Thank you very much for the question. I really appreciate that.
The first human trafficking law that was put in the Criminal Code—section 279.03, I believe—would have changed my life right away, because at the time that my case happened, it was only exploitation, and there was no law at all about exploitation.
The second law that our Parliament graciously has put in place—and I was very grateful to see it—again would have changed my life at the time, because that would have provided me with a temporary work permit. I would have been able to go to a doctor. I would have been able to learn English. This way, I had to watch a lot of Friends, with the subtitles. Anyway, one way or another, I manage to speak English now.
But at the time, I wasn't allowed to work. I wasn't allowed to go to the doctor. After everything I had been through, my medical bills were, like, $5,000 or $6,000, and I had to work minimum wage at three to four jobs for six years to pay that off.
So that was the second law that I really, really welcomed. It would have changed my life big time.
My court went on. It became just sexual exploitation against only one Canadian man, because the men who recruited me from Hungary were already gone from Canada. So there was nothing.... They could do nothing about it.
What would this law have done? It would have never even allowed me to get to that in the first place: it would have prevented this. My life would be completely different. I wouldn't be sitting in front of you right now and talking to you. If there had been a law like this, I would never have got on that plane because the people who recruited me would be held accountable, and they would know that as soon as they would come back to Canada, if I were to go to the police, they would go to jail for what they did in Hungary.