Mr. Speaker, today is International Women's Day, and the theme is “Choose to challenge”.
Brave survivors of online sexual exploitation are doing exactly that. Survivor Victoria Galy recently told the ethics committee that “Pornhub has become my human trafficker, and they have been relentless in doing so.”
Over 100 survivors of sexual exploitation and hundreds of non-governmental organizations are calling on the federal government to initiate a full criminal investigation of Canadian-based MindGeek, Pornhub's parent company. In recent years, MindGeek has received international attention due to the real exploitation of women and minors featured in some of its published content. Many of these practices are prohibited under existing Criminal Code provisions, yet charges have never been laid. This lack of enforcement is shameful.
Every Canadian, every woman, every girl deserves the full protection of the law. On International Women's Day, we affirm the rights of all women and girls to live free from violence and exploitation.