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Results: 1 - 15 of 51
View Garnett Genuis Profile
CPC (AB)
Madam Chair, the minister, then, is very clearly on the record that he rejects the Milliken ruling and does not believe he has to comply with it, because his description of what is required of him is completely at odds with the Milliken ruling.
The New Humanitarian and the Thomson Reuters Foundation have reported speaking to over 40 women in the Democratic Republic of Congo who were offered work in exchange for sex by World Health Organization employees during the Ebola crisis of 2018-20. It is appalling to see so many from the World Health Organization using their power to sexually exploit women during a health crisis.
When did the government first become aware of these allegations? What actions have been taken by the Government of Canada in relation to them, and what is it prepared to do to hold the World Health Organization accountable?
View Karina Gould Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Karina Gould Profile
2021-05-31 20:57 [p.7684]
Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for raising what is a very important issue. We became aware of these issues as they were reported, and we have been in discussion with the World Health Organization. Canada, alongside like-minded countries, has démarched the WHO on this specifically, recognizing that those who are survivors of sexual and gender-based violence need to have adequate access to justice, and we are following this topic very closely.
Canada has a policy with regard to sexual exploitation and abuse. We are following that policy closely, and we will continue to advocate on behalf of survivors as well as—
View Ted Falk Profile
CPC (MB)
View Ted Falk Profile
2021-03-08 14:11 [p.4661]
Mr. Speaker, today is International Women's Day and the theme is “Choose to challenge”.
Brave survivors of online sexual exploitation are doing exactly that. Survivor Victoria Galy recently told the ethics committee that “Pornhub has become my human trafficker, and they have been relentless in doing so.”
Over 100 survivors of sexual exploitation and hundreds of non-governmental organizations are calling on the federal government to initiate a full criminal investigation of Canadian-based MindGeek, Pornhub's parent company. In recent years, MindGeek has received international attention due to the real exploitation of women and minors featured in some of its published content. Many of these practices are prohibited under existing Criminal Code provisions, yet charges have never been laid. This lack of enforcement is shameful.
Every Canadian, every woman, every girl deserves the full protection of the law. On International Women's Day, we affirm the rights of all women and girls to live free from violence and exploitation.
View Andréanne Larouche Profile
BQ (QC)
View Andréanne Larouche Profile
2021-02-18 15:57 [p.4262]
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech in which he spoke a lot about the importance of human rights. He also raised the issue of feminism.
I would like to remind this government, which claims to be feminist and to defend feminist values, that 80% of Uighur women are currently at risk of forced sterilization. Rape is being used as a weapon against them.
With that in mind, does the government agree that we need to send a strong message to the community to defend Uighur women who are the victims of horrific sex crimes? Will the government vote in favour of the Bloc Québécois's amendment to relocate the 2022 Beijing games?
View Mark Gerretsen Profile
Lib. (ON)
Madam Speaker, I thank all the members who, as I said at the beginning of my speech, contributed today. They have really helped to inform me about this particular issue. I will be the first to admit that when I walked into this chamber this morning I did not understand the great depth to which people were being persecuted. I am much more aware of that now, as a result of the deliberation that has happened here.
I absolutely think that Canada needs to send a strong message. In any case, when acts such as what we have been made aware of are happening, there is a very important role for Canada to play in terms of delivering a strong message, whatever that might be, and at whatever time it might be warranted.
View Pierre Paul-Hus Profile
CPC (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I recently moved Motion No. 63 in the House of Commons. The motion calls on the government to recognize the urgent need to pass legislation to combat the sexual exploitation of minors in order to better protect our children.
In my previous role as shadow minister for public safety and emergency preparedness, I worked closely with the elected members of the Quebec National Assembly to support them in regard to the Criminal Code changes that were being requested. I also continue to support the Deputy Premier of Quebec, Geneviève Guilbault, in order to achieve that goal.
Now I would like the federal government to make this a priority so that our young people who are being sexually exploited are not just numbers in a report. It is high time we protected our children.
View Andréanne Larouche Profile
BQ (QC)
View Andréanne Larouche Profile
2021-02-16 11:06 [p.4101]
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to the motion in my capacity as vice-chair of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women.
The Standing Committee on the Status of Women examined the problem of human trafficking and recommended that February 22 be recognized as national human trafficking awareness day. We agreed that the committee chair would table the report in the House. I would still like to summarize it, to make sure everyone understands what we are going to be talking about today.
The committee recommends, given the unanimous declaration of the House on Thursday, February 22, 2007, condemning all forms of human trafficking—which is defined as a form of modern-day slavery, generally for sexual purposes, forced labour or slavery—and thus encouraging Canadians to hear from victims and survivors of human trafficking, encouraging Canadians to raise awareness of the magnitude of modern day slavery in Canada and abroad, and taking steps to combat human trafficking. Lastly, the committee recommends that February 22 be recognized as national human trafficking awareness day.
