Debates of Feb. 16th, 2021

Status of Women

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am sharing my time with my hon. colleague, the member for Winnipeg Centre.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Canada, things were already bleak for women fleeing violence and falling victim to human trafficking. Many have tagged women enduring violence as a shadow pandemic or a pandemic within a pandemic, but no matter what name we give it, the fact is that when a woman encounters violence in Canada and is not seen as a person to be respected and treated equally, but only as a commodity, which is every day, we are failing her.

I am pleased to speak about this issue today, but like violence against women, like pay equity and like so many issues that involve equality and dignity for women, we know the solutions required, but we are not making the political choices to do what is necessary.

I support this motion. I was happy to support it at the status of women committee and I am grateful that our committee has spent the last few months studying the impacts of COVID on women. I would like to share what I heard at committee and from my community about human trafficking.

According to the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking, human trafficking impacts women of all different ages, racial backgrounds and cultural groups. Everyone is at risk. The risks can be exacerbated by things like social isolation and emotional vulnerability. These factors, of course, have been aggravated by the pandemic, For those at higher risk, there is something we have heard repeatedly during this pandemic: People who are already vulnerable, such as women living in poverty, women living with disabilities, immigrant women, indigenous women and children, are disproportionately affected by this form of abuse and violence.

The statistics for human trafficking are alarming. The latest Statistics Canada report states that one person out of every 100,000 is a victim of human trafficking, but it also stated that the true rate is likely far higher, given the high level of victim vulnerability and the fact that such crimes often go unreported. The report suggests that the majority of human trafficking victims in Canada are women and girls younger than 25 years old.

I am so sad to say that these crimes in Canada are increasing, and we are seeing a noted increase in my riding as well. In London, Ontario, the London Abused Women’s Centre saw a 37% increase in calls to its organization for support and services related to human trafficking during the pandemic and speculated that the pandemic may aggravate risks of online exploitation. If we think about this, we realize that women and girls, mainly children, are online constantly now. Whether they are at school learning, researching and working online, socializing with their friends online or spending their free time through gaming or entertainment, it is online and it is constant. It is the children who are being treated as the greatest commodity of human trafficking.

Years ago, before I was elected, I was approached by a mom, a woman who was desperate to help her daughter. The daughter had significant mental health issues, and when she was 15 years old, she went online and met a man who promised her love, attention and a good time. He bought her clothes and drugs. She moved in with him. She became an addict. She was told that she then had to start to earn those drugs and clothes. She disappeared. Her family could not find her for years. Eventually, she found the strength to escape and she came back home. She was almost 18 at that time. She was admitted to the hospital to deal with her addiction and her mental health problems. She went home, but shortly thereafter she returned to the man and to the drugs and he sold her again. She turned 18 and her mother could not do anything about her leaving. She was an adult. No one could help.

There are incredible groups in my community that see this story and so many other heart-wrenching stories every day, and they provide the supports and help that this mom needed so desperately.

Services such as support groups, emergency and long-term shelters, affordable housing, counselling and education about human trafficking are integral to a survivor's recovery, but our committee heard that of the organizations providing these services and accepting referrals, a majority had implemented reduced service hours and changes to service provision due to funding cuts and the pandemic.

In 2007, the same committee for the status of women studied these issues and put forward a report called “Turning Outrage into Action to Address Trafficking for the Purpose of Sexual Exploitation in Canada”. This report outlined necessary actions that government could take to address human trafficking. Certainly, within government organizations and legal institutions, people are more aware, educated and active on the fight against human trafficking. However, almost 14 years later, the status of women committee heard witnesses tell us that these problems still exist and that we are not effectively addressing the issue. I believe that our failure to provide adequate and reliable funding is causing this continuance.

During the pandemic, numerous women's organizations spoke of the need for core funding. Operational-based funding is necessary for any organization to be able to shift within an emergency situation. During the Harper government, a great deal of funding to women's organizations was cut, and any funding provided was made available only under specific project-based funding. Under the subsequent Liberal government, some funding has been returned, but not to the levels required and only through that same project-based funding model.

