VZCZCXRO7920
OO RUEHGA RUEHHA RUEHMT RUEHQU RUEHVC
DE RUEHOT #1560/01 3512229
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 162229Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8874
INFO RUCNCAN/ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 1908

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 OTTAWA 001560 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAN AND G/TIP (BARBARA FLECK) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SMIG KCRM KWMN CA
SUBJECT: CANADA STRIVING TO COMBAT TIP 
 
REF: A. VANCOUVER 288 
 ¶B. OTTAWA 1072 
 ¶C. OTTAWA 1546 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Canada has an active inter-agency working group 
to combat trafficking in persons, as well as a variety of NGO 
efforts.  More comprehensive research and statistics, a national 
action plan, greater co-ordination among national and provincial 
government agencies and NGOs, and greater investment in victim 
services would improve overall anti-TIP performance.  One 
Conservative Member of Parliament has made TIP a top legislative and 
political priority.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U)  G/TIP official Barbara Fleck visited Ottawa and Toronto 
during the week of December 8 for consultations with Canadian 
officials about Canada's ongoing efforts to combat trafficking in 
persons and how better to improve its performance.  (Septel will 
cover discussions and anti-TIP efforts in Toronto.) 
 
INTER-AGENCY WORKING GROUP 
-------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) A federal Interdepartmental Working Group on Trafficking in 
Persons (IWGTIP), which the Departments of Justice and Public Safety 
co-chair, shares information among its members on a regular basis 
and meets at least twice per year.  (IWGTIP last met in spring 2008 
and will meet again in December.)  IWGTIP coordinates the anti-TIP 
work of 17 federal departments and agencies: the Canada Border 
Services Agency (CBSA); Canadian International Development Agency 
(CIDA); Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS); Department of 
Citizenship and Immigration; the Financial Transactions Reports 
Analysis Centre (FINTRAC); Department of Foreign Affairs and 
International Trade (DFAIT); Department of Health; Department of 
Canadian Heritage; Department of Human Resources and Skills 
Development;  Department of Indian and Northern Affairs; Department 
of Justice; Passport Canada agency; Privy Council Office; Department 
of Public Safety; Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP); Statistics 
Canada agency; and, Status of Women agency. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Representatives from the RCMP, CBSA, and FINTRAC reported 
excellent cross-border working relationships with U.S. law 
enforcement agencies, including two ongoing investigations of 
potential human trafficking rings operating in Western Canada.  The 
RCMP also conducts TIP training workshops across Canada for 
approximately 150 law enforcement, border, and immigration officials 
per month, and has invited ICE special agents to conduct some 
workshops.  IWGTIP officials downplayed expectations of an increase 
in trafficking during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, 
contrary to the views of some NGOs.  The RCMP has nonetheless 
provided training in trafficking awareness to more than 260 law 
enforcement officers in preparation for the 2010 Games.  The RCMP 
has six Human Trafficking Awareness Coordinators nationwide working 
with NGOs, social services agencies, and local communities. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Public Safety Canada manages an ongoing public education 
initiative including posters and other education materials.  Public 
Safety recently signed an agreement to partner with the Canadian 
Crime Stoppers Association to use its toll-free telephone hotline, 
and plans to train Crime Stoppers hotline operators to identify 
potential TIP cases.  The roll-out of the new partnership will 
include a poster, video, radio and print advertising campaign (ref 
B). 
 
GETTING THE RIGHT NUMBERS 
------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Many observers view a lack of reliable statistical data and 
information sharing as major challenges to more effective anti-TIP 
activities.  For example, trafficking victims who make asylum claims 
Qactivities.  For example, trafficking victims who make asylum claims 
are counted as refugee applicants and are unlikely to appear as 
trafficking victims in official statistics.  Statistics Canada is 
currently conducting a feasibility study, due for completion in 
April 2009, for nationwide collection of anti-trafficking case data 
and statistics.  Dr. Marlene Dalley of RCMP's National Missing 
Children Services indicated that reliable data relating to child 
trafficking in Canada remains difficult to gather.  She pointed to 
two particularly vulnerable populations of children: Canada's 
estimated 55,000 runaways; and, aboriginal minors who fall victim to 
substance abuse, poverty, and homelessness.  Dalley commented that 
it was unclear how many of these children may be victims of 
trafficking, mostly because some police officers do not identify 
many TIP cases on the ground. 
 
