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June 30 marks World Day Against Human Trafficking, a day established by the United Nations General Assembly to raise awareness and promote the protection of victims of human trafficking. Since then, I have been reflecting on this often misunderstood topic as it relates to Canadians, and especially Ontarians.
A human trafficker is defined in Ontario's Anti-Human Trafficking Act, 2017 and the Canadian Criminal Code as:
Every person who recruits, transports, transfers, receives, holds, conceals or harbours a person, or exercises control, direction or influence over the movements of a person, for the purpose of exploiting them or facilitating their exploitation.
"Human trafficking" is often understood only as "sexual abuse trafficking", and while it is true sexual abuse trafficking is a common form of human trafficking, it is unfortunately not the only form. Another type of human trafficking is "labour trafficking", or what is commonly referred to as "modern-day slavery". The difference between sexual abuse trafficking and labour trafficking is in the manner through which the victim is exploited, whether through sexual or labour exploitation.
Perhaps the most common misconception of human trafficking of all forms is that the victims do not receive payment, and that if payment is made in any form to a trafficked person, then their experience as a victim of human trafficking is no longer valid. This is simply not true.
A victim of human trafficking may receive some payment for the exploitation they suffer, but it is not in any way negating the exploitation they experience. They are not in control of being exploited, even if they are receiving payment and have a life "separate" from the trafficking.
Human trafficking is often misunderstood as some far away problem, one that is out of sight and out of mind. Unfortunately, this is also not true.
Canada has been identified as a source, destination and transit point for victims of human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labour1.
United Nations experts have raised concerns that Canada's Temporary Foreign Workers Program and the treatment of migrant workers in Canada amounts of "contemporary forms of slavery"2. Wage theft, excessive work hours, limited breaks and physical abuse all amount to a situation where workers, out of fear or out of desperation, are coerced to stay silent about the labour trafficking they face.
Human trafficking is a serious issue despite Canada's laws against human trafficking, whether National laws under the Criminal Code and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, or Provincial legislation like the Ontario Anti-Human Trafficking Act which allows victims to bring civil lawsuits against human traffickers in Ontario.
Footnotes
1 Public Safety Canada – About Human Trafficking
2 UN expert sounds alarm over 'contemporary forms of slavery' in Canada | UN News
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