The National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking is a four-year action plan that was established by the Government of Canada on June 6, 2012, to oppose human trafficking in Canada. In 2004, the government's Interdepartmental Working Group on Trafficking in Persons was mandated to create a national anti-human-trafficking plan, but the mandate went unfulfilled despite reminders from politicians and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Member of Parliament (MP) Joy Smith put forward motion C-153 in February 2007 to put a plan in place, and the House of Commons passed it unanimously. Smith began developing a proposal and released it in September 2010 under the title "Connecting the Dots". University of British Columbia law professor Benjamin Perrin helped guide Smith's writing of the proposal. Before the establishment of the NAP-CHT, a variety of people and organizationsincluding the 2009 and 2010 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Reports of the United States Department of Statecriticized Canada for failing to have such a plan.
During the 2011 Canadian federal election, Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, promised to establish the NAP-CHT by 2012 and to invest CA$20 million into it. The Plan was established by the Government of Canada on schedule on June 28, 2012, with a budget of $25 million, $500,000 of which was to be used for supporting victims. The NAP-CHT's recommendations are divided into four categories called the "4 Ps": partnership, prevention, prosecution, and protection. Although Smith recommended that the government investigate ways in which prostitution law in Canada might be altered to emulate Sweden's Sex Purchase Act, thereby prosecuting those who purchase sexual acts and not those who perform them, the plan does not make any such legislative recommendations. The NAP-CHT replaced the IWG-TIP with the Human Trafficking Taskforce, chaired by Public Safety Canada and mandated with coordinating the plan's implementation and the generation of annual progress reports, to be made publicly available.
The National Action Plan was received positively by many, but not all, Canadian NGOs and law enforcement officials. Natasha Falle, founder and director of Sex Trade 101, said that, as an organization of sex trafficking victims, they were extremely pleased with the establishment of the NAP-CHT. When the Canadian government announced that the country's sex industry would no longer be allowed to employ foreign workers because of the risks of exploitation, abuse, and trafficking in that environment, Tim Lambrinosleader of the Adult Entertainment Association of Canadasaid that he might challenge the policy because he believed that the government was "destroying an industry [and] creating a labour shortage." Bethany Hastie of McGill University, Shae Invidiata of Free-Them, and Andrea Burkhart of ACT Alberta all criticized the plan for focusing too much on law enforcement and not enough on victim services.
Proposals
Background
In 2004, the Interdepartmental Working Group on Trafficking in Persons (IWG-TIP), the working group responsible for coordinating the Government of Canada's efforts against human trafficking, was mandated to create a national anti-human-trafficking plan. On March 31 of that year, the IWG-TIP website was updated to state that it was meeting with academics and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) "to discuss various elements of a potential federal anti-trafficking strategy," but no more updates were forthcoming on the website for the next four years. Politicians and NGOs proceeded to remind the IWG-TIP of its unfulfilled mandate for the eight years following 2004, and the IWG-TIP continued to promise to establish such a plan.
Joy Smith, Member of Parliament (MP) for Kildonan—St. Paul with the Conservative Party, put forward motion C-153 in February 2007 to put in place a Canada-wide action plan to combat human trafficking, and the House of Commons passed the motion unanimously. Thomas Axworthy of the Toronto Star said that the unanimity of this decision demonstrated that the Harper government was just as dedicated to opposing human trafficking as was Barack Obama, President of the United States. Early promoters of a Canadian anti-trafficking action plan hoped for up to $100 million in funding, which they argued would turn Canada into a world leader in the fight against human trafficking. World Vision Canada began lobbying for a national human trafficking action plan in 2009.
"Connecting the Dots"
Development In September 2009, Smith's Bill C-268 successfully passed into law as An Act to amend the Criminal Code (minimum sentence for offences involving trafficking of persons under the age of eighteen years). The following September, she released "Connecting the Dots", a national action plan proposal she had been working on for three years. "Connecting the Dots" sought "to rescue and restore the victims and prosecute the offenders" of human trafficking; Smith intended it to address both trafficking within Canada and international trafficking into the country. Smith announced several dozen specific recommendations for the proposed plan, one of which was to create an office to regularly evaluate national human trafficking opposition efforts and generate annual reports of their findings. Other recommendations were to increase funding for organizations that support human trafficking victims; to establish safe houses for victims in every Canadian province; to increase the use of Canada's human trafficking laws by educating police, judges, and lawyers about these relatively new laws; to initiate an extensive public relations campaign on the subject; and to have the federal government coordinate its activities with provincial governments, Aboriginal leaders, NGOs, law enforcement agencies, and human trafficking survivors.
Smith recommended that the Canadian government investigate ways in which prostitution law in Canada might be altered to emulate Sweden's 1999 Sex Purchase Act, which criminalizes purchasing and attempting to purchase sex in Swedenwhether in the context of brothels, massage parlors, or street prostitution. Human trafficking in Sweden has significantly decreased since the institution of the Sex Purchase Act, and Smith said that Canada "can adapt many concepts from [the Swedish] model concerning the demand for the sex trade." Smith's proposal recommended that Canada, like Sweden, prosecute those who purchase sexual acts and not those who perform them. Smith's recommendations were in keeping with a 2007 report released by the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, which stated that prostitutes should be considered exploitation victims and that prostitution has been demonstrated to engender human trafficking.
Smith argued that Canadians convicted of child sexual abuse should not be permitted to travel outside Canada, and that Canada should help combat the trafficking of children in other countries. The "Connecting the Dots" document called for the institution of a "Connecting the Dots Day" at elementary schools for students in Grade 6, which Smith suggested would be the best grade in which to introduce the concept of human trafficking to students because younger children are increasingly at risk of being victimized. She also recommended that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) track foreign women who arrive alone in Canada for six months to ensure their safety from traffickers. Smith said that she was "convinced that a federally led national action plan would address [the] challenges [of human trafficking] by implementing an integrated response to target the traffickers and provide relief and protection for the victims." She said that the plan needed to be integrated on a national level because human trafficking is a clandestine activity. Smith advocated making the protection of victims central to the plan, and recommended consulting First Nations communities about anti-human-trafficking efforts. University of British Columbia law professor Benjamin Perrin helped guide Smith's writing of "Connecting the Dots".
Responses Smith's proposal received strong endorsement from organizations that support human trafficking victims and from law enforcement agencies. Marlene Jennings, a Liberal MP, praised Smith's proposal overall but argued that it did not sufficiently distinguish between human trafficking and prostitution. Smith responded that there is a clear correlation between the two issues. Callandra Cochrane of Citizens for Public Justice said that such a plan "has become an imperative in order to ensure the protection of victims and effectively combat human trafficking," but that Smith's proposal had "definite weaknesses that need to be strengthened." Cochrane praised the document's suggestions that NGOs be granted funding, that efforts be coordinated with First Nations communities, that awareness-raising campaigns be initiated, and that immigration be regulated. She argued that "Connecting the Dots" was too focused on those who create the demand for sex trafficking and did not sufficiently address victim rehabilitation. Loly Rico of the Canadian Council for Refugees made the same complaint. Rico recommended that the proposal be amended to allow human trafficking victims to become permanent residents of Canada so they would be more effectively protected against being trafficked again.
In October 2010, Tara Teng used her position as Miss BC World to meet with Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, to discuss the possibility of implementing the NAP-CHT. The day after their meeting, Teng received a letter from Harper stating that he was against human trafficking. Teng was disappointed that he did not have a more substantial response to their meeting, and she said that she "would like to see even more, to be very honest, from him as the person entrusted to protect the Canadian people." In 2011, Tengwho was Miss Canada at the timehelped Smith promote the proposal while Teng was interning with Smith through Trinity Western University's Laurentian Leadership Centre. Smith quoted William Wilberforce, an 18th-century British abolitionist, saying, "Having heard all of this you may choose to look the other way ... but you may never again say that you did not know."
The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs voiced its support for Smith's proposal. Ron Evans, the assembly's Grand Chief, said that Smith's recommendations "bring attention to the fact that most vulnerable victims of domestic human trafficking and sexual exploitation are First Nations youth." Ottawa Victim Services executive director Steve Sullivan commended Smith and Perrin on their development of the proposal. Timea Nagy, a former human trafficking victim and the founder of Walk With Me (an organization that supports human trafficking victims in Toronto), said that she "felt a huge amount of relief" when she heard about the proposed NAP-CHT, and said, "It's time for Canada to have a National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking."
Eventually, Smith submitted "Connecting the Dots" to Harper. In March 2012, she spoke about her proposal at a human-trafficking-themed conference hosted by the Sisters of Loretto at St. Michael's College. Smith circulated a petition requesting that the House of Commons establish an anti-human-trafficking national action plan. The Office for Systemic Justice, which is part of the Canadian Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph, released a report responding to "Connecting the Dots", commending Smith on her work and recommending that her proposal incorporate the Delphi Indicators of Human Trafficking, based on the Delphi method. Additional recommendations for the plan were submitted by International Justice Mission (IJM) Canada, World Vision, the Alliance Against Modern Slavery (AAMS), Beyond Borders, The Salvation Army, Not for Sale Canada, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC), ACT Alberta, and other NGOs.