Justice Committee on March 27th, 2018

[Dr. Cecilia Benoit]

We have to realize that human trafficking is a very hidden activity. The sex industry in Canada is very hidden. When you have Criminal Code sanctions against an activity, it's very hidden. Therefore, perhaps even more hidden and in the shadows is human trafficking, and not only in Canada, but across the globe.

We can depend on some people coming forward through victims services and so on, but we're not necessarily getting at the underground into the communities where traffickers may be moving. I think we need to use a variety of strategies, including using social science research methods, to get a diverse sample of people in communities where you might like to find people, and then use some other investigative research there.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Dr. Benoit, you said you've done your research over two decades. We had a Supreme Court decision in Bedford in 2013, and then we had a statute, Bill C-36, responding to that. Have you seen any impact from that case or the legislation on the human trafficking situation in Canada over your research career?

[Dr. Cecilia Benoit]

It's a little early to tell, because the law has only been enacted since 2014. I did follow-up interviews in Victoria in 2016 and 2017. I gather from the people I interviewed there, especially indigenous people, that these laws have not helped them feel safer. They have to be more hidden when they're involved in sex work because they don't want their clients to be discovered and so on.

Whether it has impacted human trafficking, I don't know, because we don't really have those data in front of us. I think it has made it more difficult for people who legitimately want to be involved in sex work to do so, and I don't think it has increased confidence in the police.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Thank you.

I'd like to direct my next question to you, Ms. Mosley. Understandably, you talked about the difficulty of requiring victims to testify in the criminal process, but on the other hand, there's really little choice but to have them testify in the criminal process. You heard about some of the assistance that Sergeant Laflamme has told us his force is trying to provide, but at the end of the day, a very serious crime, trafficking, is going to require cross-examination and the whole panoply of the criminal justice process. Isn't that true? If so, what can we do about it?

[Jodi Mosley]

It's very difficult, because when we're looking at trauma and trauma bonds with the victims, the perpetrators, and the pimps, there's that fear that they're being disloyal. So we have that. How do we get them from point A to point B when we look at trauma and the way it affects people mentally? How long are court cases? Someone could have been charged six months ago and still be waiting for their trial while they're living with that, trying to stay within it, and trying to get their health together.

Mental health, however, is very difficult to deal with, and then if we don't have the services for them.... Yes, we have victim services, and they get five counselling sessions, I think, through Ottawa Victims Services. It's very low—

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

So speedier trials, perhaps getting rid of preliminary inquiries where we have to do it all twice, and better victim support would be critical, as would making sure that when they do show up for that trial, it's not put off because there's something else going on and they have to return. Those are some of the practical things. It includes using FINTRAC evidence to do certain things that you wouldn't need the victim to testify about.

Are there any other suggestions that you or perhaps Sergeant Laflamme might have to make things better here?

[Sgt Damien Laflamme]

Sure. I believe the Jordan decision is acting very favourably with regard to expediting trials. Therefore, I think we're taking great steps with regard to speeding up the processes. I do believe that as a result of the type of investigations we do, a lot of our victims are very transient, and there is a lot of difficulty trying to get them to come back to the jurisdiction for a specific trial.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Right.

One thing that we heard about—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

Mr. Rankin, it's your last question.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Okay. This will be a quick last question.

We've heard from a number of people that when you're trying to rehabilitate, get back from being a sex worker, and get a job, the first thing you face is that you have a shoplifting conviction or something else because you've stolen something in order to stay alive during this slavery that you've experienced. You've given us your views on preliminary inquiries. How would you feel about the expungement of criminal records for people who are in fact victims of trafficking so that they can get back into the workforce?

[Sgt Damien Laflamme]

That's a heavy question.

I think it needs to be looked at on a case-by-case basis, based on the charges that maybe that person or that victim has and what the previous convictions relate to. I would agree that there are certain circumstances where we have had victims who have been arrested for shoplifting or for frauds, based on the type of work they are in, who were forced to do so based on traffickers.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

And then they can't get a job afterwards.

[Sgt Damien Laflamme]

Correct. I think if there were a way to ascertain or determine that those charges were on the peripheral of trafficking as a major concern, then we could deal with those charges at that particular point.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Thanks very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

Mr. McKinnon, please.

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you very much, Chair.