NGO VIEWS 
--------- 
 
¶7. (SBU)  In separate meetings, representatives of the Native 
Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) and Persons Against the Crime 
 
OTTAWA 00001560  002 OF 003 
 
 
of Trafficking in Humans (PACT-Ottawa) insisted that Canada remains 
a source, destination, and transit country for trafficking in 
persons, even though the Canadian government does not view itself as 
a major "source" country for domestic human trafficking.  In 
addition to international trafficking through Canada's major cities, 
they reported organized internal flows of women and girls to Western 
Canada to provide oil and gas workers with commercial sex services. 
Girls and children also move from aboriginal communities in northern 
Canada to work in the commercial sex sector in urban areas. 
According to the NGOs, the problem of internal trafficking of 
aboriginal girls and children is "huge."  In recent decades, over 
500 aboriginal women have been murdered or gone missing; NWAC 
believes some of these women likely were victims of trafficking. 
The Canadian government has partnered with NWAC on a five-year 
"Sisters in Spirit" initiative (2005-2010) to address violence in 
aboriginal communities and the high rates of missing and murdered 
aboriginal women (ref C).  According to the NGOs, there is still a 
pressing need for more statistical research "across the board" to 
define the scale of the problem and form the basis for future 
advocacy and action. 
 
VICTIM SUPPORT: A WEAK LINK 
--------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) NWAC and PACT-Ottawa officials also identified improved 
victim services and increased shelter capacity as additional 
prerequisites for more effective law enforcement action.  They 
expressed concern that Canada's practice of detaining foreign 
trafficking victims in immigration detention centers -- rather than 
in shelters where they can receive social and medical support -- 
deters victims from seeking assistance.  (Note: There are 
immigration detention facilities in Toronto, Montreal, and 
Vancouver.  End note.)  The lack of shelters and victims' services 
may also be a factor in the low demand for Temporary Residence 
Permits (TRPs) for trafficked victims; reportedly, only 31 TRPs 
(including renewals) have been issued since May 2006.  Referrals and 
victims' services operate largely on an ad hoc basis; lack of 
documentation for trafficked persons makes it more likely that these 
victims could "fall through the cracks," mostly because TIP victims 
do not easily meet the definitional requirements for being a victim 
of domestic violence (which provides easier access to government 
assistance). 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Six shelters operate currently in Ottawa, all provincially 
funded, to serve victims of domestic violence and their children. 
Immigrant Women Services Ottawa provides interpretation services for 
female victims unable to communicate in English or French.   While 
Ottawa shelter providers cited incidents of suspected trafficking 
cases among immigrant women and aboriginal youth, they added that 
they have never been formally trained to identify victims of 
trafficking, and were eager to learn more about TIP.  (Poloff 
subsequently introduced the shelter management to several NGO 
activists eager to raise awareness of TIP.)  Shelter staff 
underlined the need for facilities exclusively for single women, 
whose challenges, such as trauma and addictions, are often difficult 
to address in an environment with children.  Interval House, an 
Ottawa shelter, hopes to build a facility for single women if it can 
attract sufficient funds; it currently has only four beds -- which 
are always full -- for women without children. 
 
SUPPORT IN PARLIAMENT 
--------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) MP Joy Smith (Conservative-Winnipeg), a vocal proponent of 
Q10. (SBU) MP Joy Smith (Conservative-Winnipeg), a vocal proponent of 
strengthened anti-trafficking measures, has called on the government 
to adopt a national action plan to combat trafficking.  She also 
advocates a comprehensive strategy combining all levels of 
government, law enforcement, and NGOs to fight TIP, incorporating 
increased enforcement of existing anti-trafficking laws, greater law 
enforcement training, deeper linkages with the NGO community, 
support for victim shelters and rehabilitation services, and more 
educational and prevention efforts.  Smith has suggested creation of 
a new position of Minister of State for Trafficking In Persons, and 
is encouraging fellow parliamentarians to place TIP higher on the 
government's justice agenda. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Smith said that she intends to introduce at least two 
private member bills in the 2009 legislative session addressing 
trafficking:  one would establish mandatory minimum sentencing for 
commercial sexual exploitation of persons younger than age 18; and 
the second would strengthen notification requirements when sexual 
predators travel abroad.  Smith, whose son is an RCMP officer, 
commented that law enforcement agents were still not fully aware of 
the scope or nature of trafficking, and that the number of 
prosecutions remained far lower than it should be.  British Columbia 
is currently the only province to have established an office 
dedicated to combating trafficking (ref A).  Smith praised the 
Harper government's efforts to reduce issuance of "exotic dancer" 
 
OTTAWA 00001560  003 OF 003 
 
 
visas -- which likely had previously been used to traffic foreign 
women into Canada's sex trade -- from a past high of several hundred 
to only two or three per year now.  Smith noted that the adult 
entertainment industry had already threatened a legal challenge to 
the government's reduction of visas in this category. 
 
¶12. (U) G/TIP has cleared this cable. 
 
WILKINS