Statistics Canada Report on Trafficking in Persons

Statistics Canada has published a article on Trafficking in persons in Canada, 2018.

Human trafficking involves recruiting, transporting, transferring, holding, concealing, or exercising control over a person, for the purposes of exploitation. It is done without the consent of the individuals, and often involves forced labour or sexual exploitation. Human trafficking is different from human smuggling, which involves the illegal migration of individuals, for profit and with the individuals' consent, across international borders.

Both the Criminal Code and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act have specific sections which address human trafficking.

Among the highlights of the article:

• Police services in Canada have reported 1,708 incidents of human trafficking since 2009.
• The vast majority of victims of police-reported human trafficking were women and girls (97%).
• About half (45%) of all victims of police-reported human trafficking were between the ages of 18 and 24. Nearly three in ten victims (28%) were under the age of 18, and the remainder (26%) were 25 years of age or older.
• In about half (47%) of incidents, an accused person was not identified in connection with the incident.
• Four in five (81%) persons accused of human trafficking since 2009 have been men.
• Just over half (51%) of all accused persons were 25 years of age or older, and a further 43% were between the ages of 18 and 24. The remainder (6%) were youth, between the ages of 12 and 17.
• Just over four in ten (44%) incidents of human trafficking involved other offences, most commonly related to sexual services, physical assault, or sexual assault or other sexual offences.
• Between 2008/2009 and 2017/2018, there were 582 completed cases in adult criminal courts that involved at least one charge of human trafficking.