CANADA NEEDS A NATIONAL STRATEGY TO COMBAT HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Winnipeg, MB: Media outlets across the country today reported on the new figures of Canada’s foreign human trafficking record released by Benjamin Perrin, a University of British Columbia legal expert. Member of Parliament for Kildonan – St. Paul Joy Smith believes that this is a critical wakeup call to Canada.

“Most Canadians would be shocked to know that this horrifying slave trade is occurring in our neighbourhoods and our communities all across Canada,” explains MP Joy Smith. “As Professor Perrin pointed out, the low number of known foreign human trafficking cases in Canada doesn’t even begin to depict the reality and extent of trafficking in our country.

MP Joy Smith has been working to combat human trafficking in Canada and abroad for many years and believes that there needs to be a national strategy put forward to stop human trafficking. On February 22, 2007, her motion M-153 was unanimously passed by Parliament and called on Canada’s government to adopt a comprehensive strategy to combat the trafficking of persons.

“We need to develop a comprehensive and collaborative national strategy that includes all levels of government, law enforcement and non-governmental organizations in order to effectively combat human trafficking. I plan to continue working with our federal government to ensure this happens,” says MP Smith.

Mrs. Smith points out similar countries that have already begun to tackle the issue of human trafficking through developing comprehensive national strategies.

“The UK held public consultations and produced an Action Plan to Tackle Human Trafficking in early 2007. This past summer, Australia held a National Roundtable on People Trafficking which consulted government and non-government agencies in order to develop a collaborative approach between government, law enforcement and NGO’s,” says MP Smith. “It’s not that we risk international scrutiny if we fail to act, there are real lives that are being destroyed every day. Real victims that continue to suffer.”

MP Joy Smith also strongly believes that public awareness is a key part of combating human trafficking and has organized a public conference on human trafficking in Winnipeg on November 1, 2008. She hopes to encourage Canadians to engage in the fight against modern day slavery. The audience will be presented with the current situation of human trafficking, both in Canada and abroad, and provided with concrete ways they can combat human trafficking in their communities.

The conference will feature a diverse panel of speakers including Mrs. Smith and Professor Benjamin Perrin as well as other leading human trafficking experts, frontline workers and law enforcement. A panel session will conclude the conference to provide the audience an opportunity to interact with the speakers and ask questions.

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