Good morning, and thank you for having us here.
We recognize that this is an international problem, that it's multi-faceted, but we will be speaking about the areas that mostly affect women, and that's going to be about the sex trade.
Under the pillars of protection and prevention, the Toronto Police Service has undertaken several initiatives to increase education and to support victims. The Toronto Police Service priorities for 2006 to 2008 identify six areas on which the service and the Toronto Police Services Board will focus extra attention and our activities. The priorities were developed in consultation with the Toronto Police Services Board, their Toronto Police Service members, and members from our community. Some of the highlights include focusing our resources and activities to support our commitment to community safety and security, recognizing the dangers to and concerns of the most vulnerable to victimization in our society, and addressing the needs of women and children who are victimized, in a multi-faceted task that we must carry out together with community partners.
We are committed to transforming our organization through a strategy of community mobilization that is actively encouraging the community and social agencies in developing and implementing sustainable solutions to local problems. This includes working with our national partners and non-governmental agencies and organizations to identify victims of human trafficking, to help them access support, and lastly, to bring offenders to justice.
The Toronto Police Service relies mostly on divisional, plainclothes, and vice officers to investigate occurrences involving prostitution, strip clubs, and bawdy houses. These units are further supported by headquarters units. One of them would be the special victims section, working out of the sex crimes unit, created this year to address street prostitution involving young persons. The unit proactively meets with members from the sex trade to help identify support mechanisms and to address issues related to violence. Detective Sergeant Hamel will be speaking a little bit further on that in a few minutes.
To date, the Toronto Police Service has not laid any charges in relation to the new human trafficking Criminal Code charges. This is also the case for the Peel Regional Police and the information that I was provided by the York Regional Police vice unit.
Further education regarding human trafficking, of the new laws and immigration policies, is necessary to appropriately recognize and respond to victims. At the end of this November, the sex crimes unit of the Toronto Police Service is hosting our annual training conference. This year's theme is vulnerable victims. Planning has been under way for well over a year now, and one of the presentations is on human trafficking. We are pleased to have members from the Vancouver Police as well as the RCMP in town to address the audience of over 350 police and support agencies.
We've been working with members from our own police college to ensure that human trafficking is included as part of our curriculum. In recent talks with some members from the human trafficking section of the RCMP, we've agreed to host training sessions for our members and for social service agencies to bring the issue of human trafficking to the forefront. The members from the RCMP human trafficking section are making positive inroads in this area, and we support and applaud their training progress.
The Toronto Police Service community mobilization unit has recently developed a newcomer outreach program that is now available on our Toronto Police Service website. This program, including lesson plans for trainers, explains to newcomers the role of the police, and it includes links to important information for additional support. The newcomer outreach program is currently available in 14 languages and has become part of the curriculum of many LINC and ESL classes. The service is also working currently for the content to become available as part of information packages for those interested in coming to Canada.
Under Canadian law, human trafficking can occur inside or outside of our own borders. It is well known that we have one of the lowest age of consent laws in the world. This circumstance makes 14- and 15-year-olds vulnerable to sexual predators. The advancement of Bill C-22, on age of protection, will go a long way in helping to protect our youth from those who attempt to abuse them.
Other recommendations to advance the support of victims of human trafficking include the creation of dedicated resources and units, which will be multi-jurisdictional, for this type of investigation. We need support from non-governmental agencies to bridge the gap and help victims come forward. We need more training, education, and multi-jurisdictional conferences about issues related to human trafficking. These would be for police, for crowns, for judges, and for NGOs. We need harsher sentencing. Without better long-term solutions, the problem continues to exist: what to do with these people once we find them.
Improved immigration programs would also help, and would include assistance beyond the 120-day reflection period; ongoing access to health care; housing, and specifically immigration facilities dedicated specifically to these victims; educational opportunities for victims, including ESL classes and other training for vocations; work permits; legal assistance; better information; and assistance with repatriation or toward status in Canada.
We also support further research and suggest that tracking those who habitually bring large groups of women and children to Canada should be monitored. We need to track migrant workers who work in areas that are known to be problematic—for instance, strippers and prostitution. We would ask for better follow-up by Immigration in regard to those areas and improved cooperation between the police and Immigration.
Lastly, it's important to make all Canadians accountable, because this problem wouldn't exist here if there wasn't a market for it. It is out there, so why aren't we hearing more about it? There needs to be greater public awareness and education on what it is and how to report it, and we need to keep the issue high-profile.
I'm now going to turn it over to Detective Sergeant Hamel.