As the critic for status of women, I hear about human trafficking on a regular basis. I hear about it even more often in my role as a co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group to End Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. I want to give a shout-out to my colleagues from Peace River—Westlock and Scarborough—Guildwood, who are also members of this group.
When I was asked to join this multi-party group, I remember being very surprised at first. I wondered whether this was still a current issue, and I was even a bit shocked about being approached to talk about it. That was when I unfortunately realized that this was an ongoing problem that should be better known and highlighted.
That is why I will be addressing today three aspects of this crucial issue. I will first reiterate the Bloc Québécois's position by presenting a few promising solutions. I will then speak about the importance of working with the survivors, especially indigenous women and girls. I will conclude by also dispelling certain myths about human trafficking and modern-day slavery, given that this motion is being introduced in the midst of a pandemic and that the crisis has demonstrably exacerbated the problems of human trafficking and modern-day slavery.
First and foremost, it is important we all agree on the terminology I will be using in my speech, so I want to review in more detail what human trafficking is about.
According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, human trafficking occurs when criminals recruit, transport, harbour, or control people to exploit them. As I mentioned earlier, criminals, and we are talking about heinous crimes here, generally exploit their unfortunate victims for sexual purposes or forced labour. Human trafficking may occur for the purposes of sexual exploitation, forced labour or even organ harvesting, although the latter is much less common in Canada.
Human trafficking also refers to the exploitation of human beings for financial benefit. Trafficking can come in many forms, and victims are generally forced, coerced, deceived or compelled through the abuse of trust, power or authority, to provide sexual services or labour. In addition, victims of human trafficking experience serious physical, emotional and psychological trauma.
Human trafficking is a violation of basic human rights and a criminal offence. In fact, six separate Criminal Code offences specifically address human trafficking.
In addition, section 118 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act prohibits knowingly organizing the coming into Canada of one or more persons by means of abduction, fraud, deception or use or threat of force or coercion.
Trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation means the recruitment, transportation and transfer, inside or outside a country, by legal or illegal means, as well as the harbouring or receipt of persons, primarily women and children, for purposes of sexual exploitation. Phases of human trafficking include recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring and receipt, as well as the means used against the victims, such as the threat or use of force, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of a position of vulnerability, or giving or receiving payments or benefits. Tragically, the ultimate goal is to exploit the trafficked women and children to give johns uninterrupted access to sex for money and to earn trafficker pimps substantial profits.
It is important to distinguish between modern-day slavery and human trafficking, however. These terms are not synonymous, although they are connected. Human trafficking is an initial stage, which involves transporting, harbouring, recruiting and receiving victims. All of these steps lead to exploitation or modern-day slavery.
The Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline is a confidential service that operates 24-7. It can be reached at 1-833-900-1010. The hotline helps victims and survivors of human trafficking by connecting them with social services, emergency services and law enforcement agencies. It also accepts tips from the public. We must remain vigilant and keep our eyes open.
I will now read an excerpt from Public Safety Canada's 2019-24 national strategy to combat human trafficking. In my opinion, it really sums up the fact that everything is not so simple and that a call to action is not enough to make everything clear.
Human trafficking is a complex crime. It is facilitated by many factors, including the vulnerability of particular populations to exploitation, and the demand for low-cost goods and services. While no individual is immune from falling victim to human trafficking, vulnerable populations, such as Indigenous women and girls, are at higher risk. It is a crime that is highly gendered, with root causes of exploitation, including a lack of education, social supports and employment opportunities, compounded by poverty, sexism, racism, and wage inequality.
For its perpetrators, also referred to as traffickers, it can be a low-risk, highly-profitable endeavour believed to be one of the fastest-growing crimes on a global basis, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Traffickers use various methods to lure and groom potential victims. These methods often include intimidation, false work pretenses, or a technique in which the trafficker pretends to be romantically interested in their potential victim. [This may seem cute, especially just a few days after Valentine's Day, but there is nothing cute about it in real life.]
Traffickers maintain control over their victims through the use of force, sexual or physical assault, threats of violence or blackmail, confinement, abuse of power, or preying on their vulnerabilities.
Victims often suffer physical, sexual, financial, emotional and psychological abuse, and often live and work in horrific conditions. Due to the harm and violence inflicted on victims, human trafficking is associated with substantial trauma, and recovery from its impacts can take a lifetime.
Here are some very intriguing statistics. According to a 2018 Statistics Canada report, police services had reported a little over 1,700 human trafficking incidents since 2009. Of those incidents, 32% were cross-border offences, and 90% were reported by police in major urban centres.
However, the extent of human trafficking in Canada is vastly underestimated. It often involves vulnerable victims and witnesses who are afraid or suspicious of the authorities and who have been threatened by traffickers.
