Canada is both a source country for pedophiles travelling abroad in search of victims and a destination for sex tourists, particularly from the United States.
We’re a country whose own women and children — many of whom are aboriginal — are trafficked internally for commercial sexual exploitation.
But the traffickers, whether they’re exploiting Canadians or bringing in adults and children from abroad, don’t deliver to only the sex trade. Both domestic and foreign victims are also forced labourers in homes, agricultural fields and sweatshops.
That said, in this land of peace, order and good government, we’ve got great laws. We just don’t use them often enough or well enough.
Those are the conclusions of the U.S. State Department in its 9th annual State of Trafficking in Persons Report. Covering 175 countries, the report is being released this morning and is available at
www.state.gov/g/tip.
Despite its failings, Canada is among the best in combating what the report refers to as “a modern-day form of slavery.” Only once — in 2003 — did Canada fall to tier two, when it was deemed not to fully comply with even the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking.
The fact that Canada is among the best should give people pause.
Even though Canadian politicians promised long ago to eliminate exotic dancing from its list of skilled worker categories for immigration because of fears that traffickers were using it as a loophole to legally import women into forced prostitution, 14 permits were issued last year. Fifteen were handed out in 2007 and 22 in 2006.
The RCMP estimates between 800 and 2,200 people are trafficked into or through the country each year. But only five traffickers have ever been convicted and that was last year. Maximum penalties are $1 million and life in prison, but the sentences ranged from two to eight years in jail.
Only 31 trafficking victims were identified in the two years ending 2008. Of those, only 15 were given temporary residence permits last year.
Oddly, Canada is better at tracking its pedophiles abroad. Since 1997, 110 Canadians have been charged at home with sexually exploiting children in foreign countries.
The American report notes (favourably) that Canada has incorporated an anti-trafficking component into its 2010 Olympic security plans. RCMP don’t expect any increase in trafficking prior to or during the Games.
That’s supported by research done for the Sex Industry Workers Safety Action Group and paid for by the B.C. government’s Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons and the Vancouver Police Department.
“The commonly held notion of a link between mega sports events, trafficking in persons and sex work is an unsubstantiated assumption,” it says.
Still, almost everyone expects that one million Olympic visitors will attract more prostitutes. Will they come on their own or be brought/sent/coerced by pimps? That’s the source of heated debate.
What we know is that in 2004 when the Summer Olympics were held in Athens, Greek police found double the number of trafficking victims. The following year, the number dropped 24 per cent. Was it less demand or less enforcement? No one knows.
Like Greece, Vancouver is already a hot spot for trafficking, plus it’s a known child-sex tourism destination. Add a million Olympic visitors, increased security, and more awareness, better detection, intervention and prevention of trafficking.
If there’s not a huge increase in the detected numbers of trafficking victims and traffickers, Canada really will be failing in its obligations to protect the world’s most vulnerable.
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