Madam Chair, ladies and gentlemen members, we thank you for inviting us to testify before this committee as part of the research being conducted into the trafficking issue.
First, allow me to tell you briefly what the CATHII group is. It's an action committee against the domestic and international trafficking in human beings. Here we're talking about an association of religious communities represented at the United Nations, academic researchers—such as Ms. Aurélie Lebrun, who is with me today—representatives of NGOs such as the Canadian Religious Conference, the Montreal police department, the Association des religieuses pour la promotion des femmes, the Service Intercommunautaire d'Animation Franciscaine, the Centre justice et foi, in short groups whose goal it is to join forces to fight domestic and international trafficking in human beings.
Our objective, among other things, is to coordinate awareness initiatives. For example, our sessions have reached hundreds of people across Canada over the past two years. As regards information, we are in contact with a number of networks across the country. Lastly, in the area of mobilization, we have conducted a lobbying effort. Some of you have received petitions or letters from members of CATHII or religious communities with ties to us.
In addition, our partners are very important. Among others, they include the RCMP Human Trafficking National Coordination Centre, the Association du personnel domestique and the Centre d'aide et de lutte contre les agressions à caractère sexuel.
It's important to tell you that CATHII has adopted the neo-abolitionist approach, the one used in Sweden, in particular. It consists in decriminalizing prostitutes, while criminalizing prostitution and clients, after first putting in place prevention, awareness and support programs, particularly for clients. It's clear in our minds that legalizing prostitution would open the door to considerable growth in trafficking in women. It's also clear that prostitution is sexual exploitation and that, although prostitution is a job for at most five percent of prostituted persons, for 95 percent, it is an activity that destroys them, that they feel forced to engage in and that they want to abandon.
CATHII is currently focusing on all matters pertaining to the protection of victims, such as enforcement of the Palermo Protocol, temporary visas, emergency shelters and client demand. Ms. Aurélie Lebrun will tell you about the client aspect, the new priority we want to focus on. I will discuss three other issues.
In May 2002, as you know, Canada ratified the Palermo Protocol, which urges signatory countries to adopt measures designed to protect victims. However, until quite recently, few concrete measures had been taken, except as regards offering temporary living permits to alleged victims of trafficking. We understand that it is important to prosecute traffickers in order to eliminate the problem at its source, but we believe it is also important to implement actual protection measures, without which victims will never agree to cooperate with police and testify. As much out of respect for the victims' humanitarian rights as for reasons of legal efficiency, it is important to protect the victims.
As regards the granting of temporary resident permits, we admit that this is a step in the right direction. However, we believe that it entails some weaknesses, in particular the fact that victims are not clearly told that they will not be required to testify if they do not yet feel able to do so. No provision is made either for work permits. In addition, it is provided that if police officers deem that the person is a victim of trafficking, they must direct that person to her embassy. In our view, this is a troubling aspect of the directive. We know of one case in which the victim of trafficking was in fact exploited by her embassy.
As for the term of the permit, we think that a 120-day permit would scarcely enable the victim to really recover from physical or mental trauma. We think that completely new statutory provisions enabling victims to obtain a visa would solve these problems in addition to granting legal status to persons who do not have it.
Lastly, we see that granting a temporary resident permit does not provide housing for trafficking victims. In fact, it provides for no services, except health services that the permit would financially enable the provinces to provide.
It was the Vancouver division of the RCMP that first asked the people at CATHII if they could provide emergency shelter, since their services had no budget for this purpose, or for supervision, interpretation or rehabilitation. The religious communities of Canada can provide these victims with temporary housing. Some NGOs are also prepared to take in this type of clientele.
However, who will fund the related services required? That's the main problem we have to resolve. Since Canada signed the Palermo Protocol, we think it must also agree to approve the budgets that will make it possible to meet its commitments toward victims.
I now turn the floor over to Ms. Lebrun.