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The federal government unveiled today a national action plan tofight human trafficking, calling it a modern-day version ofslavery. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and Status of Women Minister RonaAmbrose announced the four-pillar plan in Ottawa, includingenhanced training for police, border agents and other front-lineworkers, intelligence collection and Canada's first integrated lawenforcement team combining the RCMP and Canada Border ServicesAgency. That team will work to identify, disrupt and prosecute humantraffickers in Canada, Toews said. "They will be targeted and held accountable for their crime." A big part of the plan is about raising awareness, both for lawenforcement and prosecutors, but also for Canadians. Toews saystrafficking and forced labour happens in seemingly legitimatebusinesses, so Canadians have to learn to recognize it. The plan also involves sharing information, collecting data andother research. It's not known how many people are trafficked inCanada. Toews also called on provincial and territorial governments tocommit money for victims' services. Toews says the government is putting $25 million over four yearsinto the plan. First Nations women vulnerable Human trafficking is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable,Ambrose said, with traffickers using physical, emotional and sexualabuse to keep victims under control. "We know Canada is a source, transit and destination country forvictims of trafficking," she said, pointing to 23 convictions forhuman trafficking in Canada, with another 59 cases before thecourts involving 98 accused and 147 victims. The vast majority of cases 98 per cent are women and girls,Ambrose said. Girls are often recruited and forced into slavery byboyfriends. Aboriginal women and girls are particularly vulnerable,along with other economically disadvantaged groups. "We must stand up to this evil in our communities." Ambrose said. Parliamentarians have turned their attention to human traffickingin recent years, passing Conservative MP Joy Smith's Bill C-268 in2009 to create a minimum sentence of five years for offencesinvolving child trafficking. Smith has a new private member's bill, C-310, that would let Canadaprosecute Canadian citizens and permanent residents for humantrafficking offences outside the country. That's important, shesays, because often traffickers work in countries without strongjudicial systems. The bill will also define exploitation and human traffickingexplicitly, she said, to give the courts extra tools. International development organization World Vision says it'scritical a national action plan address the international aspectsof human trafficking, which crosses borders, as well as the labourside. For every person trafficked in the sex trade, nine aretrafficked for labour, World Vision says. I am an expert from structural-steelbuilding.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Prepainted Steel Coil , Cold Rolled Steel Coil, Industrial Steel Buildings,and more.
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