Moved second reading of Bill S-224, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (trafficking in persons).

She said: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to Bill S-224, which aims to facilitate the conviction of those charged with human trafficking-related offences. This bill will amend the Criminal Code’s definition of exploitation in human trafficking offences so that the Crown is no longer required to prove a reasonable person in the victim’s circumstances feared for their safety or the safety of someone they know. This will put the onus on the perpetrator rather than the survivors.

Bill S-224 is not a partisan bill. It’s about protecting young, vulnerable Canadians from predatory criminals who exploit their hopes and dreams for personal gain. Our judicial process currently has low rates of prosecution for human trafficking. It’s traumatizing for survivors and puts the burden of proof on victims.

The current definition in the Criminal Code suggests that a person is exploited only if fear was a driving factor in their exploitation. Here I quote:

. . . a person exploits another person if they cause them to provide, or offer to provide, labour or a service by engaging in conduct that, in all the circumstances, could reasonably be expected to cause the other person to believe that their safety or the safety of a person known to them would be threatened if they failed to provide, or offer to provide, the labour or service.

However, as I will demonstrate today, human trafficking is more complex and can only be defined by the perpetrator’s actions rather than the victim’s experience.

By amending the Criminal Code to reflect the international definition of “trafficking in persons” as outlined in the Palermo Protocol, we enable the Crown to efficiently convict human traffickers. The Palermo Protocol views human trafficking as having three distinct elements: the act, the means and the purpose. Human trafficking is defined as the act of recruiting, transporting, harbouring and receiving a person by means of coercion, abuse of power or deception for the purpose of exploitation. This is not reflected in our Criminal Code.

The Palermo Protocol was adopted in 2000 at the fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations and has 117 signatories, including Canada. Yet, 22 years later, this is another example of Canada’s promises without concrete action. This bill proposes to remove the element of fear to reflect the international definition of trafficking in persons as outlined in the Palermo Protocol.

In its current form, the Criminal Code puts the responsibility on victims or survivors to provide compelling testimony to prove the validity of their experience. This small yet powerful change will allow the Crown to convict human traffickers. I stand here today for human trafficking survivors, for their families, for young, vulnerable Canadians and for those who are currently being exploited in plain sight.

As such, Bill S-224 is not a partisan bill: It’s about protecting young, vulnerable Canadians from predatory criminals who exploit their hopes and dreams for personal gain.

This is an important bill. Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery that is on the rise worldwide with an estimated 40 million victims. It is a practice that relies on abuse and coercion to exploit young victims for sexual purposes or work. Traffickers will approach victims in various ways, either by convincing them that they are a potential friend or boyfriend, contacting them on social media, posting ads for jobs or even threatening or kidnapping them. They will promise money, clothes, work, education or financial aid for their family. Victims often do not realize that traffickers don’t have their best interests at heart.

In Canada, the geography and layout of the highways makes it easy for traffickers to avoid detection by law enforcement and maintain control over their isolated and disoriented victims. Although there is a popular belief that victims of human trafficking are brought into the country, most victims are young Canadian women. Almost half of them were found to have come from another city in the same province, and 60% of all victims come from Ontario.

Traffickers use transport corridors to haul their victims along the Trans-Canada and the 401 highways. Many willing customers can be found near oil patch work camps in Alberta, and traffickers exploit the province’s online sex markets. In Ontario, the practice is so commonplace on highways 11 and 17 that you most likely have crossed paths with a rental car in which a trafficker and his victim were travelling from Sudbury and Thunder Bay through northern Ontario towards Winnipeg.

As I have mentioned, traffickers often recruit their victims with false promises, but can also use threats and violence to break them. It is heartbreaking to hear how they exploit vulnerability by aiming for young people dealing with homelessness, substance abuse, addiction, trauma, abuse or violence.

Among the most at-risk groups are women and girls, new immigrants, children in the welfare system, persons living with disabilities, LGBTQ2+ and migrant workers. These are Canadians already falling through the cracks.

The most vulnerable are Indigenous children who live with the impact of hundreds of years of ongoing trauma. In 2014, Indigenous people made up 4% of the population but accounted for half the trafficking victims. Recruiting young Indigenous girls is so commonplace that many survivors have described men waiting at Greyhound bus stations at night and approaching them, promising a place to stay and safety. One Indigenous survivor explained that by the age of 16, she believed it was okay to be beaten by men.