This has left organizations scrambling, unable to move money to where they need it in a crisis. They cannot plan what they know their community needs. They must adhere to what projects have been put forward by governments. In addition, because they do not have adequate funds, they must rely upon constant private fundraising, which, as we know, is down because of the pandemic.

In London, we saw this exact example when organizations lost government funding to fight human trafficking. In the middle of the pandemic, when victims and survivors of trafficking and gender-based violence were at heightened vulnerability, the London Abused Women's Centre also had to deal with closing down their programming or trying to find funds from the community to survive.

Services for women in situations of human trafficking need greater stability and security. It is key for different levels of governments to work collaboratively to implement long-term, sustainable solutions to address human trafficking in Canada. It is still the case that some provinces did not deem women’s shelters as essential services during the pandemic, so these shelters had to close their doors.

We are months overdue on an action plan to respond to the calls for justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. The federal government is failing to deliver on its promise to indigenous people and a key commitment of culturally appropriate and geographically accessible services. An organization in London, Atlohsa, has created Okaadenige, the Survivors circle, which brings together those who have lived experience in human trafficking to provide support, access to traditional knowledge and teachings in a safe space.

We need to increase services related to homelessness, sexual health, mental health and addiction, as well as services to respond to violence and trafficking. Youth Opportunities Unlimited in London provides basic needs and housing, access to physical, mental or dental health care, and education and employment services specifically designed to help youth lead positive lives.

We know that when survivors of human trafficking try to report their experiences to authorities, they can be re-traumatized or intimidated by the process, so many do not report them. Although Canada’s legal system is heavily reliant on victim testimony, it is not designed to support victims and survivors of sexually based violence, including trafficking. We must provide training and education for those in the legal system. Across southwestern Ontario, Courage for Freedom is raising awareness and teaching, training, and certifying front-line staff and community service providers with proven strategies and prevention tactics to serve vulnerable victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Through actions like #ProjectMapleLeaf, they bring awareness to community agencies and personnel, government agencies, workers and families who serve in positions that may be witnessing human trafficking and do not even know it.

One of the greatest unequalizers of all, of course, is poverty. We continually fail to eradicate poverty in Canada. We could start with a guaranteed livable basic income. That would be a great start. When women have power and independence, they have true choice, and only then can we begin to deal with the violence they face.

There is a great deal more that I cannot cover today in my speech. However, to conclude, we must recommit to ensure that we will no longer put women at the back of the line. No longer will we say that they can wait for these programs and services or that we should study this problem again.

As was stated in 2007, “When a woman or girl is reduced to a commodity to be bought and sold, raped, beaten, and psychologically devastated, her fundamental human rights and dignity are repeatedly violated”, and we have failed.

We must act. I hope this motion and the declaration of February 22 leads to the actions and political courage necessary to put an end to human trafficking.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, on the issue of human trafficking, I genuinely believe we need to put more emphasis on education and I recognize the value of getting this designation, from an educational perspective. We all have a role to play, whether we are parliamentarians, teachers in a classroom or people in the private or non-profit sectors.

We recognize the importance of human trafficking in other ways, such as through the United Nations on July 30. There are other opportunities for us to raise the profile of the issue. I wonder if the member could provide her thoughts on how important that is.

We have provided historic amounts of money for homelessness and shelters, but there is still more we can do as a government. Can she provide her thoughts on how important it is to raise the sense of public awareness? A lot of people do not recognize this exists today, yet it does in Winnipeg North and communities throughout our country.

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the member said the government provides huge amounts of money. That can be confused with the announcements and reannouncements, talks of task forces and studies upon studies. That means spending a lot of money, but it is certainly not going to long-term funding needed by organizations that provide on-the-ground services. That is why I specifically tried to address the idea of core funding, the operational-based funding, which is what I hear from not only women's organizations, but all kinds of organizations.

There needs to be a recommitment by the federal government regarding affordable housing specifically. It used to be the federal government built that on its own. It did not rely on municipalities, organizations, communities and the provinces to step up. It was fulsome and there was a commitment to it. I have not see that in my time here. When the government says it wants to commit to funding, it needs to provide it and not constantly announce something that will eventually come.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is amazing to hear the non-partisan nature of the comments in this debate in the House today. I want to thank all colleagues for their comments to help end human trafficking.

