Plan to combat human trafficking announced

By Deborah Gyapong

Canadian Catholic News

OTTAWA (CCN) — The government’s National Action Plan (NAP) to Combat Human Trafficking announced June 6 will be a “huge help” in combating modern-day slavery, said Conservative MP Joy Smith.
“I’m absolutely delighted,” said Smith, who participated in the NAP’s roll-out in one of several news conferences across the country. “This adds a new step toward combating human trafficking in Canada.”

“There are so many aspects of the National Action Plan that are so good,” she said, citing the establishment of an integrated law enforcement team to hunt down traffickers and an educational and public awareness campaign to help people detect trafficking activities and identify and protect vulnerable groups at risk. “I really like the part of support for victims and victim support organizations,” she said. The plan provides $500,000 to help victims.

Smith has led the government’s efforts in combating human trafficking. Her 2007 motion calling for an national strategy passed unanimously in the House of Commons. Her 2010 Connecting the Dots document fleshed out the elements of an effective plan.

The NAP, however, does not propose any changes to Canada’s prostitution laws, which are now before the courts after an Ontario judge struck down parts of the law as unconstitutional.

Smith said the NAP is not designed to tackle the legislative aspect of fighting human trafficking. Smith said she plans to continue a legislative agenda that she hopes might eventually lead to Canada’s adopting the so-called Nordic model pioneered in Sweden in 1999 that criminalizes the purchase of sex instead of its sale.

Smith said she is “very worried” about the “collapsing of prostitution laws in Ontario.” The laws stand while the case is under appeal.

“Prostitution should not be legalized,” she said. “It’s been proven globally that legalized prostitution brings in organized crime, and leads to more violence against women, more people trafficked and puts more young people at risk.”

“I believe we should be targeting the market,” she said, calling for a “made-in-Canada” Nordic model that shifts the onus away from the women and children who sell sex onto those who buy it or who exploit prostitutes, most of whom are trafficking victims.

Wherever the Nordic model has been tried, levels of human trafficking fall off, she said. “Once you cut off the market, it’s not lucrative anymore to push young people into these terrible positions.”

Canadians who disagree with legalization of prostitution need to speak up, she said. “Now is the time to say loud and clear prostitution should not be legalized.”

“I’ve seen so many young people victimized because they are bought and sold. It’s all about money, how the perpetrators make money,” she said.

On June 6, Smith participated in one of several news conferences across the country announcing the NAP. In Ottawa Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and Public Works and Status of Women Minister Rona Ambrose jointly announced the initiative.

“Our government is firmly committed to the global fight against human trafficking and is stepping up its efforts to address this heinous crime in Canada and abroad, whose victims tragically include young Canadian women and girls,” said Toews.

The NAP co-ordinates the activities of 18 federal departments. It will provide training to help those in law enforcement and social services to identify and respond to trafficking and take steps to protect vulnerable communities such as Aboriginal youth.

The plan will also co-ordinate domestic and international efforts to combat trafficking.

Meanwhile, Smith’s Bill C-310 is now before a Senate committee which has been conducting hearings on the issue. This bill would make human trafficking an extra-territorial offence, allowing Canada to prosecute Canadian citizens and residents for trafficking offences in other countries.

Her bill also expands the definition of human trafficking to include non-violent forms of coercion and deception. “Perpetrators do not come on initially as enemies or bad people because they want to get the trust of their victim, then the whole scene changes,” she said.

Expanding the definition will give the courts the tools they need to recognize the more subtle forms of coercion than overt threats and violence, so prosecutors can get a conviction in a court of law, she said.

Smith’s first private member’s bill brought in mandatory minimum sentences for any trafficking offence involving children 18 or under.