Thanks to all of you for being here.

I'll start with you, Dr. Benoit. I'd like to build on what Murray was talking about regarding data, and I'd like to understand your testimony a little better. I believe you said that human trafficking is not widespread among adults. In your study—I believe it was in 2014—6% of the respondents indicated that they had been forced at some stage in their lives into a human trafficking situation.

In that testimony, you seemed to be a bit of an outlier, based on the kind of testimony we were hearing from quite a number of people. I'm wondering if you have an explanation for that. Is there a difficulty in collecting data, or is the other data that we're hearing about more anecdotal?

In that respect, I noticed that you mentioned that you required the people involved in one of your studies to be legally able to work in Canada. Might that skew the results in terms of eliminating people who are not able to work in Canada but who were nevertheless trafficked?

If you could respond, I would appreciate it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

One second, Dr. Benoit. We seem to have lost the audio.

Mr. McKinnon, perhaps you could pose your second question to somebody in the room while we try to fix this. Then we'll come back.

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Okay.

Ms. Leach, you mentioned that health care providers encounter 84% of trafficked individuals while they're in captivity. I'm wondering where that statistic came from, how you recognize individuals as being in captivity when they come into a health care environment, and whether there's an opportunity for health care providers to intervene in such a case.

[Tara Leach]

As to where those statistics come from, I have the privilege of belonging to a group called HEAL, which is basically in the U.S., and that's where that data comes from. Unfortunately, in Canada we don't have such data. It's research of survivors through U.S.-based research. Sometimes those statistics can range. Certainly the highest is 84%. The lowest I've seen is 24%.

That information becomes relevant because we're noting that people who are experiencing trafficking at the time they are being held in captivity are coming to access health care. Part of what I want to bring forward to this committee is that, as health care professionals, we're not necessarily educated on how to identify and how to intervene. Oftentimes, when health care providers are looking for something, they're looking for what's called a validated screening tool, and in Canada we don't currently have one. Oftentimes survivors will voice that they feel that when they access health care, they're not being seen for who they are. They might be seen for that presenting complaint, like the example I've given of a broken bone, but capturing the essence of why they're there, the complexity of why it is they're there, and their circumstance of trafficking aren't being identified.

The best example I can give you is that there's no diagnosis, or what we would call an ICD code, for human trafficking. There's no way for me to code an individual as this being their circumstance. I have to, then, code it as the sore throat, the broken bone, etc., or what might be there.

For health care providers to be able to intervene, they need to have these tools for themselves. They need to be taught to ask questions and to go with that gut instinct that they might have to further delve into this person's life and realize what choice they have with regard to their employment, what choice they have with regard to finances, life, etc., which we call a social history screen.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

I think Dr. Benoit is back online.

[Dr. Cecilia Benoit]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

We're back to Mr. McKinnon's first question. Go ahead.

[Dr. Cecilia Benoit]

Thank you.

I think it's important to note that I'm not a researcher of human trafficking. I'm studying the organization of the sex industry in the country. I'm looking at the health and working conditions of people involved, and I'm interested in their access to non-judgmental services. I've used a variety of survey methods to try to get access to a diversity of people who are involved in the activity. In those hour-and-a-half-length interviews, human trafficking has been mentioned. It comes up when I ask people about their early life events and how they got involved in the sale of sexual services. That's where 6% describe themselves as being forced or exploited in their earlier life.

That definitely differs from some of the other information you're hearing, which is from when victims of human trafficking are connected with services, so that's very, very different. In studies of the sex industry, where your example is only a clinical example—that is, only people who go to seek services—you get a much more homogenous sample than the one I described we have found in our research.

Second, we chose in our study that a person had to be legally able to work in Canada because we were interested in the impact of the prostitution Criminal Code laws, adult prostitution code laws, on people's ability to work in the country and their experiences of health, safety, and victimization. We were especially interested in Bedford and the consequences that would happen in the Criminal Code. That was the reason and also the reason we chose people as adults.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

Thank you.

Mr. McKinnon, you have a minute left.

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Okay.

I'll move on now to the Ottawa Coalition to End Human Trafficking. I believe it was you, Ms. Lacey, who said we need a national action plan again. We had one. Do you think that is the plan we need to go forward with? Does it need changes, and if so, what improvements would you suggest?