In the last Parliament I had a private member's bill that was basically designed to implement the Palermo protocol for the definition of “human trafficking”. I am working with a colleague in the Senate now and hopefully can get it tabled in the House as well.

I am wondering if this is something the member thinks is a good next step. Would she and her party be supportive of that type of bill?

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am not familiar with the member's bill or what he suggests to bring forward, but I would certainly be happy to study it, take a look at it and read far more about it to see how it could advocate for victims of human trafficking.

What is key here, of course, is the money that goes with it. This is about a commitment by governments to eliminate project-based short-term funding . We need to commit to longer-term operational-based funding that provides organizations with the supports they need to move forward. If the member's bill provides what I was talking about in my speech, I would be happy to take a look at it and move it forward.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to be here today to speak about this very important matter.

On Sunday, I was honoured to join my fellow Manitobans for the annual Manitoba Women's Memorial March, which began in Vancouver 30 years ago. It is a march against violence, bringing awareness about the crisis of murdered and missing indigenous women and girls and two-spirit people across the country. This march was founded by the Sisters in Spirit and is now happening from coast to coast.

Although I welcome the motion today, I want to be clear: We need more than awareness. Over 4,000 indigenous women and girls have been murdered or are missing, with little or no action. It was noted as a crisis in 2013 by former UN special rapporteur for indigenous rights, James Anaya.

We have had the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which was completed with 231 calls to justice. Where is the action? We have consistently seen government after government turn a blind eye while more and more women, girls and two-spirit people in this country go missing and murdered with little or no action, even from the current government.

We know that the very root of this violence is poverty. We know that poverty makes women vulnerable. A failure to provide women with accessible, affordable social housing, taking away options to live safely, takes away choice. We have known this for a long time. In fact, in 1970, Canada's Royal Commission on the Status of Women recommended a guaranteed income for single mothers. Where is this income? It is time that we lift up our current income guarantees in this country and expand them.

We know that there is a direct correlation between rates of poverty and economic insecurity and violence. If we want to protect all individuals from exploitation, we need to ensure that they have what they need to make choices. That includes ensuring that all people are afforded basic human rights, which includes things like a guaranteed livable basic income, and the right to housing.

Former commissioner Robinson of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls stated, “It was pretty much everywhere in the country that we heard about how poverty and economic insecurity played a role in the violence”. Again, although I certainly welcome this motion today, we know this has been going on. We have known this for a very long time, but consecutive Liberal and Conservative governments have chosen not to act. Even with the release of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, there has still been no action.

It was also noted by the former commissioner that there is a recognition that the creation of poverty is a part of state violence. Commissioner Robinson concluded by saying, “It's not accidental.”

It is time that we address this. Poverty is violence. If we are truly going to address violence against women, girls and two-spirit people and ensure that people are not placed in situations where they are sexually exploited, we need to ensure they have what they need. We need to heed call for justice 4.5 of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. It states:

We call upon all governments to establish a guaranteed annual livable income for all Canadians, including Indigenous Peoples, to meet all their social and economic needs. This income must take into account diverse needs, realities, and geographic locations.

What is even more shocking is we know that since the start of the pandemic, the current rates of violence are rapidly increasing and have impacted elements of everybody's lives. However, specifically and more brutally, we know that increasing violence has impacted the lives of some more than others. These are historically marginalized individuals who were already left outside, or falling through the cracks, of our current social safety net, including women, seniors, disabled persons, indigenous peoples, BIPOC, students, LGBTQQIA people, refugees and temporary workers. We have heard stories of companies exploiting workers during the pandemic by not providing them with appropriate living quarters and forcing them to eat food rations. This is happening in Canada. We need more than awareness; we need action now.

We know that income inequality is deeply racialized. This demonstrates a gap between substantive and procedural law. Some codified laws state that all citizens are equal and have equal rights, but in practice it is much more difficult to find secure employment as a member of a BIPOC group. Poverty is racialized in this country and it is legislated, as we see in the Indian Act, which has set up levels of poverty in first nations communities and indigenous communities throughout the country, where we sometimes witness 95% unemployment.