Victims of human trafficking were most often young women. Almost all victims of human trafficking incidents reported by police were women and girls. Nearly three-quarters of victims were under 25. The majority, 92% of trafficking victims, knew the alleged perpetrator. Most often, in 31% of cases, the alleged perpetrator was a friend or acquaintance. In 29% of cases, it was even a current or former husband, common-law spouse or other intimate partner. Eighty-one per cent of alleged perpetrators were men. In addition, 44% of human trafficking incidents involved other offences: 63% included sex trade-related offences, 39% included assault, and 21% included sexual assault or other sexual violations.
Not all human trafficking cases brought before the courts are treated as such. Human trafficking cases brought to criminal court involved a higher number of charges, took longer to resolve, and were less likely to result in a guilty verdict compared to criminal cases involving other violent offences.
Between 2008 and 2018, that was true for 45% of cases that police reported as human trafficking cases. It was common practice for the courts to treat these cases as non-violent offences where the Criminal Code and other federal laws were concerned. In 52% of cases, we are talking about crimes involving drugs, guns, theft, and so on.
These statistics beg two fundamental questions. First, why are all human trafficking cases not being judged by the courts for what they are: violent crimes? Second, what are the obstacles preventing prosecutions from leading to convictions for human trafficking? I have no answers to these questions today, but by collectively focusing on this issue during a national awareness day, we could reflect on it further. To illustrate my point even better, I will share some examples of human trafficking cases provided by Public Safety Canada.
To begin with, let us look at the case of a 22-year-old woman who entered into a romantic relationship with an individual who would provide drugs to her and her friends. She was transported to an apartment by her alleged boyfriend, locked into the bedroom and forced, by threats, to provide sexual services to other men. The victim fell pregnant, but she was forced to continue working and was given drugs or alcohol to feed her addiction.
Then there was a case involving two women in their early 20s and a 15-year-old woman who were befriended by an individual who promised them high earnings and accommodation in luxury condos in exchange for sexual services. The trafficker began controlling the victims' phone calls, taking most of their earnings and becoming increasingly violent and abusive. He made the women work in various Canadian cities and held one of them at gunpoint to threaten her.
Here is another case. An 18-year-old woman was in a five-year relationship with an individual who frequently assaulted her and controlled her phone. Under her alleged boyfriend's control, the victim provided sexual services to clients in hotels and handed all of her earnings over to him. The trafficker controlled her by threatening to hurt her.
Another example is the case of a female minor who left her single-parent home because of a conflict and stayed with some acquaintances until she befriended a young couple and decided to live with them. She was given drugs and alcohol, and taken downtown to provide sexual services against her will. The victim was coerced into it using physical abuse and fear.
There are also examples like a 35-year-old foreign national who was offered a position in the hospitality sector in Canada. As soon as he arrived, however, he was forced to work long hours for little or no pay, with the trafficker threatening to harm the victim's family in his home country if he tried to complain to the authorities.
Here is one last example to convince you of the magnitude of the problem. A woman was violently forced to leave southern Ontario to be a sex worker in Winnipeg. The police reported that the victim was held in captivity in a house for four months, suffering severe assaults on numerous occasions, including electric shocks. She was also regularly locked in a freezer when her captor was out. The victim was only allowed to leave the house when she was meeting clients, and that was under strict supervision.
Let us take a look at how Canada's actions compare to those of other countries. July 30 is the United Nations World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. The problem is that the House of Commons did not sit on July 30 last year, even though nearly 14 years ago, on February 22, 2007, the House unanimously voted in favour of a motion to recognize and condemn human trafficking. In spite of this vote to condemn this practice, there are still far too many victims, as I have mentioned, and we need to immediately take further action. February 22 is a sitting day in the House.
We also know that in 2002, Canada ratified the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. The protocol focuses on four pillars: the prevention of human trafficking, the protection of victims, the prosecution of offenders and working in partnership with others both domestically and internationally.
Millions of people affected by the COVID-19 crisis are more vulnerable than ever to human trafficking. According to the “Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2020”, which was recently released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, human traffickers target the most vulnerable such as migrants or the unemployed. The recession caused by COVID-19 may expose more people to the risk of human trafficking.
In 2018, for every 10 victims detected globally, about five were adult women and two were girls. Approximately 20% of victims were adult men and 15% were boys. Overall, 50% of victims were trafficked for sexual exploitation, 38% for forced labour, 6% for forced criminal activity and 1% for begging. In 2018, most women and girls were trafficked for sexual exploitation whereas men and boys were mostly trafficked for forced labour.
Let us look to Quebec and its support for victims. This is a crucial issue because compensation for victims of crime is Quebec's jurisdiction and victim services and assistance vary by province.
Recent efforts by Quebec's National Assembly do not specifically address the phenomenon of trafficking of persons but have looked at how to improve support for victims of sexual assault. The multi-party committee on support for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence received the report and recommendations of an expert panel in December.
