Canada’s Justice Minister, Rob Nicholson, has called on Craigslist to immediately shut down its erotic services listings across the nation. Joining five provinces that have initiated similar action, Minister Nicholson noted he had sent a letter to Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster demanding the site shut down its erotic services ads.
Listings such as those on Craigslist are one of the primary means for selling and purchasing underage women for sexual purposes. In fact, Craigslist has been referred to as the Wal-Mart of sex trafficking. I read last week’s announcement with relief and great gratitude as shutting the listings down will provide another measure of protection for those boys, girls, men and women caught in these webs of human sexual entrapment.
At a hearing of the US House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security in September, counsel for Craigslist indicated that they had not acted to shutdown their erotic services listings in Canada because there had been no such request from Canadian authorities. Now they have one.
This is an important step in the fight against human trafficking here in Canada, in fact it’s another in a series of positive, strong steps in the right direction. In 2004 Parliament enacted human trafficking prohibitions into the Criminal Code, and earlier this year passed Bill C-268, a private member’s bill that called for mandatory minimum sentences for those convicted of trafficking in children. C-268 imposes a mandatory minimum five year sentence for anyone convicted of trafficking a minor. This new law has already had an impact, seeing stronger sentences for child sex traffickers in Canada.
Additionally, in September the government announced it would appeal the Ontario Superior Court ruling which deemed three provisions of Canada’s prostitution laws unconstitutional, a move that affirms that the response to imperfect legislation isn’t no legislation at all. And that the response to a very real need to protect women is not to throw wide open the door to exploitation.
Now is an opportune moment in Canada’s history to re-examine the existing legal framework in regard to prostitution, and for Parliament, not the courts, to craft a better way forward. The EFC has advocated that the government amend current laws to adopt what has become known as the Nordic model, which seeks to abolish the sex trade by targeting the demand for purchase of sexual services. The Nordic model has been demonstrated to reduce rates of prostitution and human trafficking in countries where it has been implemented.
Most recently, last week along with the Craigslist letter, the government introduced Bill C-54, which introduces a number of measures to further protect children from sexual exploitation.
More steps are needed, to be sure. But, Parliament can be seen to be carefully moving forward, one foot in front of the other in taking good, strong measures to protect vulnerable Canadians from exploitation.
The areas of human trafficking, sexual exploitation and prostitution are complex, multi-layered and tightly interwoven, and addressing them effectively will require an elaborate choreography.
A national action plan to combat human trafficking would provide a key component of that much-needed choreography, tying together all the important pieces to, as Ben Perrin explains, enable police to better prosecute the traffickers, protect and assist victims, prevent the crime and combat the demand that fuels human trafficking.
MP Joy Smith has presented the government with a proposed action plan, called Connecting the Dots, which lays out a clear and comprehensive model to address the necessary strategy for protection, prevention, prosecution and partnerships. The plan echoes what is being called for by experts and lawmakers, and has been endorsed by a range of groups – including the EFC – who are engaged in the movement to abolish human trafficking and support victims of the crime.
With the steps already taken, the Government of Canada is encouraged to take a serious look at what Mrs. Smith has proposed, avail themselves of the solid research and groundwork laid by her and others such as Ben Perrin, the RCMP and numerous Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and then take the next step of leading in the development of a national strategy to put an end to the scourge of human trafficking within and across our borders.