Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the
hands of traffickers Published reports & articles from 2000 to 2025 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Canada.htm
Canada is a source,
transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for
the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Canadian
women and girls, many of whom are aboriginal, are trafficked internally for
commercial sexual exploitation. NGOs report that
Canada is a destination country for foreign victims trafficked for labor
exploitation; some labor victims enter Canada legally but then are subjected
to forced labor in agriculture, sweatshops, or as domestic servants. - U.S. State Dept
Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 Check out a later country report here or a full TIP Report here |
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CAUTION: The following
links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE Students If you are looking for
material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of particular
interest to you. Would you like to
write about Forced-Labor? Debt
Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc. On the other
hand, you might choose to include precursors of trafficking such as poverty and hunger. There is a lot to
the subject of Trafficking. Scan other
countries as well. Draw comparisons
between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. HELP for Victims Human Trafficking National
Coordination Center ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Aboriginal women fair
game for predators amid public indifference Jim Bronskill and Sue Bailey, The Brooks Bulletin, www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1499/a05.html?212 [accessed 27 January
2011] Untold scores of
society's most vulnerable members - young native women - have gone missing
across the country only to be forsaken by a jaded justice system and
neglectful media. The death and disappearance of aboriginal women has emerged
as an alarming nationwide pattern, from western serial murders to
little-known Atlantic vanishings. Grim statistics and anecdotal evidence
compiled by The Canadian Press suggest public apathy has allowed predators to
stalk native victims with near impunity. Human trafficking
in Vancouver Magda Ibrahim, The Westender, [accessed 31 August
2011] Women become
trapped in sex trade after being lured to city with false promises. Imagine being beaten, forced into sex work,
and told you’ll be killed if you try to escape. The constant threat of
violence means you’re too scared to go to the authorities, but even if you
did, there’s little chance of retribution for your attacker. This might sound like something that would
happen in a third-world country, or during some bygone era, but it’s
happening now in Vancouver, and is a reality for many victims of human
trafficking. “I can’t understand
why Canada hasn’t successfully prosecuted a single person for human
trafficking when you look at other countries like the U.S., Australia, and
the U.K.,” says Perrin. “We’ve made the same commitments and been to the same
conferences, but Canada has been all talk and no action. We’re just beginning
to turn the corner; we’re where other countries we consider ourselves in the
same league as were 10 years ago. We’ve had a decade of inaction on this and
it’s allowed traffickers to profit; we need to make it more risky and less
profitable for them.” Human Trafficking
May Be Closer to Home Than We Think 2008-04-21 - Source:
miramichileader.canadaeast.com/front/article/271131 www.antitraf.net/home.php?mode=more&id=44&lang=en [accessed 27 January
2011] INTERNATIONAL TRAFFICKING - Coming into DOMESTIC TRAFFICKING - Women are first befriended by a recruiter
who often becomes their boyfriend and then convinces them move to a new
city. The traffickers will use
threats; they may beat or gang rape the person or threaten to kill their
family — anything to keep them there.
"They wine them and dine them ... All of a sudden they are moving
from one city to another city. Once they get there they are sold and forced
to live on the street." ***
ARCHIVES *** Children for sale:
Canada’s youth at the heart of the rising sex trade Sawyer Bogdan,
Global News, 30 November 2020 globalnews.ca/news/7487725/children-sex-trafficking-canada/ [accessed 1 December
2020] “It’s hard as a
young person wanting to fit in or to feel loved or even to have the new Gucci
bag or to be offered a luxurious lifestyle and get out of the situation that
you’re currently in,” she said. “Whether that be an
abusive environment, mental illness, homelessness, or even as simple as wanting
to meet up with someone who promised to offer you the world, this is how they
choose their next victim to ruin their life.” New human
trafficking national hotline service launched Dave Battagello, Windsor Star, 29 May 2019 windsorstar.com/news/local-news/new-human-trafficking-national-hotline-service-launched [accessed 30 May
2019] HOTLINE: 1-833-900-1010 ... WEBSITE: www.canadianhumantraffickinghotline.ca The Toronto-based
Centre To End Human Trafficking has launched a 24-hour national hotline for
victims and survivors of human trafficking from anywhere in Canada. “This hotline will
provide critical resources to victims and survivors and will help law
enforcement dismantle human trafficking networks across the country,” says
Barbara Gosse, CEO for the charitable organization, which is running the
hotline — the first of its kind in Canada — around the clock, every day of
the year. Human trafficking
is pervasive and largely ignored in Canada Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun, 11 June 2019 [accessed 12 June
2019] Predators stalk
Indigenous girls aging out of government care at bus depots and airports,
Diane Redsky, executive director of Winnipeg’s Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre, told
the inquiry. She noted that at
the time of her testimony, children aged out of foster care at age 16 in six
provinces. Alaya M. said she was an
easy target. At 12, her social worker gave her the
option of staying in her community or going to Winnipeg. Alaya
chose the big city and two days later was handed a bus ticket. “That was probably
the best $13 or $14 they (the child and family services department) ever
spent to get a kid out of their care, not understanding that the effects and
the trauma that would be bestowed upon that $13, $14 bus ticket.” Right off the bus,
an Italian man befriended her, took her for a ride, raped her, handed her $5
and bought her a cup of coffee. She’d never had sex before and didn’t know