In short, the report set out the following recommendations: offer victims the ongoing support of a stable social worker, whether or not they choose to report the crime or press charges, including a meeting with that social worker before they report the offence or make any kind of formal statement to the police; integrate services for victims; provide psychosocial and judicial support in line with indigenous cultural values; give victims access to free legal advice as soon as they report the crime; ensure ongoing support and a consistent flow of information for victims at all stages of the legal process; accompany and support victims at the sentencing stage; be proactive and develop a quality service offer for perpetrators of violence; ensure consistency in the rulings of criminal, family and youth protection courts by creating a judicial coordinator position; establish a specialized court for sexual assault and intimate partner violence; develop specialized training on sexual assault and intimate partner violence for medical, psychosocial and legal stakeholders, police, lawyers, prosecutors and judges; take integrated action to address the overall problem; and bolster victims' confidence in the system.
These are great recommendations to ensure proper support for victims of violence, including victims of modern-day slavery and human trafficking.
In conclusion, we would be wrong to think that human trafficking and modern-day slavery only affect people from abroad and that they happen on the fringes and outside the country. In fact, they are much more widespread than we think. One women's organization that our multi-party group recently spoke to reminded us that these individuals could just as easily be our daughters.
That is why it is high time, as suggested by the Standing Committee on the Status of Women in its report on the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on women, that the Canadian government continue its efforts to draw up a national action plan to address the issues raised in “Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls”. This needs to happen as soon as possible.
As International Women's Day approaches, I would like to remind you that this year's theme for the Collectif 8 mars is “Let's listen to women”. As stated on its website, the COVID-19 pandemic is having a negative impact on women and exacerbating existing structural and systemic inequalities caused by the patriarchy, classism, racism and colonialism. The feminist struggle is far from over and we need to talk about it. That is why I believe that a day of awareness could serve this cause very well, providing more space for dialogue and highlighting an issue that we know far too little about and that has a greater impact on women and girls.
Today, we have the opportunity to come together beyond party lines to endorse an essential step in the fight against modern-day slavery and human trafficking. This national awareness day will finally make it possible for us to better understand this heinous crime, strongly speak out against it and fight it more effectively. We must act now.
View Shannon Stubbs Profile
CPC (AB)
View Shannon Stubbs Profile
2021-02-16 12:05 [p.4109]
Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.
I want to start by thanking the status of women committee for tabling this report, which includes designating February 22 as national human trafficking awareness day, and I am grateful for the opportunity to speak today. I am sure that all of us in Parliament are united to end the scourge of human trafficking in Canada, but a day of awareness is only one step in the right direction. The other recommendations are equally important to encourage Canadians to hear from victims and survivors of human trafficking, and to raise awareness of the prevalence of human trafficking in Canada and, most importantly, to take action to combat it.
Conservatives are advocates for victims' rights and for the rule of law, and it has always been that way. In 2012, Prime Minister Harper's Conservative government brought official focus to the travesty of human trafficking and launched the national action plan to combat human trafficking, which consolidated all federal activities into one plan. Two months ago, I joined my colleagues, Senator Boisvenu and the MP for Oshawa, along with two victims' families, in support of Bill S-219, which would respect, strengthen and protect the rights of victims of crime. More recently, I participated in the ethics committee work on protection and privacy online. We heard gut-wrenching testimony from a brave survivor of online sexual exploitation. She was just 13 years old when videos of her went up on a pornographic website, and she had to fight and plead and beg to get them taken down. Conservatives continue to fight for children and adult victims of online non-consensual sexual exploitation and are calling for action to protect privacy and to empower individual ownership over personal images online.
I want to especially acknowledge our colleague, the member for Peace River—Westlock, for his unrelenting focus on victims and survivors of human trafficking, sexual exploitation and online abuse. Tirelessly and consistently, he has been working without much accolade or recognition, from a perspective of faith and care for the vulnerable, and with an unwavering belief in the equal sanctity and dignity of every human being. I suspect most people do not really know that about our colleague, or might not really have given it much thought at all, but I have gotten to know and appreciate that about him and his heart, since sitting beside him in the very back row where we started in 2015, and from his steadfast internal and external work to bring attention to these issues.
Public Safety Canada says that human trafficking is “recruiting, transporting, transferring, receiving, holding, concealing, harbouring, or exercising control, direction or influence over [a] person, for the purpose of exploitation, generally for sexual exploitation or forced labour.” It is manipulation or coercion of a person to the end of their ultimately being used. It is true that human trafficking is wide-reaching and goes beyond borders, but it is happening right here in Canada right now, and any thought that human trafficking is a foreign problem or beyond our control in Canada is false. In fact, it is bigger and more insidious than what many Canadians might think. Well-known Albertan and country musician Paul Brandt is the founder of #NotInMyCity and a board member of Alberta's human trafficking task force. He says that “Good-willed people would never imagine that this happens. It's just not on a regular, normal, functioning person's radar that there's this trade...happening in Canada to children.”