We need to tackle the roots of violence. We need to tackle of the roots of human trafficking, sexual exploitation and slavery in this country by ensuring that everybody has what they need for living in dignity. That includes providing people who are falling through the cracks and suffering from addictions with safe places to find help, support, protection and dignity so they can truly have what they need to perhaps live with safety, security and dignity.

I would like to thank my hon. colleague for putting this motion forward. I certainly support it in principle, but I say this very clearly: We must stop talking; now is the time for action.

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her very interesting speech.

The link between violence against women and poverty is clear, and we are going to focus on that aspect.

I think symbolic things like creating a day of awareness are important, but huge and predictable investments are also needed. Housing advocates and organizations that assist women who are victims of domestic violence tell us that they need predictability. Money has been spent during the pandemic, but nothing seems to be happening. We get the sense that the aftermath of the pandemic will be difficult for all of Canada's most vulnerable groups.

I fully agree with what my colleague said, but my question is about another issue. Human trafficking is a global problem. I heard someone say earlier that the UN World Day against Trafficking in Persons is July 30. We want to make ours February 22. I am just wondering whether it would not be more meaningful and effective to make our day of awareness consistent with that of the rest of the world, to make this date the universal day to raise awareness of this important issue across the world.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, that is certainly a very good recommendation by my colleague. It is also important to recognize that women, girls and 2S people from Canada are trafficked throughout the world. I do heed his call. It is a fine suggestion.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Madam Speaker, of course, we support a national day recognizing the horrors of human trafficking. I do find that one of the things I have learned over the years in Parliament is that Parliament loves symbols and does squat when it comes to helping women who are victims.

We have gone year in and year out without proper funding for sexual assault centres that are on the front lines. There is a lack of core-based funding and support for the women who are doing the work of literally keeping other women alive. In our first nation communities, there were no rape kits in any of the isolated northern communities, so sexual assault victims could not even get justice. Again, this has happened year in and year out.

What steps do we need to take to move beyond the glowing words and non-partisan talk we hear in Parliament? Everyone is saying that we are going to do something and recognize a problem, as opposed to actually putting the resources in place to protect vulnerable women from the kind of abuse going on across this country.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Madam Speaker, we had the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, with at least 200 calls for justice. That is a start. We actually stopped talking and put in place a national action plan and responded to the 231 calls for justice. That is a start.

We also know that women's organizations are grossly underfunded, which is terribly concerning considering that during the pandemic, rates of violence have rapidly increased up to 400 times in some places. We need to treat this as a crisis and emergency. We need to immediately fund these organizations.

Let me remind members, the government pulled out of a hat billions of dollars to help out its corporate buddies. Where do women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA folks fit into that picture? Their lives matter and our lives matter. We need support and action now.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Madam Speaker, I know that my hon. colleague, being from Winnipeg, is probably familiar with the Joy Smith Foundation and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.

Are there any other organizations in her riding she would like to highlight that are combatting human trafficking in her area?

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Madam Speaker, we have an organization of families of murdered and missing indigenous women and girls that is composed of people with lived experience, family members and organizations.

We do not lack for ideas or solidarity in the city of Winnipeg when it comes to fighting against violence against indigenous women and girls. What we lack is the political will and support to end this crisis. It is no secret that—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

I am sorry to interrupt.

Resuming debate, the hon. member for Lakeland.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.

I want to start by thanking the status of women committee for tabling this report, which includes designating February 22 as national human trafficking awareness day, and I am grateful for the opportunity to speak today. I am sure that all of us in Parliament are united to end the scourge of human trafficking in Canada, but a day of awareness is only one step in the right direction. The other recommendations are equally important to encourage Canadians to hear from victims and survivors of human trafficking, and to raise awareness of the prevalence of human trafficking in Canada and, most importantly, to take action to combat it.

