On Tuesday, the Canadian federal government will be presented with a petition signed by 570,000 Canadians that calls for the cessation of sex trafficking, a human rights violation affecting women and children across the world, including in this country.
Activists from the general public and by The Body Shop in Canada, Beyond Borders and the Somaly Mam Foundation, will rally at The Body Shop retail store at the Rideau Centre to meet with Minister of Public Safety, Vic Toews. Together, they will ask the government to help stop trafficking in women and children.
Estimates by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) put the number of women and children trafficked into Canada at 600-800 annually. Some 2,000 people are believed to be trafficked out of Canada and into our southerly neighbour, the United States.
Globally, human trafficking is the third-largest international criminal industry in the world. It is also the fastest-growing. Approximately 1.8 million children are thought to be exploited in the global commercial sex industry, though actual numbers are likely higher due to the illicit and secretive nature of the industry.
According to the US State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report 2011, Canada is a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children forced into sexual slavery and forced labour.
"Canada is also a significant source country for child sex tourists, who travel abroad to engage in sex acts with children,” says the report.
There is a need for a comprehensive national strategy to combat trafficking and for greater collaboration between national and provincial agencies.
That said, there have been more key gains in the fight against child trafficking in Canada. In February of this year, Ontario authorities announced that they would undertake a two-year, $2 million “multi-pronged” initiative to combat human trafficking. More recently, Miss Canada, BC resident Tara Teng, has launched a grassroots campaign to abolish trafficking. The campaign, which will run until September 4th is called “Ignite the Road to Justice,” and will include a collaboration of key trafficking informants, non-governmental organizations, a recording artist and more.
Last June, the government passed legislation that established a minimum sentence of five years imprisonment for perpetrators of child trafficking when the offence involves kidnapping, aggravated assault, or aggravated sexual assault. The number of prosecutions have also has increased, while the efforts to protect victims and prevent trafficking have improved.