I just want to say that I'm honoured to be here today, and I'm hoping to share with you some grassroots insights I've had, as a volunteer, on a topic that's more than disturbing. It's much more than despicable.
I realize that the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women--Stop Human Trafficking as well as Help Us Help The Children are only two of the many organizations grappling with this issue. Uniting us all is a concern for this human rights tragedy. We care, and we want to truly make a difference.
You will have heard from many witnesses on the issue of human trafficking. No doubt by now you know the statistics, what the RCMP is doing, and how this has become a worldwide crisis.
Since I'm not a law enforcer, a politician, or a university professor, I'll allow myself to appeal, on a more emotional level, to your sense of what is blatantly wrong and what needs to be done about it. For those of us who occasionally benefit from a jolt of harsh reality, allow me to read a passage from Victor Malarek's book, The Natashas: The New Global Sex Trade. Many of you are likely familiar with this book already. I'll read you a story about Sophia, an 18-year-old Romanian who was abducted at knife point while walking home one evening on a rural road, about a kilometre away from her home.
I'm saying Romania, but this has happened recently here in Canada. We know of a girl in New Brunswick who was abducted and sexually trafficked.
Two men with knives forced me into the car. I thought they would rape me and kill me. I prayed that my life would be spared. Instead I was driven to a river crossing where they sold me to a Serbian man. He took me across the Danube river in a small boat and then to an apartment in a town in the mountains. I didn't know the name, but I soon learned I was in Serbia.
There were so many young girls in there. They were from Muldova, Romania, Ukraine, and Bulgaria. Some were crying. Others looked terrified. We were told not to speak to each other, not to tell each other our names or where we were from. All the time very mean and ugly men came in and dragged girls into the rooms. Sometimes they would rape girls in front of us. They yelled at them, ordered them to move in certain ways, to pretend excitement, to moan. It was sickening.
Those who resisted were beaten. If they did not cooperate they were locked in dark cellars with rats, with no food or water for three days. One girl refused to submit. She screamed and screamed. We all cried, and the next day the girl tried to hang herself.
Sophia's biggest fear was being broken in herself. In her words:
I dreaded that moment. In the first day I thought to myself, I will fight back. Then I saw what they did to one girl who refused. She was from Ukraine, very beautiful, very strong willed. Two of the owners tried to force her to do things, and she refused. They beat her, burned her with cigarettes all over her arms. Still she refused. The owners kept forcing her. She still refused. She kept fighting back. They hit her with their fists. They kicked her over and over. Then she went unconscious. She just lay there. They still attacked her. She didn't move. She wasn't breathing. There was no worry on the faces of the owners. They simply carried her out.
What I've read to you just now is a fact. It's absolutely not fiction. It's a small sample of the horrors that occur all over the world, and here in Canada as well. It was this book, The Natashas, that was the wake-up call for many of us, guilty of perhaps being ignorant or oblivious of the plight endured by hundreds of thousands of enslaved women. We are very comfortable in our own safe cocoons of existence, in our ideal lives.
I believe that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things. That's why I volunteer. I strongly believe that governments can partner with NGOs and volunteer community groups in achieving a global impact on this issue.
Allow me now to share with you some brief highlights of what our volunteers have accomplished. Help Us Help The Children is a project of the Children of Chernobyl Canadian fund and we've been working in Ukraine for over 12 years supporting projects. We've been providing medical and education aid to orphanages in Ukraine.
At the tenth anniversary gala, Victor Malarek was the guest speaker. He brought to our attention how conveniently orphans fall prey to traffickers. We're talking about children after they leave the orphanages. We're talking about children who could perhaps even be sold by corrupt orphanage directors. It was at this point that we decided to form the Help Us Help the Children anti-trafficking initiative.
I'll mention some of our projects in Ukraine, because I strongly believe our experience internationally—the experience of the NGOs at this table—can in fact be implemented here in Canada. We have experience with women's groups, educational modules, etc., that can easily fit into our system here in Canada.
