Elizabeth Bainbridge
10-29-10
2:32 pm
In Canada, MP Joy Smith is concerned about the problem of human trafficking, and is pushing for a developed plan to fight it. Smith explains that many Canadians have ignored the issue, assuming it was a problem only in other countries, and not realizing that it has been occurring right under their noses. Smith wants the government to implement a strategy that will involve “more investigations and prosecutions, better victims' services, increased awareness campaigns and an attack on the demand for prostitution by criminalizing the purchase of sexual services.” Smith calls her plan “Connecting the Dots,” and developed it with an expert in the subject of human trafficking, Benjamin Perrin. So far over twenty agencies have offered their support to Smith’s endeavors. The Criminal Code was expanded in 2006 to include human trafficking, and since then only five people have been convicted, but investigations and the number of people being charged is increasing. Currently there are forty human trafficking cases in Canadian courts. Smith and Perrin will be meeting with government officials to promote their plan, and hope that it is well received.
The more I read on the subject the more convinced I am that human trafficking is happening everywhere. It has become a global problem, and I think most people fail to realize how widespread it really is. I liked how Smith acknowledged that most Canadians assume that it’s not a problem in their country, and I think most Americans are under the same deception. I am always glad when someone actually does something to combat human trafficking rather than just talking about the issue, or even worse, ignoring it altogether. This article gave me a good idea of what was going on, and I felt that everything was well explained.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/mp-targets-human-trafficking-105988823.html
1 comment:
It's admirable that Canadian government is addressing the issue of human trafficking and the needs of victims. Hopefully the program will be successful and eventually be a model program that other first world nations can follow. I wonder what the Canadian courts define as human trafficking, however, as several nations have varying definitions that typically assign more importance to a specific type of trafficking (ie sex trafficking) and certain victims (ie women and children) over the total population of victimized trafficked individuals.
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