Traffickers will also use their victims to do their dirty work and recruit other vulnerable individuals, often promising them a way out. This shows the extent of manipulation, fear and gaslighting victims face on a daily basis.

Alternatively, social media has unfortunately made recruiting young Canadians and children much easier. Pedophiles can reach out to as many as 100 children per hour on popular apps like TikTok and Instagram.

Leaving such exploitation requires courage, dedication and, often, outside help. Many survivors work tirelessly to help victims escape their traffickers. However, many victims fear or distrust law enforcement, and it can take up to 18 attempts before permanently leaving human trafficking. To make matters worse, it can easily take up to two years before an adult realizes a youth in their life is being sexually exploited. This is what happened to Clementine, a teenage girl in Montreal who was exploited for a year before her parents noticed strange behaviour and worrisome scars on her body. Although she had wanted to leave many times, a trafficker’s threats to kill her family and dog made her stay.

So it’s not surprising that human trafficking is known as low risk with high reward among traffickers. It has generated about US$32 billion annually for perpetrators, and very few cases have been successfully prosecuted in Canada. In fact, according to Statistics Canada, less than 8% of perpetrators charged with human trafficking have been prosecuted.

Also, too much responsibility is put on the shoulders of people who have endured unimaginable things. Most survivors do not identify as victims as a result of manipulation and gaslighting. They can believe their trafficker cares for them. We owe them the necessary help and care. Instead, they must prove that they fear for their life on the stand, often only a few metres from their trafficker. Victims are usually the only evidence against traffickers. Without their testimony, the Crown has no case. Testimony shows that the fear-based model is the biggest issue when dealing with convictions and that the experience is more traumatizing than being forced to work in the sex trade. They must relive their nightmare during the preliminary hearing and then at full trial.

During the cross-examination, it is common for the defence lawyer to twist their words and call them a liar. We all remember a federal court judge in Alberta who asked a victim, during a sexual assault trial, “Why couldn’t you just keep your knees together?” This, as you can imagine, can lead to survivors recanting or simply dropping charges. According to the current Criminal Code, the offence rests more on a victim’s ability to perform on the witness stand rather than on what the perpetrator has done. Hence, human trafficking charges are often dropped, and traffickers are charged under related crimes such as prostitution-related offences, kidnapping, assault, sexual assault and sexual exploitation. This is not justice. This is certainly not a way to prevent, suppress and punish perpetrators of trafficking in persons.

Before I conclude, I must highlight the wonderful work done by MPs Carrie and Viersen to put an end to human trafficking in Canada. I would like to thank them both for their hard work on the original private member’s bill on human trafficking, which I now have the privilege of introducing in the Red Chamber.

Honourable senators, 22 years ago we agreed — along with 116 other nations — to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children. Yet, the onus remains on the victims to prove fear. Colleagues, I ask you, how does a person prove fear?

This bill aims to remove one obstacle in the prosecution of human traffickers. With a simple modification to the Criminal Code, victims and survivors will finally be able to find greater justice and hopefully the safety they require to heal and rebuild their lives.

Honourable senators, by removing this barrier — the element of fear — we will finally be able to tackle bigger challenges in human trafficking in Canada. This is the first crucial step to putting an end to this horrible practice in our country. Thank you.

Thank you, senator. I congratulate you on this very important bill.

In 2015, we adopted Bill C-452, introduced by Ms. Mourani in the other place, and sponsored by me here in the Senate. This bill cracked down on people involved in human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of minors. One of the clauses of this bill, proposing harsher sentences, was never implemented by Mr. Trudeau because he felt that this clause was inhumane for traffickers. Bill C-5, which we will one day study in this place, would decriminalize kidnapping. Doesn’t it seem as though this bill contradicts what the government has done to combat human trafficking?

Thank you, senator, for your question. I agree, I remember that bill. I don’t know why the government would do what they have done. We need to stand up and make sure that people who inflict crimes or kidnap young women and subject them to sexual assault do get their due punishment.

Yes.

Sorry, Senator Pate. I don’t have that answer for you; however, I can look it up and provide that for you.