National day of human trafficking awareness a ‘great start’: Catholic advocates

Observers are calling Canada’s first National Human Trafficking Awareness Day a good step in the right direction.

The Archdiocese of Vancouver’s Anti-Human-Trafficking Committee is “very grateful that this day will bring to light the human trafficking that is so pervasive across our international borders and internally within our borders,” member Evelyn Vollet told The B.C. Catholic.

The House of Commons voted unanimously Feb. 16 in favour of a motion to recognize Feb. 22 as the country’s first National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Previously, only the provinces of Alberta and Ontario had recognized that date.

Vollet said while the recognition is important, it is only one step.

Canada passed the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, which criminalizes buying sex and profiting from prostitution, in 2014. The Anti-Human-Trafficking Committee has supported the act but criticized its implementation, saying it hasn’t been widely enforced.

After the arrests of 47 men seeking to pay minors for sex in a Vancouver Police Department sting operation in 2018, members of the Anti-Human-Trafficking Committee welcomed the arrests and pressed further, saying they would like to see all people who pay for sex penalized, not only those preying on minors.

Vollet believes “only by suppressing the demand for paid sex will we see a decrease in the trafficking of women and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation.” She said human trafficking “disproportionately affects the most vulnerable” including “indigenous and immigrant peoples.”

Sister Nancy Brown, a member of that committee and of the Canadian Council of Churches’ Human Trafficking in Canada Working Group, agreed that the national day is a first step.

“It’s a great start that the government has actually acknowledged that human trafficking is happening in our country,” she said. “People don’t see it and people don’t want to.”

She said a day of awareness is needed in this country, as is enforcement of current laws and more resources for people who have been trafficked.

The province of Ontario introduced new anti-human trafficking legislation Feb. 22, including new funding, increased penalties for traffickers, and support for survivors including obtaining restraining orders against traffickers.

Sister Brown said Ontario is “way ahead” of British Columbia.

“Ontario is a hub of human trafficking” and has “put a lot of money and a lot of resources,” into combating it, she said. She’s not convinced the B.C. government is “as concerned.”

She is also worried the increased reliance on screens and video chats during the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed more children to pornography and trafficking than previously.

Sister Brown said the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act is overdue for its five-year review by legislators. Her colleagues at the Canadian Council of Churches are concerned about when and how that review will actually take place, and are writing to the Justice Minister about it.

“My hope is that they will confirm and validate this law and actually have it enforced across Canada.”

Sister Brown worries anti-trafficking laws seem to have taken a back seat to the pandemic and assisted suicide legislation that is working its way through the House of Commons.

The Catholic Women’s League of Canada has also thrown its support behind efforts against human trafficking. National Chairperson for Community Life Marie Rackley said in a press release she was excited to learn that the Canadian government had adopted a national day of awareness.

The Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking recently conducted interviews with 20 people working in law enforcement and heard about half of them had worked with a victim or survivor of human trafficking under the age of 18.

Forty per cent of them said they encountered victims or survivors from a different city in the same province they were exploited in, 45 per cent have worked with victims from a different province, and 20 per cent have connected with victims originally from another country. Forty per cent of respondents in law enforcement reported they had worked with trafficking survivors who identified as indigenous.

The Catholic Church observes an International Day of Prayer Against Human Trafficking Feb. 8. This year, Pope Francis called for prayer and support for victims of trafficking seeking integration and social rehabilitation.

The goal “is for every enslaved person to return to being a free agent of his or her own life and to take an active part in the construction of the common good,” he said.

Feb. 8 is the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita, who was a victim of slavery and is the patron saint of human trafficking survivors.

The Pope’s prayer intention for the month of February is “for women who are victims of violence.”

More information and resources at rcav.org/anti-human-trafficking. 

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