Alberta also introduced the Protecting Survivors of Human Trafficking Act, which came into force last May. It expands powers to protect victims of human trafficking, enables police to take quicker action and makes it easier for survivors to get protection orders. On a side note, Alberta has already declared February 22 as Human Trafficking Awareness Day.
Knowing the full extent of human trafficking in Canada is important, but also difficult to recognize, because it is easy to conceal. The victims and witnesses are often reluctant to come forward because of threats from their traffickers, and feelings of shame and mistrust of authorities. That is why public awareness is so important. The data available from Stats Canada is only a glimpse of the true scale of human trafficking in Canada, and it is shocking. According to a 2018 report titled “Trafficking in persons in Canada", between 2009 and 2018 about 1,400 victims of human trafficking were reported by Canadian police, and 97% of them were women and girls. Nearly half of those victims were between the ages of 18 and 24, and almost a third of them were even younger, below the age of 18. They are minors; they are children. That is several hundred kids in Canada, over a span of less than a decade, whose lives were stolen from them, taken away forever, and they are just the ones we know about. There could be hundreds more who never come forward out of fear, shame or simply not understanding that the abuse they suffered has a name.
One of the reasons human trafficking is so elusive and under-reported is that the victims often know their abusers. Of the incidents reported to police, 92% of victims knew the person who was accused, most commonly a friend, acquaintance or intimate partner, and nearly half of the incidents involved other offences related to sexual services, physical assault, sexual assault or other sexual offences. Staff Sergeant Colleen Bowers with the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams' human trafficking unit says that “the problem is they are such silent victims....in a really impossible situation. They are very vulnerable and controlled by these people.”
It is happening right now in Canada, in our own backyard. There are some examples that hit very close to home for many of us. Maddison Fraser left her home in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia at 18 and got trapped in the sex trade. She was beaten beyond recognition and in 2015, sadly, lost her life at 21 years old when she was the passenger in a deadly car accident in Alberta. The driver was her suspected trafficker.
Between April 2016 and March 2017, RCMP officers from Nova Scotia travelled across the country for Operation Hellbender to locate human trafficking victims from Nova Scotia. The officers worked with police forces across Canada and eventually charged two men with human trafficking.
In 2016, Clancy McDaniel was drugged and abducted during a trip to Montreal with her friends. She later learned that the men were involved in organized crime, and she barely escaped with her life. She is now executive director of Students Nova Scotia and an advocate for survivors of human trafficking like her. She says, “I could have very easily been in forced prostitution, I had no choice over that. I would have been addicted to drugs and had my life stripped from me, and at that point, nobody would care what happened to me whatsoever.”
In October 2019, Project Convalesce, headed by five police departments in Canada, identified 12 victims in one of the largest sex trafficking busts in Canadian history. Thirty people were arrested and over 300 charges were laid as a result of that operation. Last November, an Edmonton couple was arrested for running a sex trafficking ring involving untold numbers of teenage girls.
Dawn Fisher was just 13 years old when she was forced into sex trafficking by a Calgary gang. Last month, she helped build a fundraising operation and told her story to raise awareness and help other human trafficking victims seek help without fear. She says, “It’s so scary because who do you go to? Do you put your life and your family’s life at risk?”
Moreover, just last month, a 20-year-old student at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia was charged with human trafficking and procurement and exploitation of a 16-year-old girl in the sex trade. Recently, Calgary and Quebec police teamed up and charged two in Quebec and three men from Calgary with human trafficking. The Calgary men are scheduled for court on February 21, just a day before the proposed national human trafficking awareness day.
There is no shortage of examples and I believe all of us would like there to never be further cases to cite. Understanding the challenges and stigma that victims and survivors face is an important step in encouraging more victims to come forward, to seek help and to escape before it is too late. That is why Conservatives support dedicating a national human trafficking awareness day, as well as to hear from the victims and survivors of human trafficking, raise awareness of its prevalence in Canada and, of course, taking the most important step of prioritizing resources and law enforcement networks to take concrete action to end it.
I will close with this powerful quote by Cheyenne Jones. She was a victim of sexual exploitation 20 years ago. Today she is an advocate for victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation based in Nova Scotia. She says, “Girls that have survived these horrific situations, they should be praised. Our society should be standing up and clapping when they walk into a room because they are the ultimate survivors. They've beaten death. They've done whatever they could do to survive and I'm proud to walk beside them.”
