Status of Women Committee on Nov. 7th, 2006

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

On behalf of the committee, thank you so very much, Ms. Tie, for an excellent presentation. We very much appreciated your contribution as we move forward.

I would just remind our committee members, on the witness issue that had to do with Ms. Stronach's motion, if you can supply the clerk with suggestions for those meetings, we will have some possible dates at our Thursday meeting and start to come up with some witnesses. So anyone who has witness suggestions, would you please give them to the clerk as quickly as possible so that we can do whatever work is necessary and see if we can get that tied up as well before the Christmas break?

Ms. Mourani.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

Madam Chair, in light of the testimony that the committee has just heard, I would like us to obtain either an electronic or paper copy of the report on Bosnia, or of any related report. It makes no difference if they were produced by research centres somewhere in the world or by some NGOs that may have produced reports on human trafficking in times of war. This type of information would give us a better grasp of the issue of trafficking in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women and children. Is there no research whatsoever available on this subject?

[Lyne Casavant, Committee Researcher]

Not to my knowledge. The report, which discusses the subject at some length, implies that this is a very real phenomenon, but no actual research exists.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

None at all?

[Lyne Casavant]

Not to my knowledge. We can continue to look into this.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

Madam Chair, in light of the testimony given, I would like us to take into account human trafficking in wartime in our report. I'd like us to focus on this question. We could go as far back as the war in Vietnam or in Cambodia. There have been a number of Asian conflicts, most notably the one in Thailand. It would be good to have an idea of the human trafficking problem back then. I don't know if any studies have been done showing a link between past and current conflicts, in terms of human trafficking.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

I would just add, though, Ms. Mourani, that we had decided as a group when we were going specifically into the issue of human trafficking via sexual exploitation that we were going to focus on what was going on within the confines of Canada. Would you like to add something to that? It's such a broad issue.

[Lyne Casavant]

I simply wanted to mention that researchers were really drawn to the subject of human trafficking during the 1980s. It would be difficult to find earlier studies covering this topic. However, studies have been done on prostitution in wartime. We could obtain copies of some of them for information purposes.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

Madam Chair, you are quite right. We did decide to look at human trafficking in the Canadian context. However, we mustn't forget that trafficking in Canada is tied to the international picture. We can't discount the fact that young girls come from and are sent to other countries. Trafficking is a global problem.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Exactly.

All right. Since there is no further business, we will adjourn. We will get together on Thursday morning at eleven o'clock.

Thank you all very much. The meeting is adjourned.