what a condom was. Other witnesses
talked about pimps recruiting Inuit girls at airports and outside group
homes, youth detention centres and schools. Most became victims
out of necessity. They had no family to support them and no one else to turn to
when they needed money for housing and food. Then, to mask the pain, they
used drugs and soon were selling sex to feed their addiction. The inquiry
commissioners’ recommendations all point to the long-term solution to human
trafficking, which is to attack the root causes of its victims’ vulnerability
— poverty, childhood trauma, homelessness, disconnection from family and
community. Four charged in
human trafficking probe that freed alleged 'modern-day slaves' Adam Burns, The
Canadian Press, 23 May 2019 [accessed 24 May
2019] The charges relate
to a probe unveiled in February, when authorities said they had rescued 43
people who were allegedly forced to work as cleaners at vacation properties
in Ontario for as little as $50 per month. "The 43
victims identified had been brought to Canada under the pretense of being
here for either educational purposes or for the promise of work permits and
eventual permanent residency status," OPP said in statement. Trafficking in
persons in Canada, 2018 Adam Cotter, Statistics
Canada STATCAN, 23 June 2020 www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2020001/article/00006-eng.htm [accessed 9 July
2020] HIGHLIGHTS ·
Police
services in Canada have reported 1,708 incidents of human trafficking since
2009. ·
Nine
in ten (90%) incidents of human trafficking were reported in census
metropolitan areas. ·
The
vast majority of victims of police-reported human trafficking were women and
girls (97%). ·
About
half (45%) of all victims of police-reported human trafficking were between
the ages of 18 and 24. Nearly three in ten victims (28%) were under the age
of 18, and the remainder (26%) were 25 years of age or older. ·
In
about half (47%) of incidents, an accused person was not identified in
connection with the incident. ·
Four
in five (81%) persons accused of human trafficking since 2009 have been men. ·
Just
over half (51%) of all accused persons were 25 years of age or older, and a
further 43% were between the ages of 18 and 24. The remainder
(6%) were youth, between the ages of 12 and 17. ·
Just
over four in ten (44%) incidents of human trafficking involved other
offences, most commonly related to sexual services, physical assault, or
sexual assault or other sexual offences. ·
Between
2008/2009 and 2017/2018, there were 582 completed cases in adult criminal
courts that involved at least one charge of human trafficking. ·
The
median length of time it took to complete a case involving at least one charge
of human trafficking was 358 days, roughly twice as long as the median for
all violent offences. ·
Few
cases where human trafficking was the most serious offence in the case
resulted in a guilty decision (29%). This is in contrast to 58% of cases
involving violent offences and 56% of cases where at least one charge of
human trafficking was involved but was not the most serious offence. ·
Nearly
half (45%) of the cases that successfully linked to an incident of
police-reported human trafficking did not involve any charges of human
trafficking. Most commonly, these cases involved charges for non-violent
offences (54%). 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Canada U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/canada/
[accessed 25 May
2021] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR There were reports
that employers subjected employees with temporary or no legal status to
forced labor in the agricultural sector, food processing, cleaning services,
hospitality, construction industries, and domestic service. During the
pandemic there were also reports that some employers barred migrant workers
from leaving the work location, hired private security to prevent workers
from leaving, and deducted inflated food and supply costs from their wages.
NGOs reported bonded labor, particularly in the construction industry, and
domestic servitude constituted the majority of cases of forced labor and that
some victims had participated in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT Authorities
effectively enforced child-labor laws and policies, and federal and
provincial labor ministries carried out child-labor inspections either
proactively or in response to formal complaints. There were reports that
limited resources hampered inspection and enforcement efforts. Penalties were
sufficient to deter violations. There were reports
child labor occurred, particularly in the agricultural sector. There were
also reports children, principally teenage girls, were subjected to sex
trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation (see section 6, Children). Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/canada/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 8 July
2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS ENJOY
EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? There have been
some reports of forced labor in the agricultural, food processing,
construction, and other sectors, as well as among domestic workers. However,
the government, aided by NGOs that work to reveal forced labor and sex
trafficking, do attempt to hold perpetrators accountable and to provide aid
to victims. There is no
national minimum wage, though provinces have set their own. Occupational
safety standards are robust and generally well enforced. However, young
workers, migrants, and new immigrants remain vulnerable to abuses in the
workplace. Sex trafficking: a
national disgrace “Invisible Chains: Reviewed by Julian
Sher, Globe and Mail, Oct. 15, 2010 www.theglobeandmail.com/books/invisible-chains-canadas-underground-world-of-human-trafficking-by-benjamin-perrin/article1758620/ [accessed 27 January
2011] [accessed 30 January
2019] The stories he
documents are heartbreaking: a 14-year-old from Ontario sold for sex on
Craigslist; young women from the war-torn Congo and Colombia trafficked to
brothels and massage parlours in Canada; a
21-year-old from Alberta who went missing in Las Vegas in 2006. Perrin cites a
report from From April, 2007,
to April, 2009, only about 30 people were charged with human trafficking in 10 family members
charged in human-trafficking case Adrian Morrow, The
Globe and Mail, October 8, 2010 www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario/10-family-members-charged-in-human-trafficking-case/article1749707/ [accessed 19 August
2014] [accessed 30 January
2019] Out of work and