Conservatives are advocates for victims' rights and for the rule of law, and it has always been that way. In 2012, Prime Minister Harper's Conservative government brought official focus to the travesty of human trafficking and launched the national action plan to combat human trafficking, which consolidated all federal activities into one plan. Two months ago, I joined my colleagues, Senator Boisvenu and the MP for Oshawa, along with two victims' families, in support of Bill S-219, which would respect, strengthen and protect the rights of victims of crime. More recently, I participated in the ethics committee work on protection and privacy online. We heard gut-wrenching testimony from a brave survivor of online sexual exploitation. She was just 13 years old when videos of her went up on a pornographic website, and she had to fight and plead and beg to get them taken down. Conservatives continue to fight for children and adult victims of online non-consensual sexual exploitation and are calling for action to protect privacy and to empower individual ownership over personal images online.

I want to especially acknowledge our colleague, the member for Peace River—Westlock, for his unrelenting focus on victims and survivors of human trafficking, sexual exploitation and online abuse. Tirelessly and consistently, he has been working without much accolade or recognition, from a perspective of faith and care for the vulnerable, and with an unwavering belief in the equal sanctity and dignity of every human being. I suspect most people do not really know that about our colleague, or might not really have given it much thought at all, but I have gotten to know and appreciate that about him and his heart, since sitting beside him in the very back row where we started in 2015, and from his steadfast internal and external work to bring attention to these issues.

Public Safety Canada says that human trafficking is “recruiting, transporting, transferring, receiving, holding, concealing, harbouring, or exercising control, direction or influence over [a] person, for the purpose of exploitation, generally for sexual exploitation or forced labour.” It is manipulation or coercion of a person to the end of their ultimately being used. It is true that human trafficking is wide-reaching and goes beyond borders, but it is happening right here in Canada right now, and any thought that human trafficking is a foreign problem or beyond our control in Canada is false. In fact, it is bigger and more insidious than what many Canadians might think. Well-known Albertan and country musician Paul Brandt is the founder of #NotInMyCity and a board member of Alberta's human trafficking task force. He says that “Good-willed people would never imagine that this happens. It's just not on a regular, normal, functioning person's radar that there's this trade...happening in Canada to children.”

Alberta also introduced the Protecting Survivors of Human Trafficking Act, which came into force last May. It expands powers to protect victims of human trafficking, enables police to take quicker action and makes it easier for survivors to get protection orders. On a side note, Alberta has already declared February 22 as Human Trafficking Awareness Day.

Knowing the full extent of human trafficking in Canada is important, but also difficult to recognize, because it is easy to conceal. The victims and witnesses are often reluctant to come forward because of threats from their traffickers, and feelings of shame and mistrust of authorities. That is why public awareness is so important. The data available from Stats Canada is only a glimpse of the true scale of human trafficking in Canada, and it is shocking. According to a 2018 report titled “Trafficking in persons in Canada", between 2009 and 2018 about 1,400 victims of human trafficking were reported by Canadian police, and 97% of them were women and girls. Nearly half of those victims were between the ages of 18 and 24, and almost a third of them were even younger, below the age of 18. They are minors; they are children. That is several hundred kids in Canada, over a span of less than a decade, whose lives were stolen from them, taken away forever, and they are just the ones we know about. There could be hundreds more who never come forward out of fear, shame or simply not understanding that the abuse they suffered has a name.

One of the reasons human trafficking is so elusive and under-reported is that the victims often know their abusers. Of the incidents reported to police, 92% of victims knew the person who was accused, most commonly a friend, acquaintance or intimate partner, and nearly half of the incidents involved other offences related to sexual services, physical assault, sexual assault or other sexual offences. Staff Sergeant Colleen Bowers with the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams' human trafficking unit says that “the problem is they are such silent victims....in a really impossible situation. They are very vulnerable and controlled by these people.”

It is happening right now in Canada, in our own backyard. There are some examples that hit very close to home for many of us. Maddison Fraser left her home in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia at 18 and got trapped in the sex trade. She was beaten beyond recognition and in 2015, sadly, lost her life at 21 years old when she was the passenger in a deadly car accident in Alberta. The driver was her suspected trafficker.

Between April 2016 and March 2017, RCMP officers from Nova Scotia travelled across the country for Operation Hellbender to locate human trafficking victims from Nova Scotia. The officers worked with police forces across Canada and eventually charged two men with human trafficking.

