Statement made on 24 February 2009 by Senator Gerard Phalen (retired)
Hon. Gerard A. Phalen:
Honourable senators, in 2005 the government introduced in this chamber, and passed, Bill C-49, an Act to amend the Criminal Code (trafficking in persons). That legislation was a necessary first step in Canada's efforts to meet its obligations under the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children. This international protocol was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2000 and ratified by 117 countries, including Canada, who signed on in May 2002.
One of the protocol's primary goals is to maintain a careful balance between law enforcement and victim protection. Accordingly, it specified that any individual exploited through trafficking is to be considered a victim of trafficking and not a criminal.
Article 6 of the protocol ensures that domestic, legal and administrative systems provide victims with physical and psychological recovery, including housing, counselling, legal, medical and material assistance, as well as employment, education, and training opportunities.
Article 7 of the protocol deals with immigration and holds that signatory countries must consider laws that would allow trafficking victims to remain in the country either temporarily or permanently.
Unfortunately, Canada has taken only that first step, and in the seven years since we signed the protocol we have done little at the federal level to provide a safe and secure environment for victims. In Canada, there are virtually no reliable statistics on the problem. The estimates vary from 800 people annually that the RCMP believe are trafficked into Canada to as high as 16,000 people from non-governmental organizations.
Regardless of the numbers, human trafficking starts in countries where people are desperate for economic opportunities. We, as Canadians, find it almost impossible to understand the vulnerability of people in poor and desperate countries. For instance, up to 400,000 Ukrainian women have been trafficked for sexual exploitation in the past decade. In the Ivory Coast, a girl allegedly can be bought as a slave for $7. Up to 90 per cent of the girls in rural Albania do not go to school for fear of being abducted and sold into sexual servitude.
Criminal organizations charge these desperate people thousands of dollars to bring them into countries like Canada, often with promises of jobs that are not there. Instead, they are turned over to pimps and massage parlours where they are expected to work off their debt. The methods employed by these traffickers to force victims into compliance range from confinement and beatings to threats to their families.
A recently published study on human trafficking by The Future Group, a Canada-based non-governmental organization dedicated to combating human trafficking and the child sex trade, gave Canada an F for its abysmal record of treating victims.
Eight countries were rated by The Future Group. Their results ran from a B-plus for the United States to a B for each of Australia, Norway and Sweden; a B-minus for Germany and Italy; and a D for the United Kingdom. Canada was the only country of the eight to receive an F. The Future Group study report said:
Canada's record of dealing with trafficking victims is an international embarrassment. . . .
Canada has ignored calls for reform and continues to re-traumatize trafficking victims, with few exceptions, by subjecting them to routine deportation and fails to provide even basic support services.
For these reasons, I believe that the next step we need to take is Bill S-223. This bill was developed after looking at the practices in other developed countries such as Australia, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden and the United States. Each of these countries has a system in place to provide for temporary or permanent residency for victims; to provide support for physical, psychological and social recovery of victims; and to enable the investigation of trafficking.
After looking at a variety of systems in other developed countries, I decided to base this bill along the same lines as the T visa program in the United States, which is designed to ensure that victims of trafficking who are able and willing to assist law enforcement with the prosecution of their slave traders are able to access the assistance they need in order to break away from their traffickers.
Since the passage of Bill C-49, which criminalized trafficking in persons, the government has made a number of positive changes in respect of victims of trafficking, including lengthening the period of reflection given to victims and introducing legislation eliminating the infamous stripper visas. I commend the government on these actions, but I continue to believe that a more comprehensive victim-centred approach is necessary.
For that reason, in October 2007, I tabled Bill S-218, which is now before honourable senators as Bill S-223. This legislation has four basic sections. The first section deals with short-term visas. This part of the legislation is very much in line with the current system. It allows victims a 180-day period of reflection during which time they receive, at no cost, health and psychological counselling under the Interim Federal Health Program. This 180-day reflection period is similar to the system in most G8 countries. It also allows law enforcement time to investigate the case. Bill S-223 also gives victims the right to work or study in Canada during this period. I believe that working and studying will help victims to begin the healing process.
The next section of this legislation deals with what we call the victim protection permit. This is a three-year temporary residency permit. I believe that this section is one of the most important ones in this legislation because victims would move automatically from the 100-day short-term visa to a three-year permit. The current system of short-term visas and ministerial special permits that might or might not be granted or lengthened, and that require victims to apply time and again, simply re-victimizes the victims. The last thing these victims need at this point is to have to go regularly to bureaucrats asking to be allowed to remain in the country.
Honourable senators also need to know that this proposed three-year victim protection permit gives victims the status of a permanent resident for the purpose of health and social programs. If victims remain in Canada under the three-year permit, they will need more than basic health care. They would need legal aid, social housing, language training, et cetera.
