Justice Committee on March 15th, 2012

[Joy Smith, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

That conversation began a number of years ago, and that is why money was put in the budget last year—the last budget and the budget before—in terms of the human trafficking initiative. It's never enough. We all have to work together to think outside the dots. We have many partners. As you know, this is a huge priority because it is a crime that is growing. We want to stop it.

[Jasbir Sandhu, NDP, Surrey North, BC]

So you have no—

[Joy Smith, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

I won't give you a number because I think that's not realistic. I haven't done a business analysis of how much you need.

[Jasbir Sandhu, NDP, Surrey North, BC]

Would you like to reply, Mr. Attaran?

[Prof. Amir Attaran]

It's impossible for me to say what will come of the steps being taken towards a national action plan because it's a work in progress. When the work is completed, I hope that all parties in the House will take a look at legislating aspects of that plan. A non-legislative plan that lives only in policy is one that is much more easily ignored by the bureaucracy, not maliciously ignored but just neglected.

If you were to, hypothetically, a year from now, have that plan in hand, and have worked on it, asked the House to debate it to perhaps improve on it, I would hope you would then go to the next step of trying to legislate its elements.

[Rosalind Prober]

I was just going to add—and I know Joy will agree—we really shouldn't leave here without acknowledging the Salvation Army for their work against human trafficking in the streets.

[Jasbir Sandhu, NDP, Surrey North, BC]

Am I out of time?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dave MacKenzie]

You have one minute.

[Jasbir Sandhu, NDP, Surrey North, BC]

Oh, great.

Ms. Smith, why wasn't this included in Bill C-10?

[Joy Smith, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

I really can't answer that. I know there have been a lot of different aspects to Bill C-10 that include child exploitation and pornographers over the Internet. I know that when my son was in the ICE Unit, they concentrated on Internet crimes.

Human trafficking is not isolated from those crimes. That can happen. For instance, a predator can use the Internet and lure children over the Internet. Even though it's not called human trafficking, there are aspects in Bill C-10 that definitely do address this.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dave MacKenzie]

Thank you.

I believe the committee is prepared to go to clause-by-clause. We want to thank the witnesses for being here. You're welcome to stay as we go through this bill. Hopefully, we'll finish in this committee right now. I think it's an opportunity, if you wish to stay, but you're welcome to do whatever you will.

We'll begin. As you know, it's a very short bill. We will be done very shortly.

[Joy Smith, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Thank you very much.

[A voice]

Thank you.

[Joy Smith, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

(On clause 1)

[The Chair, Conservative, Dave MacKenzie]

I understand there is a government amendment.

Do you wish to move it, Ms. Findlay?

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, Delta—Richmond East, BC]

Yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dave MacKenzie]

Okay. Go ahead.

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, Delta—Richmond East, BC]

Bill C-310 proposes Criminal Code amendments in two areas. This private member's bill would provide extraterritorial jurisdiction to prosecute, in Canada, Canadians or permanent residents who commit abroad either the main human trafficking offence, which prohibits all forms of human trafficking, in section 279.01, or the child-specific trafficking in persons offence, in section 279.011, which is punishable by mandatory minimum penalties where the victim is under the age of 18.

It would include a non-exhaustive list of examples of conduct that a court may take into consideration when determining whether exploitation has occurred for the purpose of the trafficking in persons offences.

I support this, and I applaud the member for her dedication to this issue, as we've heard the testimony unfold here today, and for the openness she has shown during second reading debate to amending this legislation in order to further our shared purpose of providing police and prosecutors with the tools they need to bring traffickers to justice.

In this vein, I'd like to propose two amendments.

The first one is to clause 1. The first proposed amendment would be to provide that the two other Criminal Code offences that specifically target human trafficking—that is, section 279.02, which prohibits receiving a financial or material benefit from human trafficking, and section 279.03, which prohibits the withholding of identity documents to facilitate human trafficking—are amongst those offences that Canada can assume extraterritorial jurisdiction over.

As has been said before, these amendments would enhance implementation of our international obligations and would ensure that our laws treat all human trafficking offences consistently.

In other words, no matter what trafficking offence was committed, we would be able to prosecute, in Canada, in appropriate circumstances, conduct that was committed abroad.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

On a point of order, Mr. Chairman, I don't have a problem with the amendments, but I do have some questions.

Are we leading with clause 2, did you say?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dave MacKenzie]

We're just doing clause 1.

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, Delta—Richmond East, BC]

This has to do with clause 1.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

The clause 1 amendment actually adds two other sections. Is this all we're dealing with in clause 1?

As well, I thought we were going to have officials here today.

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, Delta—Richmond East, BC]

There is an official present.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Maybe there is someone who can come forward and help us out a bit.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dave MacKenzie]

Sure.

Can you tell us who you are?