Abolish Slavery...In Canada

Human trafficking exists in Canada. A national strategy does not. Bill C-268 was a victory, but we need to do more.

The treatment of human beings as commodities is a practice as ancient as it is appalling. For Canadians, perhaps this is the reason this modern form of slavery remains a foreign and misunderstood concept. In reality, it occurs within the country’s borders on a daily basis.

As the leaders of the world’s most powerful nations gathered in Canada for the G20 and G8 summits, this issue did not, unfortunately, appear on the agenda. However, some domestic progress occurred with the June 18 passage of Bill C-268, which will ensure a minimum of five years in jail for traffickers of children in Canada. The approval of this bill is a victory not only for the thousands of victims and potential victims of this crime, but also for Canada’s reputation and leadership role in the international community.

Bill C-268’s passage is all the more remarkable given the fractious nature of the 40th session of Parliament and the resultant low number of bills actually passed, as well as its status as a private member’s bill – such bills rarely receive assent.

The fact that this bill, championed by Joy Smith (Member of Parliament for Kildonan-St. Paul) successfully muscled its way through a dysfunctional Parliament is a testament to the urgency of this matter.

Human trafficking – as defined by the Government of Canada – is the “recruitment, transportation and/or harbouring of persons for the purpose of exploitation, typically for sexual exploitation or forced labour.”

According to the UN, the vast majority of human trafficking involves sexual exploitation, and the victims are almost always women and girls. Furthermore, on a global basis, one in five victims is a child, while 100 per cent of victims in Africa and the Mekong region are children.

Most traffickers, given their financial motivation, generally aim to transport victims into the U.S., with Canada often seen as an easy entry point. Victims are coerced by means of fraud and forced to engage in prostitution, pornography, and live sex shows.

In Canada, the RCMP estimates that between 800 and 1,200 people are trafficked through Canada each year; this activity is also responsible for the illegal arrival of between 8,000 and 16,000 people annually. And the toll of this crime is not restricted to the immediate victims: trafficking has a financial impact of up to $400 million per year, according to RCMP figures.

But while the international community is awakening to this egregious problem, government action remains at a decidedly preliminary stage. To this end, Bill C-268 amends the Criminal Code so that minimum sentences can be imposed upon people who are involved in trafficking persons under the age of 18.

Prior to the passage of Bill C-268, Canada was one of a few western nations that did not recognize human trafficking when it came time to prosecute offenders. This despite the fact that Canada is a signatory to the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child pornography, and prostitution.

In 2008, Imani Nakpangi, who made over $350,000 through the trafficking of a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old girl, became the first person in Canada to be convicted of this offence.

But advocates say much more needs to be done at a national, institutional level. Specifically, MP Joy Smith, along with groups such as Canadians Against Human Trafficking and Women Against Slavery, is calling for a national strategy that would unify the provision of services at the provincial level. The strategy is aimed at helping the devastated victims to reassemble their lives. Despite Smith’s 2007 introduction of a motion to this effect in the House of Commons, and despite its passing by unanimous vote, a strategy is still not in place.