impoverished, the men from the town of Papa in western Hungary were offered
jobs in Canada, where they believed they could start new lives or at least
earn enough money to support their families back home. The RCMP say the
reality they faced after their new bosses picked them up from John C. Munro airport
in Hamilton was far different: housed in the basements of their employers’
homes and fed scraps from the table, they were made to work long hours at
construction sites for no money. The family’s
associates in Human trafficking count laid Gabrielle Giroday, www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/human-trafficking-count-laid-103697094.html [accessed 27 January
2011] The 38-year-old is
accused of taking the victim's identification and clothing, punching her in a
fight and stopping her twice as she attempted to run away, The Criminal Code
describes a trafficker in human beings as "a person (who) exploits
another person if they cause the victim to provide labour
or service for fear of their safety or the safety of someone known to
them." However, the report
did note there have been at least 30 court cases where victims -- mostly
women between 14 and 25 years old -- were trafficked within Human traffic twist Tamara Cherry, Sun
Media, December 26, 2008 www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2008/12/26/7852636-sun.html [accessed 27 January
2011] A different picture
emerged of a flesh trade often thought of as foreign nationals tricked across
borders. It became apparent that Canadian women and girls were being victimized
by Canadian men. The first two human trafficking convictions -- one in May,
another in November, both from the Peel Regional Police vice unit -- involved
domestic trafficking victims who were forced to prostitute and hand over all
their earnings to pimps. The "rules" identified by police -- always
checking in with their pimps, meeting daily quotas, the list goes on -- were
strikingly similar across the board, when comparing the cases to the other
nine human trafficking charges Peel has before the courts. The first
conviction, which involved two teenaged girls -- one just 14 years old -- who
worked seven days a week and brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars for
their trafficker, created "a ripple that has reached every region of the
country," Perrin said. Child prostitute
alleges she was lured to Times Colonist,
November 17, 2008 www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=395a3895-b511-4056-a33f-84429fcd50fc [accessed 18 January
2016] www.hopereturns.org/PDF/Child_Lured_to_Victoria_for_Prostituion.pdf [accessed 6
September 2016] A man released on
bail in October is back in custody after police discovered he allegedly lured
a 14-year-old female to work as a prostitute. She alleges that
she met the Victoria man over the internet. He lured her to Victoria from her
family home in the B.C. Interior from where she has been missing for three
weeks. Once here, he took control of her possessions, including
identification and wallet. She says that when she tried to leave, he beat her
and threatened her. Why Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun, October 29, 2008 www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=815e5425-18e2-4e45-81d7-0e369203b0b5 [accessed 18 January
2016] www.pressreader.com/canada/vancouver-sun/20081029/282488589561251 [accessed 29 May
2017] Only one victim --
a child sold to slave traders by parents -- came forward voluntarily. Fear,
threats and coercion probably kept some away.
But, Perrin says, in most provinces, especially Ontario and Quebec,
it's almost impossible to find any help.
But since the solicitor-general's office to combat human trafficking
was set up two years ago, there hasn't been a single victim rescued or charge
laid. During the two years that Canada
identified 31 trafficking victims, the United States found 17,000. It's not that
Canada is clean; the Americans have identified it as both a source and
destination country for the victims of slave traders. It's more likely because Canada has no
national strategy for finding traffickers, no national plan for identifying
and helping victims and little understanding of who the victims are. Canada is obviously doing many things
wrong. Flesh trade targets
natives - Young Aboriginal women used as a sex commodity in cities across
Canada Tamara Cherry, Sun
Media, November 13, 2008 www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2008/09/29/6916776-sun.html [accessed 27 January
2011] archives.algomau.ca/main/sites/default/files/2010-061_011_056.pdf [accessed 21 January
2018] "There's a
total myth that Aboriginal women either consent to or are born into the sex
trade," says Jo-Ann Daniels, interim executive director for the Metis
Settlements General Council in Edmonton. "The average age of Aboriginal
girls who are human trafficked is between seven and 12 years old. "It is
Aboriginal girls and women who are specifically targeted in this country to
be trafficked, in such huge numbers that it does not compare to any other population,"
Daniels says. "We believe that it is the root source of Aboriginal women
ever being involved in the sex trade. We believe that Aboriginal women and
Aboriginal girls have been domestically trafficked now for, I would say
probably since the '50s when there began to be Aboriginal movement into urban
areas or there were more contacts between Aboriginal communities and
towns." YOUNG, NAIVE - Sethi quotes an Aboriginal outreach worker as such:
"Girls tend to believe in the promises of the traffickers as they are
young, naive and vulnerable in a new and big city. They are unsuspecting of
the motives of the traffickers, since they belong to communities that have a
culture of welcoming strangers." Foreign workers
lured with lies Tamara Cherry, Sun
Media, November 13, 2008 www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2008/09/30/6926301-sun.html [accessed 27 January
2011] www.afl.org/foreign_workers_lured_with_lies [accessed 21 January
2018] DEBT TO PAY - Like many
trafficking victims who are smuggled into this country, these victims are,
too, told they have a debt to pay off. We found you a job, now you owe us
some money. And there is nobody
telling them otherwise. "There’s
nobody to check up on them," Sikka says. With no official agreement obligating the
federal government to tell the provinces who, when and how many people are
arriving as temporary foreign workers or live-in caregivers, employment
standards branches across the country, no matter how good their intentions,
don’t have the necessary information to check up on workers, Sikka says.