In 2016, Clancy McDaniel was drugged and abducted during a trip to Montreal with her friends. She later learned that the men were involved in organized crime, and she barely escaped with her life. She is now executive director of Students Nova Scotia and an advocate for survivors of human trafficking like her. She says, “I could have very easily been in forced prostitution, I had no choice over that. I would have been addicted to drugs and had my life stripped from me, and at that point, nobody would care what happened to me whatsoever.”

In October 2019, Project Convalesce, headed by five police departments in Canada, identified 12 victims in one of the largest sex trafficking busts in Canadian history. Thirty people were arrested and over 300 charges were laid as a result of that operation. Last November, an Edmonton couple was arrested for running a sex trafficking ring involving untold numbers of teenage girls.

Dawn Fisher was just 13 years old when she was forced into sex trafficking by a Calgary gang. Last month, she helped build a fundraising operation and told her story to raise awareness and help other human trafficking victims seek help without fear. She says, “It’s so scary because who do you go to? Do you put your life and your family’s life at risk?”

Moreover, just last month, a 20-year-old student at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia was charged with human trafficking and procurement and exploitation of a 16-year-old girl in the sex trade. Recently, Calgary and Quebec police teamed up and charged two in Quebec and three men from Calgary with human trafficking. The Calgary men are scheduled for court on February 21, just a day before the proposed national human trafficking awareness day.

There is no shortage of examples and I believe all of us would like there to never be further cases to cite. Understanding the challenges and stigma that victims and survivors face is an important step in encouraging more victims to come forward, to seek help and to escape before it is too late. That is why Conservatives support dedicating a national human trafficking awareness day, as well as to hear from the victims and survivors of human trafficking, raise awareness of its prevalence in Canada and, of course, taking the most important step of prioritizing resources and law enforcement networks to take concrete action to end it.

I will close with this powerful quote by Cheyenne Jones. She was a victim of sexual exploitation 20 years ago. Today she is an advocate for victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation based in Nova Scotia. She says, “Girls that have survived these horrific situations, they should be praised. Our society should be standing up and clapping when they walk into a room because they are the ultimate survivors. They've beaten death. They've done whatever they could do to survive and I'm proud to walk beside them.”

Every Canadian deserves the right to self-determination and to be in charge of their own destiny, and when criminals try to take that away, victims should be free from stigma and empowered to reach out, to tell their stories and to seek help. I will, of course, support the report introduced by the Standing Committee on Status of Women, including the three recommendations to support these brave victims of unimaginable criminal torture, psychological, emotional and physical destruction. I hope the report will receive unanimous support from all members.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Madam Speaker, I mostly appreciate the hon. member's contribution at the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, but I want to address one issue that comes up repeatedly, which is the gathering of evidence to secure convictions. Let me do it by way of illustration.

There was a shooting in my riding a few years ago. A couple of people died; there were 200 witnesses and nobody saw anything. It made it very difficult to succeed in laying charges and making prosecutions, though ultimately they were successful. This particular area of crime has a very similar problem. It is difficult to secure prosecutions, even in the presence of witnesses, because they are afraid of what might happen.

I would be interested in the hon. member's thoughts as to what initiatives could or should be undertaken by Parliament with respect to the gathering of evidence.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Madam Speaker, I, too, appreciate our working relationship on the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. The member might find this funny for me to say, but I sure have learned an awful lot from him and appreciate his ability to have carved out an independence of his own and the ability he has shown throughout his career to work on issues of real passion and concern to him, which I know are all those that are within public safety. I appreciate working with him.

The member has raised a crucial issue. In fact, over the past year, I have been learning about major backlogs in evidence labs. This is an issue that maybe our committee should work on or public safety should turn its attention to urgently. It is one of those things that is a cog in the wheel of justice and in the system. If there are backlogs in evidence labs making if more difficult for law enforcement to get the evidence it needs to lay charges, then his point is well taken and is an urgent issue—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Longueuil—Saint-Hubert.

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Madam Speaker, this is really a very disturbing debate. I have a 17-year-old daughter and everything I am hearing here today is disturbing.

