named to DJSI World under the Textiles, Apparel and Luxury Goods sector. The Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) track the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide. These indices serve as benchmarks for investors who integrate sustainability considerations into their investment philosophy. The annual DJSI review is based on a thorough analysis of corporate economic, environmental and social performance carried out by RobecoSAM, an investment specialist focused exclusively on sustainability investing. The analysis covers issues such as supply chain standards and labour practices, environmental policy/management systems, corporate governance and risk management.

With respect to the Alliance and the Accord, we believe that these agreements are primarily targeted towards brands which are outsourcing production. Since we own and operate a facility in Bangladesh, we believe we have the ability to directly implement our own strict standards. This being said, as some of our customers are signatories to the Accord, our facility in Bangladesh was inspected recently under the Accord program for electrical safety, fire safety and building structure safety. This will be reflected in our 2014 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report which will be released shortly. Furthermore, the Accord publicly discloses all inspections they are conducting and this can be validated on their public website.

With respect to the death of the worker mentioned in the report, we were deeply saddened by this unfortunate accident. The death occurred due to electrocution caused by the failure by an external contractor to follow proper hot works procedures. Furthermore, the report mentions that in the after math of this event, the Company instituted mandatory health and safety training for both employees and contractors. I would like to clarify that the health and safety training was already occurring with employees and is a standard part of our CSR practices and it is the contractor portion that was recently instituted as mandatory in light of the incident which occurred. Finally, over and above what we have been already doing at the facility, we have undertaken additional initiatives to enhance the health and safety culture at the facility. We have also outlined these initiatives in our CSR report. I have provided a link with the relevant write-up regarding these points. http://www.genuinegildan.com/en/people/working-conditions/health-safety/

With respect to the Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund, while we totally sympathize with how the Rana catastrophe has impacted the victims' families and the many injured survivors and completely appreciate and salute the important role the Fund is playing in compensating these individuals, we have decided as a Company to continue dedicating our resources directly on our owned facilities for the benefit of our employees in Bangladesh. While we understand that structural changes must happen in the country with respect to the working conditions in the apparel industry and recognize the need for improvement in this regard in Bangladesh, we feel that the best way for us to make the most direct, positive and impactful difference in the country is to lead through our actions in the facility we own and by continuing to invest, as we have consistently done since 2010, in applying the highest working conditions and health and safety standards in the facility.

We invite you to visit Gildan's Corporate Social Responsibility website at www.genuinegildan.com where you can find more detailed and transparent information on our governance and labour practices, community involvement and environmental sustainability programs.

Geneviève Gosselin
Gildan
Director, Corporate Communications

Loblaw

As we approach the second anniversary of the collapse of Rana Plaza in Savar, Bangladesh, Loblaw continues to express condolences to the victims and families affected by the tragedy.

In April 2013, Loblaw committed to relief, compensation and improved standards in Bangladesh. Since that time, the company has undertaken the following actions:

· Provided total relief and compensation commitments of $5,000,000

o $3,715,000 in compensation to the ILO-led trust fund for long-term compensation to injured workers and the families of deceased workers

o $1,000,000 in relief committed to Save the Children Bangladesh and the Centre for Rehabilitation of the Paralyzed for textile workers in Savar.

o $285,000 in short-term compensation to provide approximately three months' salary for Rana Plaza workers (paid in 2013).

· Publicly committed to maintaining production in Bangladesh, while also contributing to improving workplace conditions in the country. The company has made every effort to be a leading voice on this topic, making public commitments and public statements on an issue many other brands have chosen to avoid.

· Became an early signatory – and the only Canadian company – committing to membership in The Accord for Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, which introduces standards and audits related to the structural integrity of factories.

· Increased the level of standards and inspections of all factories where its products are sourced. In the summer of 2013, the company audited each of the dozens of factories in Bangladesh producing its goods. These audits were shared with The Accord.

· Better defined our standards and are more hands-on in our approach to factory oversight, with Loblaw people on the ground in six countries, including Bangladesh, to ensure the rigour of factory audits and to monitor workplace conditions and local relationships. This team is led by a long-time Loblaw supply chain expert from Canada who has relocated to the region.

We currently source from approximately 40 factories in Bangladesh, and believe that the economy and manufacturing communities benefit from our presence, attention and long-term commitment. Loblaw continues to work with individuals, industry, government, NGOs and the International Labour Organization (ILO) to improve the standards that will define and protect the safety of workers here forward.

We have an unwavering commitment to responsible and ethical sourcing, evident in our practices and policies, and believe that progress is occurring. While we do not forget its tragic beginnings, we are proud to have made Loblaw a contributing voice in the Rana Plaza response and its unfolding legacy related to factory safety.

Kevin Groh, Vice President, Corporate Affairs
Loblaw

lululemon has its own Vendor Code of Ethics which we strongly believe achieves the same goals as the Accord, raising the standard for conducting business in Bangladesh and addressing the root causes of issues. Our Code was developed based on industry-recognized best practices and has a 92-point checklist that guides facility assessments as well as outlines a comprehensive set of fire and building safety requirements, and also addresses wages, working hours, employee health and safety, benefits and more. To ensure compliance with our Code, we have in-house experts and independent third parties who perform audits of all manufacturing facilities. Every vendor that we work with, in all of the countries that we manufacture, including Bangladesh, must sign our Vendor Code of Ethics certificate of compliance.

You can find this information and additional background on lululemon's responsible supply chain and work with the company's two manufacturing partners in Bangladesh here: http://sustainability.lululemon.com/responsible-supply-chain/human-rights-working-conditions/

Hudson's Bay Company (HBC)

Thanks so much for reaching out. The information isn't quite accurate - as a member of the Alliance, our efforts are reflected in the Alliance information published on their website and that is publicly available. I have asked the Alliance to reach out to you directly, as they can speak in depth about the significant milestones made.

Many thanks,

Tiffany Bourre