Source: calgaryherald.com
By Jason Van Rassel, Calgary Herald
Workers capable of helping victims of human trafficking aren't always recognizing their plight - and that is part of the problem, according to a study released Friday in Calgary.
Researchers found local human trafficking victims aren't limited to foreign women brought to Canada to work in the sex trade, but that common conception is causing others to be overlooked.
"We have people who are falling through the cracks because they aren't being identified as victims of human trafficking," said Laura Quarterman, who coauthored the report by the Action Coalition on Human Trafficking and Mount Royal University.
The authors called the report the first attempt in Canada to document how a major Canadian city is responding to human trafficking.
The study's findings are based on responses to a detailed questionnaire from 54 front-line workers with social, government and law enforcement agencies.
Just under half of those surveyed - 24 - responded that they had encountered victims of human trafficking during their work.
This finding comes despite the fact the Criminal Code charge of human trafficking has been rarely used by police and there have been no known convictions in Alberta.
"It's going on and that's about all we can say," said co-author Julie Kaye, ACT's co-ordinator in Calgary.
People coerced, threatened or deceived into all kinds of work - including legal jobs such as domestic maids or nannies - can be victims of trafficking.
Nor do victims have to be physically restrained or locked in a room: traffickers can exercise control with threats or by holding onto victims' identification or documents they need to leave.
"Maybe they're free to walk along the streets, but it doesn't mean they're necessarily free," Quarterman said.
Although withholding travel documents is a common form of abuse, human trafficking also occurs within Canada.
The respondents who said they encountered human trafficking on the job identified 44 cases, and classified 18 of them as likely involving people within Canada; meanwhile, 11 cases were thought to be international in scope and 15 had an unknown origin.
Out of 84 potential victims identified by the survey respondents, 23 per cent were adult women - the largest single group.
Quarterman said women were typically being trafficked for sex and domestic work. The cases involving men was smaller - seven - and they were most likely being exploited as labourers, she said.
Quarterman, Kaye and co-author John Winterdyk, a criminology professor at Mount Royal University, made 10 recommendations mainly aimed at better training for workers who deal with victims of human trafficking and improving communication between organizations that encounter the problem.
"We have recognized . . . that the only way we can combat human trafficking is through strong partnerships," said Staff Sgt. Jim Gamlin of the RCMP's immigration and passport section in Calgary.
Greater co-ordination and co-operation between social agencies, government and police has helped them better respond to issues such as domestic violence, Quarterman said.
Adapting those models and greater research might help agencies realize similar gains against human trafficking, she added.
"How can we learn, rather than reinventing the wheel?" Quarterman said.
jvanrassel@calgaryherald.com
Twitter: @JasonvanRassel
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
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