CPAC - Thursday, May 23, 2024 - 03:00 p.m. (ET) - Segment #12

Which is getting worse, given population movements and increase in a number of refugees. Although I was not able to be at the AGM yesterday, I would like to renew my mandate as co-chair of the multi party group against human trafficking and modern slavery are. With my colleagues, this is something I care about a lot and we've been working on it for several years. So I will say a little more about this bill and then I will speak about the protocol. First of all, this bill responds to requests from a number of survivor groups. And in addition, it makes our definition of exploitation and human trafficking consistent with the definition in the protocol cited by Canada. This is a simple but important bill. And so as I was saying, according to the international centre for justice and human right at UBC's faculty of law, asking victims to show that they have reason really grounds to fear for their safety, can ultimately create a barrier for human trafficking. Because currently there's a protocol in the Criminal Code that states that bringing charges under these sections must be based on the fact that the victim fears refusal would endanger the security or security of someone they know. But we see that in many cases this is not appropriate. In 2022 Canada ratified the protocol against international organize ed crime in order to prevent and punish human trafficking, especially women and children. In section 3 it clearly states what But the question of consent is based on the victim's feeling of safety. So the victim has to prove that they would be in danger in they refused to be exploited. Now, when it comes to human trafficking, regardless of whether the victim feels safe or is willing, the victim should not have to justify the circumstances in which they were lured into the situation. It shouldn't have anything to do with whether this is seen as a case of trafficking or not. The U.S. department of state studied legislation in Canada and Mexico, which are very different. But the report does make suggestions to Canada. So even, for example, if the person consented to come coulding to Canada that, doesn't mean they consented to forced labour or sexual exploitation. And if the victims end up dependent on someone because of isolation or lack of resources or linguistic barriers, well, it's even worse. So in 2005 bill C-49 added three human trafficking obviouslieses to the Criminal Code, as well as a definition. Additional offense s are having to do with benefitting from material advantage, having to do with perpetrating or facilitating human trafficking, retaining or destroying I.D., such as a passport, whether real or false one. In order to commit or facilitate human trafficking. An exploitation within a human trafficking context as the section sails. In 2009 there was an initial case having to do with human trafficking under this legislation. In 2010, section 279.011 was added to the Criminal Code. It has to do with adding a mandatory minimum for people that haveaccused of human trafficking of individuals under 18. That was in bill C-268. In 2012 the Criminal Code was amended NORDZ to be able to charge Canadians who are permanent residents for human trafficking obviouslies s committed abroad and to give judges an information tool to help determine whether there was exploitation. This was in bill C-310. Then mandatory minimums were added for principal offense of human trafficking, or for benefitting from material advantage having to do with trafficking of children. And having to do with keeping or destroying documents in order to facilitate the trafficking in children. That was bill C-452, a Bloc Quebecois bill. So we have been reflecting on

this for some time. Now, let me talk about the relationships between human smugglers and human trafficking. We need to recognize that human smuggling, or what my son might call migration assistance, that has to do with helping someone cross a border illegally. So the person does consent and gives the smuggler a payment. Once they've arrived, very often the individual is no longer in contact with the smuggler. Whereas human trafficking involves duping the victim or forcing them or serve attitude in order to exploit people being transported. Now, often human smuggling end up being connected with human trafficking. Because very often in both cases someone end up being exploited. For example, sometimes people have a debt that the smuggler demands of them, and they end up having to work once they arrive to rep imburrs that exorbitant sum. Or sometimes migrant workers end up working under exploitive occasions. In that case, there might be charges, even if the migrants was initially consenting. The situation is currentsly leading to low -- currently leading the Lowell reporting rates. Very often when people realize the situation, even if they're victims, they're hesitant and they don't want to lodge a complaint. The sponsor of the bill in the senate says that in a 2018 report from public safety Canada the report says victims are often are reticent because they think there's little chance of succeeding in the legal system. And in many cases, prosecutors believe it will be difficult to reach a threshold of proof. Statistics are very clear. 89% of the charges in 2019 ended up with drawl of a case or with the alleged perpetrator ultimately not being held guilty. And so only 10% ended up with a guilty verdict. And according to UBC's school of law, there are about 4.8 million victims just for sexual human trafficking. According to statistics Canada, between 2010 and 2020 there were 86% in large metropolitan regions. Only 60% of general cases of violence were in these regions. More than half had to do with human trafficking. 44 43% often included the sex trade. And 90% of the victims were women and girls. 25% under 18. 20% between 25 and 34. Most of the perpetrators, 80%, were women and boys. And we know he that the time that we need in order to settle these cases usually takes a very long time and that can be discouraging. In fact, a median period before being able to conclude was on average 176 days. That was for general cases of violence, whereas when it came to human trafficking it was 373, so twice as much. In 2014 the international labour organization said that the revenue of all this could be up to $150 billion American per year. It is a huge sum. In conclusion, I'd just like to say that the senator has added a new provision. This provision is excellent because it includes the terminology of the Palermo Protocol can, and it focuses on the perpetrator and does not look at the fear felt by victims. Ultimately we want to see justice. >> The Speaker: Time for the member from Port Moody-Coquitlum. >> Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker. And I really want to thank the member for all the work that she does to protect women and to protect exploited women and to protect exploited persons in Canada. I really appreciate all of the hard work that she does. . The NDP is supportive of measures that help victims receive justice through the

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