Overview/Introduction to the practice in Canada

Human trafficking is a phenomenon occurring all over the globe. Depending on the geographical area there are many different reasons for this particular crime to occur. The majority of victims of trafficking and child labour are from developing countries. However, the prevalence of human trafficking in Canada is increasing significantly every day, with an estimated 1,500 annual cases.

Men, women and children are all victims. Yet the scope of human trafficking both in Canada and internationally is uncertain due to several factors including: the obscurity of the crime, the impotence of victims to report to law enforcement officials, and the struggle to identify victims that have had their identification documents taken away from them1 .

In Canada, the human trafficking industry has crossed a multi-billion dollar threshold and continues to threaten women across the country. The latest Juristat on Trafficking of Persons in Canada (July 2017, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics) indicates that between 2009 and 2016, 95 per cent of human trafficking victims in Canada were female, 70 per cent were women under the age of 25, and one quarter were under 18 (25 per cent)2. Those who are susceptible to being trafficked include:

Furthermore, the prevalence of women being targeted is significantly higher than it is for men. One of the reasons for this phenomenon is due to the strategic methods used toward women by abusers. Det. Const. Peter Brady, a member of the Toronto Police Human Trafficking Enforcement Team, explains that it is difficult to prove human trafficking cases because traffickers develop a peculiar relationship with the victims. This type of behaviour toward young vulnerable women may create a form of attachment to the enablers. In these relationships, once the trafficker has established their target, the victims will be showered with gifts to gain their trust. This establishes a bond of dependency toward the trafficker on the part of the victim. Any signs of uncooperative behaviour will bring forth threats and coercion from the trafficker to prevent their victims from coming forward to law enforcement. In some instances, if any allegations are made, the victims will be very reluctant to report all the information to the police.

Toronto, the main entertainment district of the Greater Toronto Area, is a densely populated city that attracts domestic and international travellers, making it a prime location for perpetrators to target individuals. Thirty-year-old Tyrone Burton was convicted of Toronto’s first human trafficking offense. Burton was found guilty of several prostitution charges and was arrested in December 2012. He had forced two young women aged 19 and 21 into prostitution, confiscated their identification documents and kept their entire earnings to himself before they managed to escape and report him to law enforcement. Cases like this are not only common within the GTA, but are occurring all across the country on a daily basis.

· Indigenous women and girls; migrants and new immigrants; LGBTQ2 persons; persons living with disabilities; children in the child welfare system; at-risk youth; those who are socially or economically disadvantaged; and

· Migrant workers who may be especially vulnerable to exploitation and abuse due to language barriers, working in isolated/remote areas, lack of access to facilities and support, and lack of access to accurate information about their rights3 .

“These accused are really good at what they do. They prey on vulnerable girls — girls that come from bad backgrounds, low self-esteem — and then they befriend them, promise them condos, money, clothes. They promise them protection.”4

Forms of Human Trafficking

Human trafficking can take many forms, with the two most frequent being sexual exploitation and forced labour. Between April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018, police forces in Canada charged 78 individuals in 47 trafficking in persons cases. In addition, 295 prosecutions continued (or remain in process), of which 285 are related to sex trafficking and 10 related to labour5 .

Sexual Exploitation

As previously mentioned, the sexual exploitation of women and children is one of the most profitable forms of human trafficking in the world, and is the most common form in Canada today. In fact, the majority of forced sexual exploitation cases in Canada are reported in the densely populated GTA6 .

The Imani Nakpangi case was Canada’s first conviction for human trafficking, and is a prime example of sexual exploitation. This case study involved several young women who were controlled and sexually exploited by Nakpangi in the GTA. One victim was a 15-year-old homeless girl who was sexually exploited through Craigslist. Nakpangi had sold the young girl for sex until she was 18 and had kept a total of $360,000 in earnings. According to Benjamin Perrin, an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia, the young girl participated in sexual encounters without her consent and was physically assaulted and harassed when she tried to escape7 .

These tactics are very common in situations of sexual exploitation of women throughout the GTA and Canada as a whole. The extreme measures taken by the exploiters when the victims refuse to cooperate is just a glimpse of what these women experience. Oftentimes perpetrators will go one step further and threaten the safety of family members to get their way and get the job done.

Forced Labour Trafficking

Forced labour exploitation is a form of human trafficking that is prevalent throughout Canada. Labour trafficking is when individuals are forced and coerced into performing labour and services8. It affects migrant workers, particularly boys and men, who have migrated to Canada under the low-skilled temporary visa stream of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP)9 . These migrants are eligible to work in restaurants, hotels, agriculture, food preparation, construction, manufacturing or domestic work10. Along with these low-skilled workers, caregiving positions are especially susceptible to experiencing an extensive range of abuse including verbal, physical and sexual11 .

One specific example of forced labour exploitation is demonstrated in the Domotor case, which was the biggest human trafficking case in Canada12. This case included 11 family members who were convicted of mobilizing men from their native country of Hungary to work in Hamilton, Ontario. The victims – 19 in total – were transported from Roma to Canada and were coerced to work without pay for the Domotor family’s construction company. The Domotors paid for the victims’ flights, made them claim refugee status and signed them up for welfare. Their welfare money and identification documents were confiscated by the traffickers. They were kept in basements and fed scraps, all while having threats spewed at them daily against themselves and their families back home.

These are just a few examples of how victims of sex exploitation and forced labour have been exposed to detrimental conditions and are unable to escape.