Defining Human Trafficking​

 Human trafficking according to Public Safety Canada is "the recruitment, transportation, harbouring and/or exercising control, direction or influence over the movements of a person in order to exploit that person, typically through sexual exploitation or forced labour" (2019). It's commonly thought that the buying and selling of people is something of the past. It is also perceived that it is happening in other countries, in other places – not in our own backyard. But in fact, there are more people trafficked today than any time in human history.

The most common form of human trafficking detected by national authorities is trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation; Sex Trafficking.
(United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime - UNODC)
The Global Slavery Index 2023 estimates that on any given day there are 69,000 people living in modern slavery in Canada. Human trafficking is difficult to detect and subject to underreporting to police. Individuals experiencing the trauma of human trafficking may be: 
  • unaware that they are being trafficked
  • in precarious or vulnerable situations
  • fearful or distrustful of authorities
  • fearful of deportation or loss of employment
  • facing threats from the traffickers
Source:
https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/resources/downloads/
Trafficking within Canada for the purpose of sexual exploitation is reported to be the most common form of modern slavery detected by authorities. 93% of identified sex trafficked individuals are Canadian citizens, not foreign citizens.

"Over 50% of the victims of human trafficking in Canada are Indigenous, even though they represent less than 5% per cent of the total population," according to a report released in 2020
​by Public Safety Canada
Of trafficked individuals in Canada
  • 96% are female
  • 71%  are under the age of 25 
  • 91%  know their trafficker 
  • 9%  are trafficked by a stranger
  • 31% are trafficked by a friend or acquaintance
  • 27% are trafficked  by a criminal, business, or other relationship
  • 31% are trafficked by their spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, or intimate partner
Infographic from Zonta International
Infographic from ​KidsFirst 
The majority of sex trafficked individuals are reportedly Canadian-born teenage girls, some as young as 13, who are recruited in various ways, including at school, through social media, and at shopping malls. Techniques used by traffickers include building dependence by buying gifts and posing as boyfriends. Younger male members of street gangs simulate affection as a tool to recruit young women.

Some people think that people freely choose to be part of the sex industry and that they prefer selling sex to other job opportunities. Many sexually exploited individuals, however, enter the sex industry out of economic desperation because they have no other means of
earning money. These individuals view this as a survival strategy, and while they are making a choice, this choice must be viewed in context: when working in the sex industry is the only financially viable option for a woman to support themselves and their family, is it really a choice?

Examples of Where Sexual Exploitation Occurs

  • ON THE STREETS
    • Usually, these individuals will have certain locations, or “tracks,” where they walk as they wait for buyers, majority of them are men, to pick them up. People of all ages are exploited outdoors, and they may be put on the streets by a pimp who takes a portion or all of their profits.

  • INDOORS
    • Indoor sexual exploitation occurs in locations such as massage parlours, strip clubs, brothels, apartments and houses. In the case of massage parlours and strip clubs, the business may appear to be legitimate while secretly offering patrons the chance to purchase the employed individuals, majority of them are women, there for various sex acts. As with street sex work, individuals, both young and adults, sold indoors or through business fronts may also be controlled by a pimp, and they will have to pay both the agency and the pimp.
      ​
  • E-TRADE
    • Online Escort Service and websites utilising the concept of Sugar Daddies and Sugar Babies are often used to post advertisements for people being sold. 
    • Sex buyers find individuals online and arrange to meet at another location such as the house of the buyer, a hotel room, or the apartment of an individual or their pimp.
    • These websites often claim to have restrictions in place to protect individuals and children from being exploited, but predators and pimps easily find loopholes in the system.
  • SEX TOURISM
    • Sex tourism describes “the activities of individuals who, whether or not they set out with this intention, use their economic power to attain powers of sexual command over local women, men and/or children while travelling for leisure purposes”.
    • Sex tourism perpetuates the economic dependence of developing countries on the money of First World tourists as tourism is often the most lucrative industry in poorer countries.
      ​
  • SPORTING EVENTS
    • Major sports events cause a large influx of fans to hosting cities, and these fans often celebrate for a week surrounding the game day. These sports events also attract pimps and the individuals they are exploiting. At the Super Bowl  police estimated that as many as 10,000  individuals were trafficked for sexual exploitation from outside the area. Many of these individuals are transported from Canadian communities

National and International Protocols Against Human Trafficking

In 2000, the United Nations adopted the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. The Trafficking in Persons Protocol establishes the most widely accepted international framework to fight human trafficking, especially of women and children (Kaye, Hastie, 2015).

Canada ratified the Trafficking Protocol in 2002 and is committed to developing laws and programs to implement it. The Trafficking Protocol requires countries that have ratified it to focus on three main areas, referred to as the three P’s:
  • Protection — Protecting and assisting those who have been trafficked.
  • Prevention — Preventing and combating human trafficking.
  • Prosecution — Prosecuting the traffickers.
In addition, Canada’s National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking recognizes a fourth P – partnerships.
  • Partnerships — Partnership is the promotion of cooperation among countries in order to effectively meet the goals of Protection, Prevention and Prosecution.
​
Additionally, many governments are taking action to protect high-risk persons from trafficking predators. Human trafficking is a serious criminal offense in Canada. Both the Criminal Code of Canada and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act criminalize all aspects of human trafficking.

Canada's National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking consolidates ongoing efforts of the federal government to combat human trafficking and introduces aggressive new initiatives to prevent human trafficking, identify survivors, protect the most vulnerable, and prosecute perpetrators.  The National Action Plan aims to better support organizations providing assistance to survivors, and it builds on our current responses and commitment to work together with our partners to prevent and combat this crime.
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based
anti-trafficking groups are working hard to prevent sex trafficking, protect vulnerable populations, lobby for policy reformation, and even rehabilitate survivors both at local and global levels. Fight4Freedom is an active part of these round table discussions and hopes to raise awareness of sex trafficking and to see it end in our generation.

How you can help fight sex trafficking?

You can join us in our fight to stop sex trafficking by GIVING to Fight4Freedom, committing to PRAY for survivors VOLUNTEERING in our ongoing outreach or administration ministry areas and/or PARTNERING with us in raising awareness and advocating for policy reform. 

Resources:

  1. https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/cntrng-crm/hmn-trffckng/index-en.aspx
  2. https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/lang--en/index.htm
  3. https://www.canadianwomen.org/sites/canadianwomen.org/files/FactSheet-EndHumanTrafficking%20(Aruna%20Edit%20-%20ONLINE).pdf
  4. https://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/en/mcss/programs/humanTrafficking/index.aspx
  5. https://www.canadianwomen.org/sites/canadianwomen.org/files/Laws%20to%20Combat%20Sex%20Trafficking_1.pdf

Protocol:

  1. Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
  2. Canada’s National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking
  3. Criminal Code of Canada
  4. Immigration and Refugee Protection Act