FEWO Committee Report

Supplementary Opinion of the Conservative Party: Human Trafficking in Women and Girls

Over the course of this study, “Human Trafficking women and girls”, Members of Parliament from the Status of Women committee spoke to advocates including law-enforcement officials and community organizations in a committee setting, and on site-visits. Most importantly, Members spoke with victims and survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. From the testimony presented, Conservative Members of the Committee recognize that there are 2 clear issues that must be addressed 1) Children and Youth 2) Enforcement of Legislation.

Children and Youth

“Sex purchasers rarely care if a woman or girl is trafficked or underage. In fact, many of them will pay more to have sexual services with an underage girl” - Megan Walker

Many witnesses testified at committee about the exploitation of young girls as young as 11 years of age. This included anecdotal stories of “kiddie stroll”, a section of a street in Vancouver, where young girls were purchased for sex in the 90’s and early 2000’s. However, with new technology, those who exploit children have multiple platforms to lure children.

“Of those women in prostitution who called Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter (VRRWS), 24% were 15 or younger when they entered prostitution. Furthermore, 43% of the women who called VRRWS were “underage” (younger than 18) when they entered prostitution. Most often, the girls resorted to prostitution because of on-going sexual assault by their father (in some cases the father also pimped the girl) or grooming by an adult “boyfriend,” who often gave them drugs to make sure they stayed dependent on him. Most girls in these situations were “runaways” from abusive homes and/or raised in foster care.”

Children and youth are being groomed through various technological platforms and are being exposed to pornographic images at a very young age.  These platforms normalize the sexualization of young girls and women thus creating not only the supply for traffickers but also contributing to the demand.

Ms. Megan Walker of Women’s Advocate and Retired Executive Director, London Abused Women’s Centre, appearing as an individual stated,

“…online is a major hub for luring, but more importantly, it's a major hub for exploitation. Many girls, particularly those who are underage, are groomed on social media to believe that the person talking to them is a friend who would like to have a relationship with them. On many occasions like that, she's forced to touch herself, take off her clothes or do things like that. This is the link to Pornhub or pornography, because often whatever she is doing is then transferred and uploaded onto Pornhub and other porn sites.”

Ms. Tiana Sharifi, Chief Executive Officer, of the Exploitation Education Institute testified:

…particular platforms whose popularity only grew since the pandemic are now grooming minors with the promise of a luxurious lifestyle by means of influencing. Platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and Instagram have demonstrated to our younger generation that anyone could potentially come into fame or fortune, with much of this being directly connected with their hypersexualized content and objectification on these platforms. The more scandalous and sexualized you are, the greater your likelihood of likes and follows.

…a key piece of human trafficking is coercion. This coercion is happening through particular platforms that are normalizing self-exploitation. I believe the numbers we're seeing are actually exponentially higher, because we're seeing a lot of youth and children being groomed into self-exploitation. They are normalizing pimping each other and not defining it as “human trafficking”. Once they turn 18, all of a sudden, they're consensual sex workers.

Timea Nagy is an advocate against human trafficking who was exploited when she immigrated to Canada. During her testimony, she stated “We have begged and pleaded for years with all governments to put real funding behind a national prevention strategy for our kids. We still don't have one. Instead, we are left to go to schools on our own time with our own resources to make uncoordinated efforts to prevent kids from being trafficked. That's something the government should have done years ago.”

It is key to invest in education and awareness campaigns.  As stated by Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women (GAATW), “I think we a think we actually have a real challenge in helping men understand what healthy sexuality is, what mutuality in relationships is, what respect is, all of these things. Then it crosses over to the abuse of power.”

Education and awareness campaigns are key in reducing instances of trafficking. As outlined by Meaghan Walker, the business of trafficking relies on the same principals as other business, supply and demand.

“Similar to the economics of supply and demand, it is the demand for prostitution that fuels the supply of women needed. That supply is provided by traffickers. When demand is reduced, so too is supply.”  This sentiment was supported by Ms. Diane Matte the Co-founder of Concertation des luttes contre l'exploitation sexuelle when she stated, “Addressing the demand should therefore be part of the national action plan.  Addressing the demand is really of the utmost importance.