Earlier, I was listening to the testimony of a young 17-year-old girl who met a man on the Internet. She began going out with him and he bought her clothing. Next came drugs, and she became a sexual slave and worked for him. That is disturbing. My daughter attends CEGEP and spends her day on the Internet. I am often in the next room. Potential “sharks” could start talking to her and lead her down a road that would result in a similar situation.

My question is simple: Is it possible to come up with web monitoring programs to prevent the sexual slavery we are discussing today? I do not have the answer, but I am asking the question because the Internet is a place where potential con artists often lurk these days. In the past, this happened in alleys and at corner stores, but now it is happening on the Internet.

Can we pass legislation and find solutions to prevent these types of meetings on the Internet?

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Madam Speaker, the Liberals seem to be indicating that they are going to bring forward some kind of legislation related to online activities. Like the member, I look forward to seeing that and the details. It will be extremely important to ensure there is targeting and enforcement of criminal activity for exactly the kinds of things about which the member is talking, which I find extremely disturbing as well. However, it is extremely important to empower individuals' ownership over their own images and videos.

In the ethics committee recently, it was so galling to hear from a young woman whose images appeared on a pornographic website from when she was a child and the lengths, pleading and time it took for her to get those images down. I would really like to see an emphasis on empowering individuals' ownership over their images and videos of them.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House to speak to the second report of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. In its report, the committee issues three recommendations for the House: encourage Canadians to hear from victims and survivors of human trafficking; encourage Canadians to raise awareness of the magnitude of modern day slavery in Canada and abroad and to take steps to combat human trafficking; and recognize the 22nd day of February as national human trafficking awareness day. The third recommendation is, in my view, the most important one. Personally, I believe it is the least we can do.

We must remember what the Conservative Party has done on this issue. Let us recall the most recent election campaign, in 2019. Our party made a number of proposals, including renewing the national action plan to combat human trafficking, amending the Criminal Code to reflect the international definition in the Palermo Protocol, ensuring that those responsible for human trafficking serve consecutive sentences for their crime and ending automatic bail for those charged with human trafficking.

As we know, 95% of victims are women, and more than a quarter of them are under 18. Indigenous peoples are disproportionately affected and represent half the victims. This is a subject that concerns me greatly. It is the reason I moved Motion No. 63 a few days ago in the House. The motion seeks to make changes to the Criminal Code with respect to human trafficking and minors.

The motion reads as follows:

That, in the opinion of the House, the government should: (a) recognize the urgent need for concrete legislative measures to (i) combat the scourge of sexual exploitation of minors, (ii) better protect children and other vulnerable persons from sexual exploitation; and (b) amend, as soon as possible, the provisions of the Criminal Code to implement the four important recommendations contained in the unanimous report of the Select Committee on the Sexual Exploitation of Minors established by the National Assembly of Quebec, namely, (i) the implementation of the consecutive sentencing provision for human trafficking, (ii) adding the crime of sexual exploitation to the proceeds of crime forfeiture mechanism, (iii) eliminating the preliminary inquiry in some sexual exploitation and human trafficking cases, (iv) giving law enforcement more effective legal tools to obtain evidence of sexual crimes committed against minors committed in the cyberspace.

The first request made by the Quebec National Assembly's select committee that has implications at the federal level concerns consecutive sentencing. I would like to remind my colleagues that former Bloc Québécois and NDP member Maria Mourani tabled a bill on which the House voted. The bill went through the entire process. It was unanimously adopted by the parties and sent to the Senate. It was supposed to receive royal assent. All this happened a few months before the 2015 election. Unfortunately, after the election, we had a new government. The new government refused to grant Maria Mourani's bill royal assent, and that was that.

This bill addresses consecutive sentences. Based on the unanimous recommendations of the Quebec National Assembly's select committee, whose members cover the entire political spectrum, everyone is asking that the bill be reintroduced and that pimps be given consecutive sentences.

The second element concerns adding crimes of sexual exploitation to the proceeds of crime forfeiture mechanism. The Criminal Code should provide for the forfeiture of proceeds of crime during sentencing. Normally, the Crown must prove that the property in question fits the definition of proceeds of crime. However, the burden of proof is reversed for certain criminal organizations and offences related to drugs and human trafficking. This means that procuring should be included automatically, without needing to prove it.

