FEWO Committee Report

Bloc Québécois Dissenting Opinion

Context

The Bloc Québécois wishes to thank all individuals and groups from Quebec and Canada who appeared before the Committee. The expertise and concerns shared by various witnesses on the serious matter of human trafficking reminds us that we must take action, both as citizens and as legislators. The Committee’s work on this matter highlights the urgent need for solutions.  

While the report on human trafficking makes recommendations that are generally appropriate and necessary, the report unfortunately goes off in too many directions, and its study of the matter was too brief.

While the Bloc Québécois appreciates the Committee’s intent, it cannot subscribe to all the report’s recommendations and must express its objections. In our opinion, the recommendations pertaining specifically to trafficking (recommendation 12 onward) are valid and we support them. We must however express our reservations about some of the first recommendations. 

Jurisdiction

In the first recommendation, the Committee proposes a national framework to address poverty. This may at first glance seem worthwhile, but we must bear in mind that social assistance falls under the jurisdiction of the government of Quebec and the provinces, and this is where the battle must be fought.

The Bloc Québécois requested the following amendment to Recommendation 1:

The Committee recommends that the federal government provide sufficient support to the provinces and territories that have adopted a policy to address poverty.

Our recommendation was not accepted. Quebec’s National Assembly passed a bill in December 2002 entitled An Act to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion. The federal government must provide support for the provinces’ efforts and wishes and not guidance. This is why the current wording of Recommendation 1 does not in any way reflect Quebec’s interests or those of the victims of trafficking, but instead stems from a strong centralist trend in Ottawa.

The federal government’s responsibility to provide sufficient support in the form of financial assistance to help the provincial and Quebec governments fight human trafficking is strictly speaking not reflected in the Committee’s recommendations, except as regards cooperation among police services.

Difficult issue of sexual exploitation

The Committee also considered the issue of sexual exploitation at length. While the cause-effect relationship between sexual exploitation and trafficking is undeniable, and although the Bloc Québécois is opposed to all forms of sexual exploitation, we consider the recommendations on this matter to be hasty and insufficiently documented.

The Sub-Committee on Solicitation spent over three years on the issue of solicitation alone and was unable to reach a consensus on the difficult issue of prostitution. We consider it hasty to arrive at a final decision after hearing less than three months of evidence on the issue. 

“The divergence between members’ views on prostitution is often philosophical. This is certainly one of the major impediments for the Subcommittee to finding consensus on how to address adult prostitution.” ¹

The report makes value judgments on prostitution and is condescending at times, especially in Recommendation 6. The Bloc Québécois opposes sexual exploitation and regards prostitution as a form of it. In our opinion however criminalizing the purchasing of sexual services would not solve the problem; on the contrary, this could increase the risk of assault relating to these practices, which are already dangerous enough.

Conclusion

By trying to do too much too quickly, the Committee has overlooked some aspects of the issue and we are unable to support the report in its current form.

The Bloc Québécois considers these matters to be extremely important for the safety of women, gender equality and the type of society in which we would like to live.

This is why the scope of the Committee’s study should either have been limited or the time allotted for this study increased. This was unfortunately not the case.