"There’s no mandatory orientation done," she says.
"It’s absolutely, 100% necessary. I think it’s the primary thing we can
do to stop the types of trafficking that are going on in Western Canada
particularly." Debt bondage aside,
workers can fall into a "vicious cycle" of exploitation simply by
not being informed of their rights upon arrival, Sikka
says. Something as simple as informing
workers about the procedure of changing employers would be helpful for
foreign workers who are granted visas to work at one place, but upon arrival
in Canada, are shuffled over to different employers. By the time they figure out they are working
illegally, experts say, these workers may be hesitant to speak out about an
exploitive situation for fear of deportation.
"They can change employers if they want, but they’re just not
told," Sikka says. "Nobody informs them
they have to go through that procedure." UQ study looks at
foreign sex worker exploitation and human trafficking www.uq.edu.au/news/?article=16004 [accessed 27 January
2011] One of the major
obstacles to government policy making, program development by
non-governmental organisations, and public
awareness about the exploitation of foreign workers and the trafficking in
persons was the lack of any reliable and comprehensive account of the nature
and extent of this problem, he said.
Anecdotal evidence and statistical estimates without a sufficient
evidentiary basis were the only sources of information currently available
about Australia and Canada's involvement in trafficking in persons. This was in contrast to other countries where
comprehensive accounts of human trafficking were published annually by
government agencies. Exploited workers Dale Brazao, www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/488074 [accessed 27 January
2011] Skilled Filipino
workers packed into filthy house, denied pay, threatened with deportation It was 5:30 in the
morning when Edwin Canilang realized he had been
bought and sold. Crowded in the back of
a van heading north of Toronto with four other Filipino men last summer, the
skilled welder faced another unpaid day on a cleanup detail at a bottling
plant. Some were pressed
into service at a water bottling plant, run by De Rosa's family. Others dug ditches
or picked up garbage around a large rural estate where De Rosa lives. The
workers, threatened with deportation, did every menial job thrown at them.
None of the work involved welding and plumbing, the trades that brought them
here. Que. couple could
face human trafficking charge in teen prostitution case Dave Rogers , Canwest News Service, www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=2410189b-25bf-47f0-9166-82af82b3ccfe [accessed 27 January
2011] Emerson was charged
with 13 offences, including kidnapping, forcible confinement and procuring
and living off the avails of prostitution after the police gangs section
discovered that three teenage girls had been held captive for up to a year in
a condominium building in Gatineau, just across the Ottawa River from the
nation's capital. Investigators said
Wednesday that one 17-year-old girl they believed was an accomplice turned
out to be a victim who had been held prisoner for a year. Two other
17-year-old girls are alleged to have been held for five to six months while
they engaged in prostitution.
Gatineau's Assistant Crown attorney Diane Legault
said Thursday the two accused likely will face new charges, including human
trafficking. In November 2005, the
Criminal Code was amended to make the "recruitment, transporting,
transferring, receipt, holding, concealment or harbouring
of a person, or the exercise of control, direction or influence over the
movements of a person for the purpose of exploiting them or facilitating
their exploitation" an indictable offence. SPECIAL REPORT:
Human Trafficking - It happens more than you think in Canada.com, July 21,
2008 www.canada.com/globaltv/ontario/story.html?id=c7ccee8e-c196-426a-a098-fa1d426ac0fe [accessed 27 January
2011] globalnews.ca/news/66045/special-report-human-trafficking/ [accessed 6
September 2016] Slavery is alive and
thriving in the 21st century. While human trafficking is indeed a global
issue, Canadian citizens are often trafficked within their own country,
enslaved, bought and sold from province to province. Every situation is
different; often victims are lured into a horrific exploitive setting not by
strangers but by someone they know, a relative, a neighbor, or even a friend. Hundreds of
thousands of children, young men and women have vanished from their everyday
lives -forced by violence into a hellish existence of brutality and
prostitution. They're a profitable commodity in the multi-billion-dollar
industry of modern slavery. The underworld calls them human trafficking and
it is all happening in our country. Human trafficking a
growing problem in Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation CBC News, October 28, 2008 www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/10/28/bc-human-trafficking-number.html?ref=rss [accessed 27 January
2011] www.cbc.ca/news/canada/human-trafficking-a-growing-problem-in-canada-b-c-expert-says-1.735963 [accessed 30 January
2019] But Perrin said Canada's
first human trafficking conviction this summer did not involve a foreigner,
but rather a 13-year-old in the Greater Toronto Area who was bought and sold
by Canadian men on the popular online classified advertisement website
Craigslist. In May, former
Toronto man Imani Nakpamgi admitted in court that
he made more than $400,000 selling two underage girls for sex, according to
the Toronto Star. Both girls had been reported missing, either by their
family or child welfare officials. UPDATES ON BC man charged
with human trafficking sentenced to 15 months The Canadian Press, www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080424/human_trafficking_080424?s_name=I&no_ads= [accessed 20 April
2012] www.ctvnews.ca/b-c-man-charged-with-human-trafficking-sentenced-1.291281 [accessed 6
September 2016] During Ng's trial,
provincial court Judge Malcolm MacLean was told Ng brought women to Canada,
promising them jobs as waitresses and then putting
them to work as prostitutes in his east Vancouver massage parlour. One woman, whose identity is protected by
court order, told MacLean she had been brought to Canada by Ng to work in
what she thought was a restaurant.