Every Canadian deserves the right to self-determination and to be in charge of their own destiny, and when criminals try to take that away, victims should be free from stigma and empowered to reach out, to tell their stories and to seek help. I will, of course, support the report introduced by the Standing Committee on Status of Women, including the three recommendations to support these brave victims of unimaginable criminal torture, psychological, emotional and physical destruction. I hope the report will receive unanimous support from all members.
View Denis Trudel Profile
BQ (QC)
View Denis Trudel Profile
2021-02-16 12:17 [p.4111]
Madam Speaker, this is really a very disturbing debate. I have a 17-year-old daughter and everything I am hearing here today is disturbing.
Earlier, I was listening to the testimony of a young 17-year-old girl who met a man on the Internet. She began going out with him and he bought her clothing. Next came drugs, and she became a sexual slave and worked for him. That is disturbing. My daughter attends CEGEP and spends her day on the Internet. I am often in the next room. Potential “sharks” could start talking to her and lead her down a road that would result in a similar situation.
My question is simple: Is it possible to come up with web monitoring programs to prevent the sexual slavery we are discussing today? I do not have the answer, but I am asking the question because the Internet is a place where potential con artists often lurk these days. In the past, this happened in alleys and at corner stores, but now it is happening on the Internet.
Can we pass legislation and find solutions to prevent these types of meetings on the Internet?
View Shannon Stubbs Profile
CPC (AB)
View Shannon Stubbs Profile
2021-02-16 12:19 [p.4112]
Madam Speaker, the Liberals seem to be indicating that they are going to bring forward some kind of legislation related to online activities. Like the member, I look forward to seeing that and the details. It will be extremely important to ensure there is targeting and enforcement of criminal activity for exactly the kinds of things about which the member is talking, which I find extremely disturbing as well. However, it is extremely important to empower individuals' ownership over their own images and videos.
In the ethics committee recently, it was so galling to hear from a young woman whose images appeared on a pornographic website from when she was a child and the lengths, pleading and time it took for her to get those images down. I would really like to see an emphasis on empowering individuals' ownership over their images and videos of them.
View Pierre Paul-Hus Profile
CPC (QC)
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House to speak to the second report of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. In its report, the committee issues three recommendations for the House: encourage Canadians to hear from victims and survivors of human trafficking; encourage Canadians to raise awareness of the magnitude of modern day slavery in Canada and abroad and to take steps to combat human trafficking; and recognize the 22nd day of February as national human trafficking awareness day. The third recommendation is, in my view, the most important one. Personally, I believe it is the least we can do.
We must remember what the Conservative Party has done on this issue. Let us recall the most recent election campaign, in 2019. Our party made a number of proposals, including renewing the national action plan to combat human trafficking, amending the Criminal Code to reflect the international definition in the Palermo Protocol, ensuring that those responsible for human trafficking serve consecutive sentences for their crime and ending automatic bail for those charged with human trafficking.
As we know, 95% of victims are women, and more than a quarter of them are under 18. Indigenous peoples are disproportionately affected and represent half the victims. This is a subject that concerns me greatly. It is the reason I moved Motion No. 63 a few days ago in the House. The motion seeks to make changes to the Criminal Code with respect to human trafficking and minors.
The motion reads as follows:
That, in the opinion of the House, the government should: (a) recognize the urgent need for concrete legislative measures to (i) combat the scourge of sexual exploitation of minors, (ii) better protect children and other vulnerable persons from sexual exploitation; and (b) amend, as soon as possible, the provisions of the Criminal Code to implement the four important recommendations contained in the unanimous report of the Select Committee on the Sexual Exploitation of Minors established by the National Assembly of Quebec, namely, (i) the implementation of the consecutive sentencing provision for human trafficking, (ii) adding the crime of sexual exploitation to the proceeds of crime forfeiture mechanism, (iii) eliminating the preliminary inquiry in some sexual exploitation and human trafficking cases, (iv) giving law enforcement more effective legal tools to obtain evidence of sexual crimes committed against minors committed in the cyberspace.
The first request made by the Quebec National Assembly's select committee that has implications at the federal level concerns consecutive sentencing. I would like to remind my colleagues that former Bloc Québécois and NDP member Maria Mourani tabled a bill on which the House voted. The bill went through the entire process. It was unanimously adopted by the parties and sent to the Senate. It was supposed to receive royal assent. All this happened a few months before the 2015 election. Unfortunately, after the election, we had a new government. The new government refused to grant Maria Mourani's bill royal assent, and that was that.
This bill addresses consecutive sentences. Based on the unanimous recommendations of the Quebec National Assembly's select committee, whose members cover the entire political spectrum, everyone is asking that the bill be reintroduced and that pimps be given consecutive sentences.
The second element concerns adding crimes of sexual exploitation to the proceeds of crime forfeiture mechanism. The Criminal Code should provide for the forfeiture of proceeds of crime during sentencing. Normally, the Crown must prove that the property in question fits the definition of proceeds of crime. However, the burden of proof is reversed for certain criminal organizations and offences related to drugs and human trafficking. This means that procuring should be included automatically, without needing to prove it.
