Foreign Affairs committee  In fact, Bill S‑223 would establish a separate criminal act. Trafficking in human organs would be established as a criminal act in itself, without necessarily being a consequence of human trafficking. What is already a criminal act is trafficking in persons. That is my answer. A

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, one thing that I would say strikes me is what I mentioned very briefly in my opening statement concerning definitions. What I have done as a study, more on the international framework, is that often there are definitions of what trafficking is, of what is understood

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, at this point I wouldn't be able to provide any further information on the reporting, other than what I mentioned before and what Dr. Gill has already mentioned.

Foreign Affairs committee  I thank the member for his question and for his invitation to speak in French. What we have here, when it comes to whether consent has been given or caring about it, is the level of intent. It's something that's already found in other offences in the Canadian Criminal Code. It i

Foreign Affairs committee  What is proposed could be a way to act upstream. However, I imagine there are also other ways to show that the person knew or did not care that the collection was made without informed consent. There could be other levels of intent, but what the legislator has chosen to include

Foreign Affairs committee  From a legal perspective, this might help with the burden of proof. On the other hand, I couldn't tell you whether it would create any logistical complications or complexities. Of course, if it were possible to know upstream whether or not the person had knowledge of the lack of

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, I would like to start by saying I did not conduct a thorough, exhaustive study of all countries, but there is a tendency, especially with the convention that I mentioned—the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs—to dissociate human traffickin

Foreign Affairs committee  There is no specific legislation that I would refer you to, other than the international legislation I mentioned. Perhaps one additional point is that for the countries that have ratified the Council of Europe Convention, there is generally the obligation to enact legislation th

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, in my view, yes. As I mentioned, I think there is a tendency to tackle organ trafficking specifically in domestic legislation. With this bill, Canada would be at the forefront of dealing with this horrific practice and also, specifically with the extraterritorial natu

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, I would add then to my initial comments the need to tackle organ trafficking specifically, and the criminalization of trafficking an organ. That is a different crime from the trafficking of a person for the purpose of harvesting or removing their organs, which is alrea

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. The rest of my intervention today was to address specific points on the need to tackle organ trafficking specifically, in addition to the provisions that already exist in the Criminal Code concerning the trafficking in persons for the purpose of organ removal. I would

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair and members of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, it is an honour and a privilege to appear before you today as part of a panel of witnesses in view of the consideration of Bill S-223, an act to amend the Criminal Code and the Immig