Evidence of meeting #27 for Justice and Human Rights in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was extraterritorial.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Joy Smith Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Being forward-thinking was the point of your question, I think, Ms. Freeman. Am I correct?
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Joy Smith Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
I just want to take one example, which might help a little bit. And I agree with Mr. Attaran that we need to be doing much more.
Having said that, I've worked for a very long time with the victim of Imani Nakpangi, the first trafficker who was tried and went to jail under Canadian law. She was 15 and a half years old when he caught her. He made $360,000 off her. How the police caught him is that she made a journal and they were able to take her.... Since then, she's graduated from grade 12.
People working with her and working with other victims like that say they need an opportunity, they need a safe place to be, they need an education. I think that is encompassing in the national action plan that we talk about in Parliament. We need to pay careful attention to the needs, the personal needs. They even need clothes. They have no clothes at all when you rescue them.
I hope that helps a little bit.
12:25 p.m.
Conservative
12:25 p.m.
NDP
Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL
That's not much time, but I have to say to Ms. Nagy that I was a little confused by your answer. You started off saying you didn't think I'd like it. Then you said things were okay, until you got to the end, when you said there are no services for these victims. So I have to admit to being confused. I don't think you're telling us that we don't need to do anything for people who are victims of trafficking, but you did say it's being done by volunteers. You have police training being done by Ms. Smith. We've got volunteers engaged in this. It seems to me that there needs to be something in the way of government support, financial and otherwise, to enable victims of human trafficking to meet the kinds of needs that are expressed in this protocol.
Would you agree with that?
12:25 p.m.
Program Director, Front Line, Walk With Me
I'm going to answer half of it, and then I'm going to pass it on to Mr. Hooper.
Yes, it is confusing, because in some departments we do receive help and in some departments there is absolutely nothing. We would get a grant from the government for one year. That will pay for the rent for our safe house for one year and one year only.
12:25 p.m.
Program Director, Front Line, Walk With Me
One safe house for three nights only.
12:25 p.m.
Program Director, Front Line, Walk With Me
For all of Canada—but they won't pay a salary for people to staff the safe house. So yes and no. That's why it's just as confusing to me as it is to you.
I'm going to pass it on to Mr. Hooper.
12:25 p.m.
Chairperson, Board of Directors, Walk With Me
Thank you, Mr. Harris, for the question.
In fact, when you spoke originally, I wrote down, “Write to Mr. Harris”.
About article 6, sub 3 of the protocol, as the chairperson of Walk With Me Canada, I can say there are no funds. It would probably behoove me to tell you the financial statements of that organization, which serves slaves across Canada and works on a budget of less than $100,000 a year. And I mean for everything. We've had gracious volunteers. Ms. Nagy was nice enough to acknowledge that there are volunteers helping, but quite candidly, there is no money, no funding. The present funding for the safe house will expire on March 31—provincial funding. It's in Ontario. I'm obviously not going to tell you where, but it's in Ontario. It's based on 72 hours and a kit that's—I'll get the number wrong—about $100 of goods and services that will allow these men or women to be able to move forward in their life.
Once they leave there, they are at the whim of not having all the things in the protocol: housing, medical service, translation services. Ms. Nagy is not going to tell you this, but for Project OPAPA, all the translation from Hungarian to English was done by her for free. That was not supported by any government agency, provincially, federally, or municipally.
I could go on another five minutes about what happened with the male victims of labour slavery from Hungary and Project OPAPA. There is no safe house for them, so some of them were put up in hotels with privately funded money.
12:25 p.m.
NDP
Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL
Thank you.
I appreciate Mr. Woodworth, in front of the committee witnesses, advising that all of the measures that we're talking about and that we're supportive of were actually passed unanimously in the House. It's something we're trying to work on together to make things better.
12:25 p.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Thank you again, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity.
First of all, in relation to the MacIntosh case, a public inquiry was suggested. If I'm correct on that particular factual basis, the gentleman was in India and the court actually looked at the time away from Canada as an unreasonable delay in prosecution, and it included that time, notwithstanding that there was a warrant issued. From my perspective, instead of an inquiry, I might suggest maybe some legislative changes to make sure judges take judicial notice that they cannot include time away in part of the unreasonable trial. Would that be fair to say?
12:25 p.m.
President and Co-Founder, Beyond Borders ECPAT Canada
You can read a legal analysis of this case by Jonathan Rosenthal on our website. Beyond Borders' view is that the Court of Appeal of Nova Scotia absolutely mangled the law on delay. We had an individual in flight from—
12:25 p.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
I do understand, and that may go to the Supreme Court.
12:30 p.m.
President and Co-Founder, Beyond Borders ECPAT Canada
I think the Supreme Court will clean it up.
12:30 p.m.
President and Co-Founder, Beyond Borders ECPAT Canada
And after that, we have to figure out whether Canada is up to speed in handling a case like that.
12:30 p.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Okay, but would you not agree that a change in the legislation to codify “unreasonable delay” and what can and cannot be included—and I see your lawyer nodding his head in agreement—would not be sufficient to make sure that the Supreme Court took notice of that, and that future judicial decisions also include that?
12:30 p.m.
Senior Legal Counsel, Beyond Borders ECPAT Canada
I think it would definitely be very helpful. If I have to speculate, which is always dangerous—
12:30 p.m.
Conservative