Enforcement of Legislation

Here's the example of a mother whose 16-year-old was trafficked. When the mother was in court, she witnessed the legal officials call her daughter a “sex worker” instead of a human trafficking victim. The misogyny in the system becomes clear when 16 year olds are called “sex workers” when they are trafficked which “in itself is, to me, violating the crime, and that’s going on court of law”. Jeanne Sarson

Under the former Conservative Government, Bill C-36, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, received Royal Assent on November 6, 2014. Bill C-36 treats prostitution as a form of sexual exploitation that disproportionately impacts women and girls. Its overall objectives are to:

• Protect those who sell their own sexual services;
• Protect communities, and especially children, from the harms caused by prostitution; and
• Reduce the demand for prostitution and its incidence.

According to Justice Canada, the new criminal law seeks to protect the dignity and equality of all Canadians by denouncing and prohibiting the purchase of sexual services. This includes the exploitation of the prostitution of others, the development of economic interests in the sexual exploitation of others and the institutionalization of prostitution through commercial enterprises, such as strip clubs, massage parlours and escort agencies that offer sexual services for sale. It also seeks to encourage victims to report incidents of violence to the police and to leave prostitution. To achieve these goals, $20 million in new funding has been dedicated to help individuals exit prostitution.

“A three-pronged approach is critical to the work of preventing trafficking. The three prongs include providing robust funding to organizations that work with women who are trafficked and prostituted, public awareness and education, and legislation and enforcement.”- Megan Walker

Unfortunately, under this government, funding to renew programs under this legislation was not renewed in 2020.

Secondly, as brought forward in testimony by the VRRWS, “due to the terror they experience and ongoing threats from pimps and traffickers, women are often fearful of reporting to police and testifying in court. At times, women have recanted their statements because of threats by their traffickers. When they are too scared to testify, we ensure that women understand that we are behind their decision and will support them regardless of if they testify. The experience of being trafficked removed their ability to make decisions for themselves and so, we believe it is crucial to follow their lead when making decisions about their bodies and own safety.”

As described by Timea Nagy, “what is the point of catching them if they're only going to get released? What do you tell the victim? Yes, please come to testify. Pour your guts out, be scared, be intimidated. Face your trafficker in court, who told you that if you do that you're going to be killed, only for the victim to watch this guy walk out on bail.”  She also continued with the lack of efforts of this current government, commenting, “We also have a sitting government that is revising mandatory minimum legislation, such as the mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years for trafficking in individuals under the age of 18. Instead, federal judges choose not to use the punishment because it's too harsh. I would like them to tell that to the victims as well.” 

What is important to recognize is that in almost all crimes against women, the sentence for the perpetrator is much less than it would be if it were a man. - Megan Walker

Throughout this study, we heard from multiple organizations who shared stories and backgrounds of victims and survivors they encountered.  During the site visit to Peel Region, organizations shared their stories and concerns of International Students who are being exploited here in Canada.  Exploitation can take many forms including sexual deeds for housing and food.

Megan Walker shared, “Over the last 25 years, I have seen a steady increase of women, and particularly girls, lured into the sex industry by traffickers or organized crime. Many girls are lured from universities, colleges, bars and even workplaces. Parents have often reported checking online sex sites to see if the sexual services of their daughters are being advertised. As painful as this is for parents, it is how they track whether their daughters are dead or still alive.”

Ms. Jeanne Sarson the Co-Founder of Persons Against Non-State Torture believes “Criminal Code amendments would educate society about the severity of human trafficking and foster developing non-state torture victimization, traumatization-informed care and promote the healing ability of women and children.”

Over the past 9 years, things are getting worse in Canada. The current justice system has created ‘lost hope’ for many survivors and their families.  The government’s investments have focused on their own priorities and not those of survivors.

..we have a sitting government that is not interested in being very effective in implementing these laws. They are not putting pressure on the judges, at all, to implement the law that has passed.

The judges who have decided not to go for the harsh sentences have said that these would be too harsh. Then I don't understand why we have laws. Why do we have laws if the judges are not implementing our laws? - Timea Nagy

Important exit strategies and solutions to assist survivors have become unaffordable including housing and lack of rehabilitation facilities.  As Timea Nagy so intuitively stated, “we take the money away from the proceeds of crime, we just have to reform the granting system so that the money would actually go to the rehabilitation of the survivors”.