12 October, 2010
By ■ KJ Mullins
Slavery may be outlawed but for the victims of human traffickers in Canada it is a living nightmare. Anyone can become a victim. Citizens, newcomers, men, women and children are brought and sold every day.
By ■ KJ Mullins
Slavery may be outlawed but for the victims of human traffickers in Canada it is a living nightmare. Anyone can become a victim. Citizens, newcomers, men, women and children are brought and sold every day.
Human trafficking in Canada only became a crime in 2005. Human trafficking is referred as slavery because under international law “the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised.” In simple terms when a person is sold, traded, used, abused and disposed its slavery. In 2004 the RCMP estimated that there were 800 foreign trafficking victims each year in Canada, that doesn't include the many domestic victims.
One victim can earn up to $280,000 for their captors when it comes to Human Trafficking. In Canada the crime is a thriving business. Few are arrested and even fewer serve time for peddling the flesh of another human.
In Ontario there is no system in place to help the victims despite having many who have been exploited.
Under the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, which Canada has signed, human trafficking occurs:
• when an individual recruits, transports, transfers, harbours or receives people;
• by means of deception, fraud, coercion, abuse of power, payment to others in control of the victim, threats of force, use of force or abduction;
• for the purpose of sexual exploitation, forced labour/services, removal of organs, servitude, slavery or practices similar to slavery.
There are many myths that come with human trafficking, often putting a stigma on the victims and marking them as the criminals instead of those who profit from their suffering.
In Invisible Chains Perrin explored and exposed many of these myths including the fact that not all human trafficking includes a border crossing. Victims in Canada may never have been exposed to any border officials as they never left the country. Trafficking is not a border crime, it's about victim exploitation. While many who are victims of this crime have committed unlawful acts such as prostitution or immigration offences they are still the victims of crime and should be treated as such.
Some believe that victims are paid for their services and therefore not a true victim. While in some cases there is a small payment the amounts are just enough to keep them compliant but not enough to allow them to leave. Many more victims never see any of the cash that is made from their flesh.
Others question how a person can be a victim if they do not seize opportunities to escape. Much like victims of domestic violence, fear and threats of violence to themselves and other family members make escape an impossibility.
Young girls, some only 14-years-old, are recruited for the sex trade using coercion, deception and force by human traffickers.
"While traffickers have 'playbooks' to teach each other tactics to exploit victims, there's no such government plan," said Benjamin Perrin, author of Invisible Chains: Canada's Underground World of Human Trafficking, at an online press conference today. "Canada needs to protect and provide services for victims, and ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice."
Facebook and Craigslist are tools for these criminals. Perrin said that recruiters use Facebook while those who peddle the flesh of these young victims turn to Craigslist. Perrin called for Craigslist's erotic services to be shut down permanently in Canada during the morning press conference.
Invisible Chains exposes the Canadian issue of human trafficking. Perrin investigated the crime for three years using documents cases reported by police, provincial officials, immigration, and non-governmental organizations as well as accounts from victims and their families. Included within the text Perrin also evaluates Canada's response making recommendations not only for the government and police but for average Canadians.
The book is now available at www.amazon.ca.
Source: Digital Journal
Related articles
- Provinces not doing enough to stem human trafficking: Author (theprovince.com)
- 19 Hungarians found in alleged Ontario human traffic ring (calgaryherald.com)
- B.C. law prof calls for end to erotic Craigslist ads amid sex trafficking concerns (theprovince.com)
- Major U.S. Airlines Could Ground Human Trafficking (humantrafficking.change.org)
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