We've had awareness-raising events in Canada, the United States, and Ukraine. I mentioned the learning modules that we've implemented for the orphans at our summer camps and for the orphanage directors as well. We're happy to know that our educational modules, on which we cooperated with the International Organization for Migration, will be incorporated into the Ukrainian high school system. Again, we could easily modify these programs, incorporate them into Canadian high schools, and in fact warn young girls of the dangers that could be facing them in, for example, the modelling industry.
We're also proud to speak of our trafficking awareness project, which was in fact funded by IOM and CIDA's partners in tomorrow program. It involved trafficking awareness education by a travelling team of trainers and volunteers at various orphanages in border towns in Ukraine, where it was determined that orphans may be more at risk of being trafficked. Of course, we're thankful to Her Excellency Ambassador Dann for lending her ear and support to our projects and aspirations in Ukraine, as well as here in Canada.
Now I'll talk a bit about Canada.
The spark or wake-up call reached far beyond the Ukrainian Canadian community. To that end, Stop the Trafficking Coalition was born, with membership and activities stretching from Vancouver to Montreal. To begin our work, we developed a comprehensive anti-trafficking action plan for Canada. The issue is just so large that we didn't know where to begin, so we put down all the facts and we looked at what we could tackle. It was not all that overwhelming. We picked a few issues that were important and that we could deal with, and we moved forward. They were issues dealing with legislation, enforcement, and the victims.
Along with other groups, we've met with and continue to liaison with the RCMP immigration and passport branch to discuss community involvement in ensuring a better outcome for trafficking victims. We've even organized a group of volunteer interpreters and have offered our assistance to the area police victim assist programs, should our interpreters be required.
We've made contacts with local Toronto shelters and NGOs, with the goal of increasing awareness about possible trafficking victims who may come through their doors. But the reality is that we have not found any shelters that are truly equipped to deal with all the issues surrounding trafficking victims: the social, spiritual, and security issues that need to be in place if we are to offer them proper protection.
We've organized various letter-writing campaigns. Some of you may have received letters from me. I thank those of you who replied.
We've also been part of the trafficking forum, which was organized in Ottawa in March 2004. The event was then sponsored by the ministries of Justice and Status for Women. The following day, we participated in a meeting hosted by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Trafficking. At that time, we first submitted our action plan, as well as a proposed private member's bill, copies of which could be made available today if they're desired. We feel fortunate. Part of our wish list has been addressed by Bill C-49 and the recent guidelines for trafficking victims.
We're also looking at the medical consequences faced by trafficking victims. I'm employed in a large teaching hospital in Toronto. I've met two colleagues who have worked on numerous papers on this issue. I've put them in contact with the Interdepartmental Working Group on Trafficking. They're ready to move ahead in terms of educating physicians and health care workers on the fact that they could perhaps come across trafficking victims in their practices. Of course, we're still waiting for a response on this issue.
We're focused on the eastern European elements of trafficking in humans, but we recognize it's a much wider social and economic problem that has echoes around the world. We recognize that it's a global crisis. We've sought to make contact with and have benefited from the knowledge of various groups.
Many of these groups you've already heard from; some are present today. Allow me to mention only two of them. There are our friends in the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, who will be speaking to you. We were privileged to have worked closely with them in 2004 in formulating new resolutions on the action against human trafficking.
I'd also like to mention The Future Group. Many of you will recall The Future Group's recent 40-page study, released in March of 2006, entitled “Falling Short of the Mark”. That report is available online.
This report gave Canada a failing grade for failing to provide temporary residence to victims to recover from their ordeals and for the lack of even basic medical services for them. The study received national and international coverage, and as you know, on May 11, Citizenship and Immigration Canada announced the adoption of new measures that will help victims of human trafficking in Canada, measures that now need to be effectively implemented.
What are we asking of our Canadian government? What should the responsibilities be of all sending, transit, and receiving countries? Canada fits all those categories.