Instead of a waitress job, the woman testified she was taken to a Ng's
massage parlour and told she was expected to pay
him $11,000 a month by prostituting herself.
But MacLean said there was no evidence the woman was forced or coerced
into coming to Canada. Royal Canadian
Mounted Police Report On Sex Slave Market Prompts Recount Of Trafficking
Victims Vittorio Hernandez,
All Headline News (AHN News), April 14, 2008 At one time this article
had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 31 August
2011] Following the
rediscovery of sex slave rings in Rise in human
trafficking largely unnoticed in Jonathan Montpetit, The Canadian Press, April 09, 2008 [accessed 27 January
2011] Human traffickers peddle young girls to work as sex slaves in Canadian
cities for as little as $2,000 - a situation most people believe only happens
in foreign lands, activists say. An increase in
human trafficking in Canada has gone largely unnoticed because Canadians
think young girls choose to take up the sex trade, according to Joy Smith, a
Conservative MP and longtime anti-trafficking activist. “There are girls being sold in Montreal for
$2,000,” Smith said. She pointed out
that many dismiss the scope of the problem by claiming sex slaves, who are mainly
women, chose to become prostitutes. “A
lot of the girls in brothels never meant to be in brothels,” Smith said.
“They got there because somebody threatened them and forced them into it.” Alleged victims of
human trafficking ring in protective custody Cynthia Reason, InsideToronto, Jan 15, 2008 [accessed 19 July
2013] Police allege the
victims were smuggled across the Canadian border using false Israeli
passports, provided by "the same criminal element from overseas,"
and then had their documents taken away from them upon their arrival. Victims were then
allegedly brought to a safe house and held until they started to comply with
their perpetrators' demands - whether through threats of violence or
allegations that they owed their captors for bringing them to Canada. Police say they
believe the victims would be locked in isolated rooms, away from the general
public and away from each other, each day until around 6 p.m. A driver or
chaperone would then arrive to bring them to a location or locations to work
as prostitutes. When finished, they'd be brought back home and locked up
again, Ervick alleged. Ervick said the sums of
money exchanging hands would vary on a case to case basis, but he alleged
each young victim could conceivably "bring in as much as $4,000 to
$10,000 a week," but only be given a given small sum to live off. "These women
are very vulnerable, in a country that is not their own, where they don't
speak the language and are isolated both from the general population and from
each other," he alleged. www.eontarionow.com/provincial/2008/01/12/toronto-police-uncover-human-trafficking-ring/ [accessed 27 January
2011] At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] Police say the
victims came to Human-trafficking
charges dropped www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=7551a78e-cf3d-4bd7-8872-b1bd9f9a9a96&k=52157 [accessed 27 January
2011] The couple's
lawyer, Frank Pappas, said "even Inspector Clouseau"
could have done a better investigation than the RCMP, who didn't interview
the couple's neighbours, or the clerk at the depanneur where the domestic bought phone cards to call
overseas. "Had the RCMP
investigated properly from the outset, they would have realized that her
assertion ... that she was a prisoner was completely false," Pappas
said. "Even Ray Charles could have seen it." But Pappas said the
whole thing was a scam in order for Manaye to avoid
deportation. Social networking
sites used for human-trafficking - Hundreds of Albertans get targeted each
year Andrew Hanon, Sun
Media, November 11, 2007 www.kidsafecyberspace.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/SN-sites-used-for-human-trafficking-11-11-07.htm [accessed 27 January
2011] www.traffickingproject.org/2007/12/social-networking-sites-used-for-human.html [accessed 6
September 2016] They do most of
their recruiting on social networking websites like Facebook and MySpace,
choosing naïve or vulnerable victims for “grooming” who are right around 18
years old in order to avoid detection by authorities looking for predators
after underage kids. After four or five
dizzyingly spectacular dates, the predator will invite her to a private
party. She will be
gang-raped and subjected to unspeakable humiliation. She might be
drugged. “Her ‘boyfriend’ will tell
her what’s expected of her,” Galvin said. “She’s told the event will occur
anyways. She can either fight or submit to it, but it’s going to
happen.” She will be threatened with
death if she goes to police. Her family might also be threatened. Human trafficking
an issue in Canada F. Loyie, www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=c1f9c216-3ba7-4e47-be78-2d5943638faf&k=96640 [accessed 27 January
2011] Human-trafficking
is not issue that gets a lot of attention in Reforming Canada’s
Record on Human Trafficking www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/ubcreports/2007/07sep06/reform.html [accessed 27 January
2011] news.ubc.ca/2007/09/06/archive-ubcreports-2007-07sep06-reform/ [accessed 30 January
2019] A young woman answers
a job ad that offers a prepaid air ticket and glamorous work as an
international model. She leaves home -- perhaps from a city in Eastern Europe
or Southeast Asia. Upon arriving in
Canada, she discovers to her horror that she has been lured into the sex
trade and faces “debts” that she must now pay off. Somehow she escapes her
captors and looks for help. The authorities detain, interrogate and then
deport her. Until recently, this was
how Canada routinely treated human trafficking victims -- as illegal
