I understand you're pressed for time, so I'm going to try to paraphrase my remarks as well.
The Canada Border Services Agency contributes to the fight against trafficking in persons by helping to prevent traffickers from transporting their victims to Canada, by helping to identify foreign nationals who have become victims of trafficking from among the many migration-related cases we process, and by enhancing Canada's intelligence on the nature and scope of trafficking in persons in Canada.
Our unique contribution is in detecting and interdicting irregular migration and the smuggling of foreign nationals to Canada. Trafficking in persons is sometimes confused with migrant smuggling. This can occur because both trafficked and smuggled persons can initially present under what appear to be similar circumstances, and because smuggled persons can become trafficked persons. The difference lies in the following factors that distinguish migrant smuggling from trafficking in persons.
First, migrant smuggling involves migrants who have consented to be illegally moved across international borders. In contrast, either trafficked persons have never consented, or any apparent or prior consent is vitiated by the course of deceptive or abusive actions of their traffickers.
Second, trafficked persons may be trafficked within their own country or across borders, whereas migrant smuggling is always transnational.
Finally, smuggled migrants are free to go upon arrival at the destination state, once payment has been provided, whereas trafficked persons are subject to ongoing confinement and exploitation to generate illicit profits for traffickers.
The Canada Border Services Agency sources believe that many foreign nationals who become trafficking victims were at one point smuggled into Canada. However, not all foreign nationals smuggled into Canada become victims of trafficking. The Canada Border Services Agency can disrupt trafficking in persons activities in the course of its efforts against irregular migration and migrant smuggling. These efforts play out in several ways under the agency's multiple borders strategy, whereby risk to Canadian safety and security is identified and interdiction takes place as far away from our actual borders as possible.
For example, the CBSA has a network of migration integrity officers stationed in 39 countries around the world who provide advice and expertise in the detection of fraudulent, counterfeit, or tampered travel documents and who work with international law enforcement partners to detect trends and patterns in irregular migration. This network has proven to be an effective strategy in reducing irregular migration to Canada. Undocumented or improperly documented arrivals have decreased dramatically since this network was established. In 1990, only 30% of inadmissible persons attempting to gain entry to Canada were intercepted overseas. By 2005, that number had increased to approximately 71%.
CBSA also maintains Border Services officers at 245 ports of entry, who screen approximately 100 million travellers each year seeking entry to Canada. All foreign nationals seeking entry to Canada are screened to ensure they are admissible, have the necessary visa or travel documents, and are entering Canada for a genuine and lawful purpose. To supplement the controls maintained by Border Services officers at the port of entry, CBSA officers work with Canadian and U.S. partners in the integrated border enforcement teams.
Within Canada, CBSA enforcement officers perform investigations with respect to people who are inadmissible to Canada to preserve the integrity of our immigration programs. Approximately 30,000 investigations are conducted each year. CBSA officers may encounter individuals they suspect are victims of trafficking in the course of ongoing investigations into migrant smuggling or, as previously mentioned, in raids on criminal enterprises involving irregular migrants. During these investigations, it is essential to distinguish a possible victim of trafficking in persons from another type of irregular migrant.
Thus the Canada Border Services Agency is currently developing guidelines and training modules to assist front-line CBSA officers in the identification of victims of trafficking in persons and to provide guidance on how to address the special needs of this vulnerable group. The training and guidelines will also address procedures for sharing information and cooperating with partner agencies in the processing of cases of trafficking in persons. The objective is to enhance awareness of trafficking in persons as a CBSA concern, to provide assistance in identifying possible victims, and to provide officers with options to ensure a victim will be protected, including referral of a possible victim to CIC for consideration of a temporary resident permit.
CBSA officers in Vancouver and Montreal have developed innovative community-based approaches to combat trafficking in persons through outreach and awareness initiatives. They have conducted extensive consultations with regional partners to develop protection strategies for victims detected in their regional areas of responsibility, have built relationships with local non-governmental organizations, and have coordinated with the RCMP, municipal police, and Citizenship and Immigration Canada on investigations and intelligence gathering. Their efforts have been productive in developing sources of information by gaining the trust of NGOs and in encouraging victims to come forward to law enforcement.
Before closing, Madam Chair, I would like to identify a few challenges we face in the CBSA in addressing this issue.
A clear challenge for CBSA is in identifying victims of trafficking in persons at the port of entry. As stated earlier, the potential victims may be unaware of what is in store for them, or if they are aware that they are being exploited, they may already be sufficiently intimidated by the trafficker that they refuse to seek help from the authorities. In either case, they may steadfastly deny being victims of trafficking.
Another challenge, as you have already heard from other witnesses, is to obtain reliable and accurate information about the nature and extent of trafficking of persons within Canada. This is attributable to several factors: the difficulty in identifying victims, differences in the reporting methods used, and the constantly shifting nature of trafficking activity itself. The CBSA is committed to working with its partners to obtain an accurate, quantifiable assessment of the volumes of persons trafficked into and from Canada, the countries from which they are transported, the routes and methods used, the activities for which they are trafficked, and their final destinations.
In conclusion, Madam Chair, I can assure you that we are committed to working with our partners in the fight against this crime to ensure that foreign nationals who have become victims of trafficking are treated as victims of crime first and irregular migrants second.
Thank you.