Shining A Spotlight On Human Trafficking In BC

By 250 News

Prince George, B.C. - According to the Director of B.C.'s Office To Combat Trafficking in Persons, the RCMP have about 30 active investigations going on across the country into human trafficking cases and there have been eight convictions to date.

But Rosalind Currie says it's such a hidden crime that it's very difficult to quantify the problem.  She does say it's prevalent in communities across B.C., and she was in Prince George for a full-day workshop and keynote address last Thursday evening as part of National Victims of Crime Awareness Week.

The Office To Combat Trafficking in Persons was opened by the provincial government in 2007.  It falls under the Ministry of Public Safety, but is jointly funded by the Ministry of Children and Family Development.  Currie says the U.S. has been working on human trafficking issues for 10-years now, but says, "It's very, very difficult to even give you any specific and meaningful numbers because it's such a clandestine crime and we're just beginning to understand that, indeed, it's happening here in Canada."

"I think we raised people's awareness here in Prince George and that was definitely one of our main goals," says Currie.  "Was to have people understand the indicators, understand that it's happening here because we believe that once service providers understand the phenomenon of human trafficking and know some of the indicators - know what to look for - we're going to be actually seeing a lot more cases of human trafficking."

The Director says it's a myth that trafficking always involve moving someone from one place to another - it could also be recruitment, harbouring or controlling a person's movements.  And it isn't just for the purpose of sexual exploitation, there is also labour exploitation (cooks, nannies, construction workers).  There's also two types: international and domestic trafficking.  Currie says of the eight criminal code convictions in Canada, all were cases of domestic trafficking involving Canadian Citizens - young girls between the ages of 14 and 20 years of age.

How do we tackle the 'iceberg proportions' of this crime?  Currie says all the stakeholders involved - the RCMP, provincial government, her office and other agencies - all feel the public has a role to play.  "They need to understand that this is happening, they need to start to learn the signs," she says.

"It's a complex issue, but we think that as people become aware and start to talk about it as a community - and that's what we really began here - and start to get the information out there, then it's not as hidden."

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