migrants, says Benjamin Perrin, an assistant professor who joined the UBC
Faculty of Law in August. Organized Crime and Human Trafficking in Canada: Tracing Perceptions and Discourses [PDF] Christine Bruckert Ph.D. & Colette Parent Ph.D., Department of
Criminology, for the Research and
Evaluation Branch, Community, Contract and Aboriginal Policing Services
Directorate, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection/PS64-1-2004E.pdf [accessed 27 January
2011] publications.gc.ca/Collection/PS64-1-2004E.pdf [accessed 30 January
2019] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - The review of
the cases reveals that, in spite of the judiciaries’ implicit acceptance of
the official and counter discourse vis-à-vis the trafficking of women for the
purposes of prostitution by organized crime, judgments are, for the most
part, marked by a lack of sensitivity to the cultural, economic and social
reality of undocumented migrant workers generally and to the reality of
exploitation, violence and stigma experienced by sex trade workers more
specifically. Moreover the documents are interpreted in a manner that renders
the majority of claimants outside the discourse and hence not entitled to the
consideration afforded ‘victims’. In particular the extrajudicial and
potentially moral question of whether the women knew they would be working in
the sex trade is rendered significant. It would appear that embedded in the
sex slave/sex worker dichotomy is another dualism – innocent/culpable.
Therefore women who are unaware that they will participate in the trade are
potentially protected while women who experience severe labour
abuse are held accountable for their situation regardless of the exploitation
they may experience. In short the ‘sex slave’ discourse may operate against
the interests of many irregular migrant sex trade workers by obscuring their
exploitation at the same time as it renders exploitation the defining
characteristic of others. Citizenship and
Immigration www.marketwire.com/press-release/Canadas-New-Government-Strengthens-Protection-for-Victims-of-Human-Trafficking-743924.htm [accessed 27 January
2011] [accessed 26 April
2020] The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and
Immigration, today introduced new measures to help assist victims of human
trafficking brought into Canada from abroad.
The new measures extend the length of the temporary resident permit
(TRP) for victims of human trafficking to 180 days, up from 120. This
extension also allows victims to apply for a work permit - an option not
previously available. The new measures
will also continue to allow victims of human trafficking to receive
health-care benefits, including medical treatment and counselling services,
under the Interim Federal Health Program. F1 fuels human
trafficking, activists say S. Montgomery, The
Gazette ( www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=2d953737-bd6e-4f81-b64c-c2755eb489cc [accessed 27 January
2011] Last year, Falling Short of
the Mark: An International Study on the Treatment of Human Trafficking
Victims
[PDF] The Future Group,
March 2006 www.oas.org/atip/canada/Fallingshortofthemark.pdf [accessed 27 January
2011] commons.allard.ubc.ca/fac_pubs/255/ [accessed 30 January
2019] CANADA - Canada has
systematically failed to comply with its international obligations under the
Trafficking Protocol for the protection of victims of human trafficking.
There is no evidence it has considered
providing for the protection of victims in the manner obliged under the
Trafficking Protocol. Canada.s record of dealing
with trafficking victims is an international embarrassment and contrary to
best practices. This is despite being the first jurisdiction in this Study to
have ratified the Trafficking Protocol almost four years ago on May 13, 2002.
The situation in Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation CBC News, January 8, 2007 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-police-to-draft-human-trafficking-policy-1.673657 [accessed 19 August
2014] The average model
is 14 years old, the Winnipeg-based Crawford said, and some of them are
vulnerable to abuse by recruiters, agents and photographers. Crawford says
she has seen or heard of girls being raped, used as prostitutes or sent to
work in bars. Ewatski acknowledged that human trafficking as a crime
has come to Winnipeg, although not to the same extent as larger centres such as Vancouver and Montreal. MP calls for action
to combat human trafficking Canwest News Service, www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=827e2ece-6b58-49d3-9733-a1a77451366d&k=7165 [accessed 27 January
2011] Smith explained
that women from other countries are promised a better life in Human-trafficking
bill introduced [accessed 27 January
2011] A Canadian teenager
signs up for a modelling program and, unbeknownst to her parents, is forced
to have sex with strangers while travelling in Local Sex Crime
Conference Focuses On Human Trafficking City News, www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/24605--local-sex-crime-conference-focuses-on-human-trafficking [accessed 27 January
2011] toronto.citynews.ca/2006/11/20/local-sex-crime-conference-focuses-on-human-trafficking/ [accessed 30 January
2019] And the crime that
so often happens in the background is more present than any of us would like
to think. Numbers from the Mounties suggest between 600-800
people are 'trafficked' to Canada every year. Many of those being victimized are prime
targets for the despicable entrepreneurs - young women from third-world
countries that have high rates of poverty, violence, illiteracy and political
and economic instability. But it's not
just the more stereotyped "sex slaves" that you often read about.