The third element concerns preliminary inquiries. The Quebec National Assembly’s select committee recommends eliminating preliminary inquiries for procuring cases, since it is very hard for victims to testify and describe the torture they endured. This would lead to much quicker trials.
Fourth, law enforcement agencies want better tools for obtaining evidence in cyberspace, particularly with regard to determining the place of the offence. Take, for example, an online video in which we can see the victim and the aggressor, but we do not know where it was filmed. The definition of place is complex, especially for police investigating crimes. We should therefore pass cybercrime legislation in order to make their job easier.
Motion No. 63, which I tabled in the House, is very important, and I hope it will lead to the introduction of a bill before the next election. We really need to act. The House needs to wake up, and all of us need to recognize, understand and, most importantly, help law enforcement agencies and victims. Victims are often afraid to testify or worried that their pimp will be released too soon.
Criminal organizations have no problem finding young women and girls, including minors. I am referring specifically to minor victims of sexual exploitation, namely girls who are 13, 14, 15 or 16 years old. Earlier, my colleague from the Bloc mentioned his 17-year-old daughter; my own daughter is 15. The exploitation of minors and young women and girls is particularly stressful and worrisome for us.
The Quebec National Assembly’s Select Committee on the Sexual Exploitation of Minors has four specific requests related to the Criminal Code, which are not particularly complicated and, in my opinion, should be easy to grant. The government should not even wait to receive the requests and should be proactive in proposing amendments to the Criminal Code to protect our young women and girls as quickly as possible.
Although a minority government, this government still has the power to act, especially if the opposition parties all agree. Everything can be done quickly when we all agree. This is not a partisan subject. Young girls—and young boys—who are the victims of these pimps need to know that Parliament and the Government of Canada are there to protect and help them first and foremost and that pimps will be punished for their actions and their consequences.
If a pimp in Montreal has ten minors working as prostitutes, why should he get away with a sentence of a mere three or four years, and concurrent at that? Whether he has one girl or ten, he will get the same sentence. We need to give longer sentences to pimps in order to discourage this type of behaviour in our country.
View Tracy Gray Profile
CPC (BC)
View Tracy Gray Profile
2021-02-16 12:32 [p.4113]
Madam Speaker, the hon. member was speaking about tabling a motion to update the Criminal Code to address a number of issues relating to human trafficking, specifically around consecutive sentences, criminal investigations regarding minors and having better tools in cyberspace.
I am wondering why the member felt now was the right time to table such an important motion. Why it is important for us to be discussing the motion here today?
View Pierre Paul-Hus Profile
CPC (QC)
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.
This subject is addressed every year, but no action is ever taken. This motion stems from the very comprehensive report of a select committee of the Quebec National Assembly, which conducted consultations for nearly two years. The committee made four very important recommendations, which are included in Motion No. 63. These recommendations are unanimously supported by four political parties in Quebec. I believe that it is in the federal Parliament's best interest to act now.
Nothing has been happening for far too long. The Government of Quebec came up with these recommendations and the Conservative Party supports them. I do not see why the Liberal government would not take immediate action.
View Garnett Genuis Profile
CPC (AB)
Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague for Lethbridge.
In this debate there have been excellent speeches by members across the House who bring different perspectives and different aspects of knowledge and experience to the table, and I have learned a lot by listening to them. I want to particularly recognize the members of the all-party group who have been working on this issue, and especially my friend for Peace River—Westlock, who has been a tireless champion of justice for the oppressed and for victims of human trafficking since he came to this place. I have no doubt he will continue to be that advocate for as long as this terrible scourge remains with us.
This issue has an international dimension and a domestic dimension. It is important for us to be aware of and respond to both, because while the nature of the violence and the victimization may be similar, the nature of our response, and what we can do about it internationally versus domestically, is quite different. I have the honour of serving for our party as the shadow minister for international human rights, so I will focus on the international dimension, although I will make a few comments about the domestic dimension as well.
Members here are increasingly aware of the horrific situation of Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims in China. This is a situation of systemic sexual violence, mass detention in concentration camps, and efforts to reduce or eradicate the population through mechanisms including preventing births within the group by forced abortion, forced insertion of IUDs and forced sterilization.
Another human rights abuse that we see against Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims is slave labour. An Australian think tank released a powerful report called “Uyghurs for sale”, which details how people, simply on the basis of their faith and ethnic background, are effectively sold into slavery and are producing products for international markets. They are producing products that recognizable brands are buying and selling to us here in Canada and in parts of the world beyond China. We have a responsibility to become aware of that, respond to it and do all we can to make sure at the very least that we are not complicit in these horrific violations of fundamental human rights: that we are not wearing shirts or eating tomatoes produced by people who were violently enslaved and compelled to work on products that were exported to us. There is so much more that Canada can do.