In Canada, these programs are administered primarily by the provinces, and the most common qualifier is that a person must be a permanent resident. This permit allows victims to work and/ or study during the three-year period as well as making victims eligible to apply to become permanent residents and eventually citizens if they so choose, and, of course, this permit is on a no-fee basis.
How does a victim qualify for a victim protection permit? They qualify if they or their family — and let me stress "their family" — would suffer hardship, retribution or harm if they returned to their home country. They qualify if they choose — and let me emphasis "if they choose" — to comply with any reasonable request to assist the investigation or prosecution of their traffickers. Finally, they qualify if immigration officials believe it is otherwise justified in the circumstances. This provision allows officials the leeway to deal with special circumstances, should that be necessary.
In all my discussions on this legislation, the option of testifying is always the most contentious, and it has been necessary to point out clearly that testifying is optional. I believe that it is nearly impossible for law enforcement to prosecute traffickers without the testimony of the victims and that victims receive a certain amount of closure by testifying. That is why I have included cooperation with law enforcement as an option.
Why did I choose to make the victim protection permit for a three-year period? The most recent statistics in Canada show that the length of time it takes for trials of crimes against persons to be completed in superior court is, on average, 367 days. That is only the time necessary for the court proceedings. We must also consider the time it takes for the criminal investigations, et cetera.
I would also like to point out that three years is the term the United States uses for their temporary visa system.
The next section I would like to discuss is the requirement of the Minister of Health to establish a hotline for victims. I feel this is necessary because victims often come from countries where law enforcement is suspect, they are therefore hesitant to approach the police and they often have difficulty with the language. It is also necessary because victims will need counselling and referral services that local law enforcement may be ill-equipped to provide. Hotlines have proven successful in other countries. For instance, a U.S. hotline took 2,670 calls in 2006, and 20 per cent of those calls were in foreign languages.
The last section I would like to deal with is the requirement of the Minister of Health to provide specialized employees within the department who will act as intermediaries for victims concerning immigration, health and legal aid, law enforcement, et cetera. This section of the bill also requires the minister to provide a public awareness campaign to ensure that community-based people are aware of the rights of the victims and the services available to them.
Honourable senators, if this legislation was implemented, how would I see a situation of a victim ideally unfolding? I believe a victim would initially approach someone in the community, perhaps at a women's shelter. These workers would be aware of the hotline and the rights and services available to victims, and they would encourage the victim to contact the hotline. The victim would call the hotline and be put in contact with a specialized worker who would help her navigate the system to obtain her 180-day temporary visa and access to the interim health program. During this time, law enforcement would investigate the victim, and the victim would begin the healing process. After the 180-day temporary visa, the victim would move to a three-year visa.
During these three years, the victim would learn the language, find employment or training and continue to heal, both physically and psychologically. It is also my hope that many victims would choose to participate in the prosecution of their traffickers to ensure that these criminals are punished. At the end of the three-year visa period, I would hope the victim would now be a contributing member of Canadian society and looking forward to becoming a citizen.
I would like to take a few minutes to talk about why I believe legislation versus ministerial guidelines is needed in respect of victims of human trafficking.
Victims of trafficking usually come from countries where the authorities and the legal systems are suspect at best and these victims have been abused and taken advantage of. They need assistance, and it is imperative that such assistance be enshrined in law.
It is not sufficient to leave the rights of victims to the discretion of non-legislated systems like ministerial guidelines that are best suited to handling interpretations of the law or short-term gaps in the system. I believe the rights of victims of trafficking, like the human rights we so enjoy here in Canada, must be enacted in legislation and therefore have the certainty of the rule of law.
In May 2002, Canada signed the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. Article 6 of that protocol ensures that domestic, legal and administrative systems provide victims with physical and psychological recovery, including housing, counselling, legal, medical and material assistance, as well as employment, education and training opportunities.
To address this obligation, the current government has provided victims of trafficking with help and psychological assistance under the Interim Federal Health Programs. I congratulate them for that, and now it is time to take the next step to ensure other legal, financial and educational systems are available to victims. I believe Bill S-223 will do that.
When I first began to look at the situation of victims of trafficking, it was not hard to find examples of situations where victims had been treated more as criminals than as victims. Thankfully, we continue to see improvements, and I believe enacting this legislation will demonstrate in a loud and clear voice our commitment to ensure that in Canada, victims are treated as victims.
I would like to leave you, honourable senators, with a quote from Victor Malarek's now famous book, The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade, on the subject of human trafficking. He said:
Breaking this atrocious form of sexual exploitation must be a moral, legal and political imperative. . . . Trafficking of women for sexual exploitation is a crime against humanity. It shames us all.
Victor Malarek is right, honourable senators, and I believe that passing this legislation will be another step in Canada's protection of victims of trafficking and the prosecution of their human traffickers.