While that's number one on the list, the vulnerable can also become prisoners
of domestic servitude, the farming and fishing industry and sweat shops. Human trafficking
not just a big city problem: RCMP Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation CBC News, November 7, 2006 www.immigrationwatchcanada.org/2006/11/07/human-trafficking-not-just-a-big-city-problem-rcmp/ [accessed 19 August
2014] Human trafficking
is becoming a bigger concern all the time, he said, and it often involves
forcing people into the sex trade or making farm workers and nannies work
long hours for little money. MacIver
said it's not talked about much in small towns, so people may think it
doesn't exist. "They are not
aware of it and not educated about it," he said. According to the RCMP, between 800 and
1,200 people are victims of human trafficking in Canada each year, most
working in forced labour or the illegal sex trade. Human trafficking
victims face immigration barriers Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation CBC News, October 26, 2006 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/human-trafficking-victims-face-immigration-barriers-1.576813 [accessed 19 August
2014] Hundreds of
children, men and women believed to be bought and sold in Robert Freeman,
Black Press, Oct 10 2006 put-kids-first.blogspot.com/2006/10/university-college-of-fraser-valley.html [accessed 27 January
2011] "We have to
create an environment in which it is safe for victims to come forward and
seek help," he said, keeping in mind that they are "seriously at
risk of reprisal or intimidation" from their captors here in Canada
while their families face "terrorism" back in their homeland. Successful human
traffickers have become adept at using various simple but very effective
methods of psychological control over their victims," Dandurand said. "They know how to break a victim's
self-confidence and self-efficacy, crush their hopes, and condition them to
resign themselves to a life of exploitation in which they are trapped." Border guards
uncover human trafficking network 22 June 2006 --
Source: www.pentictonwesternnews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=102&cat=23&id=673681&more= [accessed 19 July
2013] Six Korean women,
who were potential victims of human trafficking, have returned to Human Trafficking
Could be Huge Issue During 2010 Olympics Camille Bains, Canadian Press CP, December 09, 2006 tfgwebmaster.site.aplus.net/wwwthefuturegrouporg/id44.html [accessed 27 January
2011] Typically,
traffickers lure women with promises of jobs that will supposedly pay them
many times what they would earn in their home country. But the reality is they’re forced to work
as prostitutes in massage parlours and must repay
thousands of dollars in debt for living expenses and forged passports. Non-governmental organizations say women
are sometimes kidnapped, beaten and drugged before being brought to Canada
for an industry that involves low risk and high profits for the
traffickers. Government and police
officials are aware of the problem and concerned about the potential the Games
pose for traffickers. Press Review For
May 12, 2006 geo.international.gc.ca/canada_un/ottawa/canada_un/unupdate-en.asp?id=6526&content_type=2 [Last access date
unavailable] HEADLINES - HUMAN
TRAFFICKING: [scroll down to the
story] The Future Group, a Canadian NGO, said in March that Ottawa did a terrible job of helping human trafficking victims and usually deported them. Immigration Minister Monte Solberg, who said the report "was a wake-up call", said victims would be given temporary residence permits valid for 120 days and were eligible for health-care benefits. At the end of that period they could either return to their home country or apply for another permit valid for up to five years. New government revisits
visas for exotic dancers Hannah James, The
Online Reporter, www.fims.uwo.ca/olr/feb2206/trafficking.html [accessed 27 January
2011] The new application
stipulates changes to the employment contracts, making work in Terry Vanderheyden, LifeSiteNews, www.lifesitenews.com/news/canada-an-international-embarrassment-on-sex-trafficking [accessed 19 January
2016] Of the countries
evaluated: Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, the United
Kingdom and the United States, only Canada and the UK failed to meet their obligations
to protect victims under the United Nations Trafficking Protocol and
international best practices. Child-sex ring
uncovered in Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation CBC News, November 2, 2005 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/child-sex-ring-uncovered-in-winnipeg-police-allege-1.552988 [accessed 19 August
2014] Sgt. Kelly Dennison
said about 20 girls – aged 12 to 17 – were sold into prostitution. Dennison said the other children younger
than age 12, including a baby of only 18 months, weren't necessarily forced
to perform sexual acts but may have been exposed to them because they lived
in the houses where they were taking place. MP tears strip off
Liberals, Feds continue to allow exploitation, Tory says whatsakyer.mu.nu/archives/2005_11.php [accessed 27 January
2011] [scroll down to
November 02, 2005] Diane Ablonczy accused the government of misleading Canadians
last year when it claimed to be "canceling" the controversial
policy of issuing temporary work permits to exotic dancers based on a labor market
opinion from the Human Resources department.