We have heard testimony at the foreign affairs committee about some of these issues. We heard recently from a representative of the International Justice Mission, an excellent organization working hard to advance justice around the world. We heard that Canada was really behind many other countries in terms of tracking, identifying and responding to the human rights violations that happen within our supply chains.
It is important to know that there are major concerns about production of the personal protective equipment that all of us increasingly rely on in the midst of this pandemic. We have to do more to ensure that the personal protective equipment we may be importing from China is not tainted by the enslavement of people who are forced to produce those products.
Canada has fallen behind, we have heard. We need to do more. Following pressure from our party especially, but also from many individuals in other parties who played key roles in this, the government put forward a policy that, facially at least, addressed the issue of supply chains, specifically in the context of Uighur forced labour. However, in my estimation these measures are far too little and far too late. They do not get to the nub of the issue, which is identification and enforcement. The government said in its release that it was not going to allow products that had been produced by slave labour, but it has still failed to put in place effective mechanisms and tracking to address that.
We had a technical briefing in which these new measures were explained to us, and it was pointed out that many aspects of these measures are still being worked out. The government came out with an announcement saying it was going to do this, but so much has not been done in terms of knowing how to identify a product produced from slave labour. What we have so far is a sense that this process will be complaint-based, and it will be adjudicated by CBSA.
People who are victims of slavery have no way of ensuring that their rights are going to be protected in a process where someone would have to have evidence and make a complaint to the Canada Border Services Agency.
Other measures have been put forward. I am very supportive of Bill S-216, which was discussed previously in this debate. It is a bill that would go farther toward addressing these issues, in terms of the supply chain. However, more work needs to be done, even on top of that.
In the United States, a bipartisan initiative called the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act created a presumption that products sourced from certain regions involved slave labour. It was a presumption that in a sense created a reverse onus. If somebody was importing products from there, they would have to prove that slave labour was not involved. If a company is sourcing products from East Turkestan or Xinjiang in China, it should not be a mystery to anyone what is going on there. The extreme risk of slave labour being involved in a place where this is systematically done and supported by the government is too high for us to do anything other than presume that products produced in those regions are indeed tainted by slave labour.
In terms of information gathering and enforcement, Canada could do so much more to collaborate with our allies. There is a lot of work to be done in terms of gathering and tracing this information, but we do not have to do it alone. We could look at best practices from other countries. We could partner with our allies.
I am part of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a global network of legislators working to address various issues of human rights, security and other things created by the current direction of the Chinese government. It is such a pleasure, through that group, to work with legislators from all different political traditions in various countries: U.S. Republicans and Democrats, British Conservatives and Labour members, members from Japan and from other parts of the world.
The collaboration that should be happening, not just at the legislator level but at the government level, to address slave labour in our supply chains is so important.
Finally, we need to note and understand that this is not just an international issue or a supply chain issue, but that violence, human trafficking and slavery are happening right here in our country of Canada.
A few days ago a class action lawsuit was filed against MindGeek, the parent company of Pornhub, for posting videos of two underage children being drugged and raped. Two weeks ago, at the ethics committee, we heard witness testimony from Serena, who at 14 found an explicit video of herself posted online without her consent. She fought to get the video taken down. Afterwards, every time it was taken down, it was reposted.
I applaud the committees that are looking into this issue at MindGeek, of sexual violence being filmed and posted online. We hear so many stories about incidents of human trafficking here in Canada. Police services in Canada have reported over 1,700 instances of human trafficking since 2009, and about half of all victims were between the ages of 18 and 24. About a third of the victims were under the age of 18.
This is a form of violence that is affecting children and young people, and people of all ages. Other colleagues have spoken in detail, which I do not have time to go into, about the domestic situation and the domestic response.
When we think about human trafficking, it is important to understand that this is something that happens very far away and it is something that happens right here at home. This awareness day, and these efforts to address human trafficking, are critically important, both to recognize and note it in awareness, but also to go further and advance the legislative proposals that I and others have talked about for ending human trafficking here and around the world.
View Louise Chabot Profile
BQ (QC)
View Louise Chabot Profile
2021-02-16 12:44 [p.4115]
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his comments.
When we talk about human trafficking in Canada, we probably do not have the exact figures because it is impossible to track everything that is happening in this area. It is important to remember that 90% of victims are women, Canadian women, and that, as the member mentioned, 25% of them are under the age of 18. We must keep in mind that over 61% of these women are victims of sexual assault. There is also the issue of labour, which has been extensively documented by the UN and the ILO.
Members have been talking a lot about justice mechanisms and asking for justice to be done, but how can we address these issues in a preventive manner? What can we do to prevent this or how can we be proactive on sexual assault and labour issues?
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