Overview
Trafficked persons can be men, women, and children of any age from anywhere. Human traffickers often target the most vulnerable people of a society, and most trafficked persons are women and girls. Sometimes trafficked persons are forced by their circumstances, their families, or traffickers into exploitation. Other times, trafficked persons are deceived into believing a better life awaits them and they choose to take the risk. A trafficked person may be from another country or they may be a Canadian citizen who has been trafficked within or across provinces.
Signs that a person might be trafficked
A person may be trafficked if they:
- Are travelling with minimal or inappropriate luggage/belongings
- Are accompanied everywhere by someone who speaks for him/her
- Appear to be fearful of and or under the control of another person
- Are unfamiliar with the neighbourhood where they live or work
- Lack identification and other travel documents
- Are not working in the job that was originally promised to them
- Have no choice about hours worked or other working conditions
- Work long hours, lives at a work site, or is picked up and driven to and from work
- Cannot leave their job to find another one
- Do not have control over their wages or money
- Show signs of physical abuse or injury
- Owe money to their employer or another person who they feel honour bound to repay.
- Work but do not get paid normal wages
- May have health issues that have not been attended to
- May describe moving or changing jobs suddenly and often
Trafficked Persons may be reluctant to report or seek services because they:
- Are threatened that if they tell anyone, they or their families will be hurt
- May be unfamiliar with their surroundings and do not know how to trust
- Do not know help exists or where to go for it
- Fear law enforcement and other authorities
- Fear being deported if they are from another country
- Are embarrassed or humiliated
- Do not see themselves as a trafficked person or victim
- May have complex relationships with their traffickers that involve deep levels of psychological conditioning
- May be addicted to drugs
- May be in debt to their traffickers
- May be sending much needed money back ‘home’ and worry about not being able to do this
B.C. Examples
In British Columbia, most human trafficking activities are undetected or unreported. This is due both to the hidden nature of the crime and the reluctance of trafficked persons to report themselves. However, some cases have been profiled in the media, including the following:
Transit Trafficking: In 2006, six Korean women were found by RCMP officers huddled in the bush near Osoyoos and the US border. Upon questioning, these women stated that they were expecting to find work in restaurants and other service sectors in the United States and knew they would have to pay $3000 - $5000 to their ‘smugglers’ upon arrival. The combination of a promised job and a payment were indicators that these women were in fact being trafficked and would likely be forced into exploitation and debt bondage upon their arrival. Once this was explained to them, the Korean women were offered temporary resident permits to stay in Canada while they assessed their options, but the women opted to go back home.
The Ng Case: In 2005 Michael Ng was the first person to be arrested and charged under Canada’s human trafficking laws after two Chinese women escaped from his massage parlour in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and called the police claiming they had been brought from China and forced into prostitution. One of the women testified that she worked from 11:00am to 2:00am in order to meet her financial obligations to Ng. “In one year and five months I [made] him well over $100,000 plus the $50-an-hour he charged customers for a massage”. Ng was cleared of human trafficking, but found guilty of a number of related offences instead, including operating a common bawdy house, helping create false travel documents and procuring a person to have illicit sexual intercourse with another. In April 2008 he was sentenced to 15 months in jail. The Chinese women returned to China at their request, but came back briefly to Canada to assist in Ng’s prosecution.
The Boat People: In 1999, four dilapidated boats arrived off B.C.’s coastal waters carrying approximately 590 Chinese migrants. Among them, 134 children were travelling without parents or a legal guardian. Many of these children had families in China who were expecting them to work in Canada and the United States and send the money home. By definition, these children were trafficked.
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