But the "sordid truth" is that the welcome mat is still
rolled out to foreign strippers, she told the House, citing a Sun story over
the weekend. Human trafficking
charges laid in B.C. Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation CBC News, April 14, 2005 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 4
September 2011] A man in Hundreds of
foreigners lured in sex trade: RCMP Canadian Press, whoweare.ca/blog/2010/06/hundreds-of-foreigners-lured-in-sex-trade-rcmp/ [accessed 19 August
2014] At least 600
foreign women and girls are coerced into joining the Canadian sex trade each
year by human traffickers, says a newly declassified RCMP report. As many as 2,200 other newcomers are
smuggled into the United States from Canada to toil in brothels, sweatshops,
domestic jobs or construction work, estimates the intelligence assessment
obtained by The Canadian Press. And
the RCMP says the numbers may represent just the tip of the proverbial
iceberg, as it is widely believed only one in 10 victims of trafficking
report the crime to police. Florangela Davila, 209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1171283/posts [accessed 27 January
2011] A new report says Trapped in the
traffic Elaine Pearson, New
Internationalist - Issue 337, August 2001 www.newint.org/features/2001/08/05/trapped/ [accessed 27 January
2011] Several years ago S.F. parlor hit in
crackdown on sex slave trade Phillip Matier & Andrew Ross, San Francisco Chronicle,
October 25, 2004 [accessed 28 August
2012] The two later told
investigators they had been smuggled from The two women said
they briefly escaped in August, but were soon found by the manager and two
other workers, returned to King's and beaten. Trafficking in
Persons Department of
Justice, Canada, 2007-06-14 canada.justice.gc.ca/en/fs/ht/links.html [access information
unavailable] LINKS ·
Research / Academic ·
Canadian non-governmental organisations
·
Intergovernmental organisations
and initiatives ·
International non-governmental organisations
·
Federal departments and agencies members of the
Interdepartmental Working Group on Trafficking in Persons (IWGTIP) Helping Honduran
Children Return Home At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 4
September 2011] With support from
the Human Security Program, the International Organization for Migration and
Covenant House (Casa Alianza) have begun a pilot
project that aims to repatriate and re-integrate Honduran street children who
have been trafficked to Canada and
the United States. Embattled minister
promises changes to exotic dancer rules Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation CBC News, November 25, 2004 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 4
September 2011] "When you talk
to the women who are so desperate for a way out of [their] countries they
say, 'Please keep this program because it does provide us with an opportunity
– as much as we may not like it or approve of it – a chance of a better
life.'" Sgro
says once the women get to LifeSiteNews.com, www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/dec/04120102.html [accessed 27 January
2011] [accessed 30 January
2019] Today in the House
of Commons, Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan announced an abrupt end to
the Canadian scheme of arranging visas specifically for exotic dancers, or
strippers, which are used to fill positions at strip clubs in Canada. Those
clubs, it has been acknowledged even by club owners, are notorious for forced
back-room prostitution work. www.upenn.edu/pennnews/news/us-canadian-and-mexican-representatives-meet-combat-sexual-exploitation-children [accessed 27 January
2011] Other newly
released information from the Penn study shows that Trafficking in
Women in Louise Langevin & Marie-Claire Belleau, Status of Women publications.gc.ca/site/eng/238946/publication.html [accessed 19 August
2014] This report
analyses the legal framework governing the hiring of immigrant live-in
caregivers and the legal status of mail-order brides who immigrate to Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 3 October 2003 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/canada2003.html [accessed 27 January
2011] [52] The Committee
is also concerned about the increase of foreign children and women trafficked
into [53] The Committee
recommends … The Protection
Project - The www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/canada.doc [Last accessed 2009] FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - Most of the
Chinese, Korean, Malaysian, and Thai women found in raids on brothels,
massage parlors, and karaoke bars across the country have told police that an
agent in their home countries charged them for transportation to Human Rights
Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide [accessed 27 January
2011] ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** 2017 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 20 April 2018 www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2017/wha/277315.htm
[accessed 19 March
2019] www.state.gov/reports/2017-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/canada/
[accessed 25 June
2019] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR There were reports
that employers subjected noncitizen or foreign-born men and women to forced
labor in the agricultural sector, food processing, cleaning services,
hospitality, construction industries, and in domestic service. NGOs reported
that bonded labor, particularly in the construction industry, and domestic
servitude constituted the majority of cases of forced labor and that some
victims had participated in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT There were reports
that child labor occurred, particularly in the agricultural sector. There
were also reports that children, principally teenage females, were subjected
to sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61719.htm [accessed 7 February
2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– Thousands of persons entered the country illegally over the last decade.
These persons came primarily from East Asia (particularly China and Korea,
but also Malaysia), Central and South Asia, Eastern Europe, Russia, Latin
America and the Caribbean (including Mexico, Honduras, and Haiti), and South
Africa. Many of these illegal immigrants paid large sums to be smuggled to
the country, were indentured to their traffickers upon arrival, worked at
lower than minimum wage, and used most of their salaries to pay down their
debt at usurious interest rates. The traffickers used violence to ensure that
their clients paid and that they did not inform the police. Asian women and
girls who were smuggled into the country often were forced into prostitution.
Traffickers used intimidation and violence, as well as the illegal
immigrants' inability to speak English, to keep victims from running away or
informing the police. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery - |
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