Thank you, Mr. Garrison.
I'd first like to start by commending you for respectfully listening to all of the witnesses throughout the hearings and to acknowledge that, at every opportunity you had, you brought this discussion back to the issue at hand, while it was being conflated with so many issues. I'd like to thank you for that.
I'll get back to the trafficking disinformation that's been presented before this committee. Quite frankly, I have found these hearings to be a national embarrassment. I'm deeply disturbed by the amount of trafficking disinformation that has been put forward and uncritically consumed. This happened in the 2014 hearings, and I expected that when the committee members came to this hearing eight years later, they would have been aware of the types of misinformation that would be put forward. I will name a few now.
Ms. Clamen earlier talked about the age of entry into the sex trade being 12 to 14 years old. In my brief, I included The Washington Post and The Atlantic investigative reports to show how that has been debunked time and time again. Within Canada, the Canadian Women's Foundation has retracted not only that claim, but all of their trafficking task force so-called research that has so harmfully informed so much trafficking policy and dialogue in Canada. If members are interested in knowing why the Canadian Women's Foundation reports on trafficking are no longer available on their website, I encourage them to connect with the Canadian Women's Foundation.
I'll also address one other piece of disinformation that I heard during the hearings. It was the claim that there was an uptick in human trafficking along with sporting events. I believe the Stampede was mentioned. This also happened in Vancouver around the 2010 Olympics. There was a lot of fearmongering by groups that traffickers were going to be bringing young girls into the country and into Vancouver. That did not materialize.
The Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women has published empirical evidence that this trafficking does not happen. It does not happen around the Super Bowl, either. I can guarantee that Vancouver right now is considering a bid again for the Olympics. If Vancouver should be successful in its bid, this myth about the uptick in human trafficking around the Olympics will surely come around one more time, despite it not having materialized last time.