The third element concerns preliminary inquiries. The Quebec National Assembly’s select committee recommends eliminating preliminary inquiries for procuring cases, since it is very hard for victims to testify and describe the torture they endured. This would lead to much quicker trials.

Fourth, law enforcement agencies want better tools for obtaining evidence in cyberspace, particularly with regard to determining the place of the offence. Take, for example, an online video in which we can see the victim and the aggressor, but we do not know where it was filmed. The definition of place is complex, especially for police investigating crimes. We should therefore pass cybercrime legislation in order to make their job easier.

Motion No. 63, which I tabled in the House, is very important, and I hope it will lead to the introduction of a bill before the next election. We really need to act. The House needs to wake up, and all of us need to recognize, understand and, most importantly, help law enforcement agencies and victims. Victims are often afraid to testify or worried that their pimp will be released too soon.

Criminal organizations have no problem finding young women and girls, including minors. I am referring specifically to minor victims of sexual exploitation, namely girls who are 13, 14, 15 or 16 years old. Earlier, my colleague from the Bloc mentioned his 17-year-old daughter; my own daughter is 15. The exploitation of minors and young women and girls is particularly stressful and worrisome for us.

The Quebec National Assembly’s Select Committee on the Sexual Exploitation of Minors has four specific requests related to the Criminal Code, which are not particularly complicated and, in my opinion, should be easy to grant. The government should not even wait to receive the requests and should be proactive in proposing amendments to the Criminal Code to protect our young women and girls as quickly as possible.

Although a minority government, this government still has the power to act, especially if the opposition parties all agree. Everything can be done quickly when we all agree. This is not a partisan subject. Young girls—and young boys—who are the victims of these pimps need to know that Parliament and the Government of Canada are there to protect and help them first and foremost and that pimps will be punished for their actions and their consequences.

If a pimp in Montreal has ten minors working as prostitutes, why should he get away with a sentence of a mere three or four years, and concurrent at that? Whether he has one girl or ten, he will get the same sentence. We need to give longer sentences to pimps in order to discourage this type of behaviour in our country.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his speech. I know that he is concerned with these types of issues. Last year, he did excellent work in the Marylène Levesque file.

I am thinking about other victims of sexual assault that never got the justice they deserve and about the “long-term offender” and “dangerous offender” designations. Would my colleague be open to designating a sexual predator or a criminal convicted of a heinous crime such as human trafficking or the sexual exploitation of minors a dangerous offender after a single offence?

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his excellent question.

Yes, I fully agree with him and I would be prepared to support the proposal. Nothing in life is more precious than our children. These young people and future adults are the ones who will move our country forward. Allowing them to be treated like this by unscrupulous individuals is beneath a country like Canada.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Madam Speaker, I know this is something that my hon. colleague is very passionate about at well. I want to thank him for bringing up the Palermo protocol, something our government brought in back in 2013, I believe. One of the issues, though, is that Canada is not fully aligned with the Palermo protocol around the issue of fear; that people who have been trafficked must go to the police and say that they are living in fear. I would like to see removed that removed.

Does my hon. colleague have an opinion on that?

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his tireless work on the issue of human trafficking. It is an important issue for him, and I thank him for all his efforts.

The Palermo protocol makes it possible for countries to work together. It is a transnational agreement. Any issue involving investigations and charges is complex in our society. Many countries are concerned about the same issue, and for that reason, countries try to find ways to work in an integrated fashion to be able to lay charges in other countries.

The fourth element of the protocol addresses the notion of place, which is important with regard to cyberspace, and also in the case of a young girl taken to another country. We cannot be prevented from bringing charges against the Canadian pimp who sent her to another country or is in charge of her there. There is much to be done, and that is why we must not delay addressing this.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Madam Speaker, the hon. member was speaking about tabling a motion to update the Criminal Code to address a number of issues relating to human trafficking, specifically around consecutive sentences, criminal investigations regarding minors and having better tools in cyberspace.

I am wondering why the member felt now was the right time to table such an important motion. Why it is important for us to be discussing the motion here today?