Status of Women committee  I don't think I can give you a comprehensive answer to your question, Madam Chair, but we've talked about the Dutch rapporteur, so one has to remember that in Holland, for instance, human trafficking is defined exclusively in terms of sexual exploitation and does not include othe

Status of Women committee  The rapporteur is not the full solution; it is one element. Definitely you need a coordinating mechanism, and you probably need two. You need a coordinating mechanism at the operational level within the federal government, because several agencies are involved; and you also need

Status of Women committee  I cannot give you names of people you should consult, but I think it would be very wise to try a pilot study in one municipality, one region, or one province of the country, and to try to address some of those issues you talked about earlier, issues of privacy. It's not just fede

Status of Women committee  Thank you, Ms. Demers. Madam Chair, in the case of the Netherlands, the annual budget is in the order of...

Status of Women committee  In the case of the Netherlands, the annual budget totals 450,000 euros. One has to remember that this is a small country with a unique police force. The budget for a similar operation in Canada would be much higher. You've raised a very important point, Ms. Demers. A national ra

Status of Women committee  Thank you for that question. I agree that it would be possible. What is most important is not whether it's an independent structure but whether the function is independent. In fact, in the Netherlands the rapporteur is located in the Ministry of Justice, and it is supported by a

Status of Women committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. We already have a national coordination centre as part of the RCMP. If the task at hand was simply to collect police data, certainly they would be able to do that, but one must remember that in all countries, particularly in Canada, very few cases come to

Status of Women committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon. I'd like to thank the committee for inviting me to come back and talk about some of these issues that we'll be discussing today. I was glad to learn that the committee had decided to spend some time reviewing some of the issues that are as

Status of Women committee  There's one more important reason. If we want to counter their problem, prosecute, and go after that form of organized crime, victims have to come forward. They have to cooperate with law enforcement and do all of those other things. Unless you protect them and help them, there i

Status of Women committee  Absolutely. But there is also a link between that and the entertainment industry, and between that and the berry industry where I come from. There are many links, but that is the crucial one, as was pointed out earlier. The data we currently have, however faulty, seems to indicat

Status of Women committee  People who are vulnerable for economic reasons can be exploited, but people are vulnerable in many other ways. Sometimes they're vulnerable because they're not very bright. Sometimes they're vulnerable because they're overly ambitious. There are all kinds of reasons why people ar

Status of Women committee  I think that is something to be considered. First of all, creating the possibility of offering them temporary residence for a few months is already a step in the right direction. A mechanism has to be found to enable us to know whether such people are actually victims or not. If

Status of Women committee  I don't know all of the details of the support. I'm a senior associate. I do not manage the centre, but I do know that there's still support available to the centre through, I believe, the Department of Justice Canada.

Status of Women committee  Yes, funding is essential for organizations like this centre, and for all of the other organizations that work in that area. Keep in mind that with transnational issues you're talking about moving across borders, travelling, and all of those other things, and none of that is chea

Status of Women committee  I don't know the extent to which it is supported. It also receives support from the Government of British Columbia, although not to the same extent.