Human Trafficking

About this Episode

This crime robs its victims of their most basic human rights and is occurring in Canada and worldwide. The victims are deprived of their normal lives and compelled to provide their labour or sexual services through a variety of coercive practices, all for the direct profit of their perpetrators.

Globally, it is estimated that human trafficking is amongst the most lucrative of criminal activities, rivaled only by drug and firearms trafficking. At any given time, it is believed that worldwide at least 2.45 million people are forced to perform degrading, dehumanizing and dangerous work. In Canada, while women and girls are vastly overrepresented amongst those being trafficked for sexual exploitation, men and women migrant workers have been identified as a vulnerable group for forced labour. Investigations into claims of labour exploitation have centred on the treatment of migrant workers, and in some cases, the fraudulent use of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program by third parties.

Traffickers control their victims in various ways such as taking away their identity documents and passports, sexual abuse, threats, intimidation, force, physical violence, and isolation.Victims suffer physical or emotional abuse and often live and work in horrific conditions. They may also face fatal consequences if they attempt to escape.

The extent of human trafficking, either in Canada or internationally, is difficult to assess due to the hidden nature of these offences, the reluctance of victims and witnesses to come forward to law enforcement and the difficulty of identifying victims in practice. Moreover, these cases often go unnoticed and unreported due to manipulation, fear, threats from traffickers, shame, language barriers or mistrust of authorities.

AnnaLise Trudell, Project Coordinator & Co-Chair for the Coalition Assisting Trafficked Individuals (CATI) in London Ontario, presents a comprehensive picture of the nature of human trafficking in Canada today. Through her video presentation, AnnaLise describes the vulnerabilities that traffickers prey on and the difficulties experienced by victims of human trafficking. Distress centre call responders are asked to examine the signs that may be projected by a caller that could be an indication of human trafficking, and Ms. Trudell outlines strategies for supporting callers in this area of concern.

Questions for Further Consideration:

1. What is the difference between human smuggling and human trafficking?

Human smuggling always involves a person illegally crossing over an international border.

It is voluntary-the person involved chooses to be smuggled and has made an agreement to pay another person or group of people to commit a crime. Smuggling ends when the smuggler gets the smuggled person over the border.

Human trafficking is often discussed as being either international or domestic in nature. This means that trafficking may involve the movement of a person or people across an international border, from one country to another, or movement inside the person's own country, which is considered domestic trafficking. In either case, the person has not chosen to be exploited.

In addition, the situation does not end when the person experiencing trafficking arrives at a destination, but rather continues while the person is exploited for labour or services.

1. What might be the signs of someone who is being trafficked? What messages from a caller might a distress centre call responder connect to a possible situation of human trafficking?

These red flags are indicators that can alert a person to what a human trafficking situation might look like; they are not a checklist for determining a human trafficking case. The presence of one or more of these indicators suggests it is worth looking further into the situation.

Must work against his/her will Cannot leave his/her current situation Has been threatened with Violence, against her/him or his/her loved ones Arrest or deportation Even worse working conditions No pay Is punished when he/she does something wrong Can only leave home to go to work or that his/her activities outside of work are highly controlled Sleeps where he/she works, or has no private space Has moved from place to place often Has limited or no control over his/her working conditions (Reference: Additional Resources- National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking)

1. How do people become victims of domestic human trafficking? And why do they not come forward once they realize they are in trouble?

Individuals are often lured into trafficking by people known to them. They can be peers of the youth or family members who want to exploit them for monetary gain. They are often members of well-established criminal networks who have a system for luring, often vulnerable, unsuspecting people, male and female.

Why do victims not come forward?

Victims may:

Fear for their own lives; Not understand that they are victims of human trafficking; Be taught to distrust outsiders, especially law enforcement and other government authorities; Foreign victims may be afraid they will be detained and deported, or they may have limited language skills; Be completely unaware of their rights or may have been intentionally misinformed about their rights in Canada; Fear for their families and/or loved ones; Feel threatened that traffickers will harm their families if they report their situation to, or cooperate with, law enforcement.

1. What do I need to know about human trafficking as a call responder working on a distress centre helpline?

Your role is NOT to identify—without a doubt—whether a person has been trafficked. Instead, determine that a person may have been trafficked so that you can provide the most effective support and most appropriate referrals.

Try to determine the need for safety Some prompting questions to identify indicators of Human Trafficking (HT): ‘What happens if you refuse to work or do some part of the work?’

‘Are you scared your boss will tell your family/friends about what you’re doing?’

‘Where have you been staying?’

‘If you want to buy a cup of coffee, do you have the money or does someone else hold your money?’

‘Do you have to have a fix just to do your job? Is the person you are working for willing to give you alcohol and drugs?’

When making referrals---- Be aware of YOUR LOCAL HT COALITION OR SUPPORT NETWORK.

Glossary: Human Trafficking: is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. (reference: United NationsArticle 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons)