"[2] Human trafficking has become a significant legal and political issue in the country, and Canadian legislators have been criticized for having failed to deal with the problem in a more systematic way.
[16] Cindy Kovalak is the Human Trafficking Awareness Coordinator for the Northwest Region Immigration and Passport Section of the RCMP.
[17] Both the Criminal Code and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) have specific sections that address human trafficking.
[2] On 29 June 2010, the 40th Canadian Parliament enacted An Act to amend the Criminal Code (minimum sentence for offences involving trafficking of persons under the age of eighteen years).
[24] The UN Protocol itself did not give legal effect to the definition, and countries were required to adopt legislative and other measures to establish criminal offences.
Previously, the Code contained no provisions to specifically prohibit trafficking in persons, although a number of offences—including kidnapping, uttering threats, and extortion—played a role in targeting this crime.
[26] The impacts of colonialism seemed to have remain as the identified root cause, including "the legacies of the residential schools and their inter-generational effects, family violence, childhood abuse, poverty, homelessness, lack of basic survival necessities, race and gender-based discrimination, lack of education, migration, and substance addictions.
"[26] Colonization in Canada has taken and maintains the form of systematic discrimination, embodied in harmful policies and legislation that have greatly damaged Aboriginal societies.
[28] The dancers who end up trafficked are Aboriginal girls who are moved many times across provinces for their job until they have become disconnected from friends and family.
"For vulnerable Aboriginal youth, often faced with low self-esteem and a lack of sense of belonging, gangs can offer both of these through enrollment".
[26] Gang presence is on the rise, and represents a growing, if not completely quantifiable, source for active recruitment of Aboriginal women and girls into sex trafficking.
[33] In general, the high rates of migration from a reserve (rural area) to an urban centre also poses an increased risk and entry point through which vulnerable Aboriginal women and girls may be exploited.
"The promises by sex traffickers to provide shelter and employment in off reserve communities can lead young Aboriginal girls to feel that they can escape poverty or a potential problem situation at home.
[32] The misinterpretations of misconceptions on the definition regarding cross-border movement and coercion leaves many trafficked Aboriginal women and girls unprotected and neglected.
"[3] As a result of historical injustices (colonization, genocide, loss of lands and resources) and discriminatory government legislation and policies, Indigenous peoples have been prevented from fully realizing or exercising all of their human rights.
[36] This Declaration affirms that "Indigenous individuals have the rights to life, physical and mental integrity and liberty and security" (Article 7).
Indigenous women and girls are overrepresented in the sex trade and are at a higher risk of being trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation.
This is a complete violation of their human rights and States have an obligation to invest effective mechanisms, interventions, programs and services to address this issue.
Article 17 reaffirms that States shall "in cooperation with Indigenous Peoples take specific measure to protect Indigenous children from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, oral or social development.
Article 22 of the UNDRIP recognizes the responsibility of States to take measure to "ensure that Indigenous women and children enjoy the full protection and guarantees against all forms of violence and discrimination.
[39] The Trafficking in Persons Report is an annual report of the U.S. State Department that takes stock of the international human trafficking situation, with Tier 1 being the best while Tier 3, may be subject to certain U.S. government sanctions, such as the withholding of non-humanitarian, non-trade-related foreign assistance, funding for government employees educational and cultural exchange programs.
[40]The 2010 report confirmed Canada's Tier 1 status, stating that "Prostitution by willing adults is not human trafficking regardless of whether it is legalized, decriminalized, or criminalized.