Just bouncing off our ongoing conversation here, I think that we have a lot of social, legal and political biases with regard to sex work and sex trafficking. They are often conflated. I will say that.
However, I think you made a great point in saying that when you are prosecuting the crime of human trafficking, there is a high legal threshold. You have to have victim participation. You have to meet these evidentiary burdens.
In my work with police officers, if they walk into a suspected human trafficking situation...and these are police not only from Ontario, but B.C., Manitoba, etc. This happened in my hometown about a month ago. A 14-year-old girl was suspected to be trafficked in a hotel room. The police officer walked in to investigate, and the girl said, “Oh, no. It's just my boyfriend. We're in a relationship, and we're inviting additional people over.”
Police have to leave. Again, you're talking about legal thresholds. Police look at a situation and say, “Is there fear? This girl seems to be perfectly consenting.” Regardless of the fact that she's a youth, they have to leave that situation. They have to leave piles of files on their desk because of the current high legal threshold with our current Criminal Code provisions regarding human trafficking.
I will let Professor Benedet take it from here.