Local Sex Crime Conference Focuses On Human Trafficking

But the 350 sex crimes officers gathered in Toronto for an international conference Monday are not only a necessity, they come to work every day knowing that they have to get results.

Otherwise, predators will take advantage of more unsuspecting and innocent victims.

This year, authorities are looking at how they can help society’s most vulnerable.

Those often include children, the elderly, and people with uncertain immigrant status or previous offenders who may already be in trouble with the law.

All are conditions that may make them more vulnerable to exploitation or violence, and all are on the minds of the cops from around the world.

But nowhere is the need more urgent than in the disturbing and shadowy world of human trafficking.

“Is Canada a likely country of destination for women and children exploited in the sex trade?” asks R.C.M.P. Cpl. Norm Massie. “To a person being targeted by a recruiter and part of an organized crime, Canada is being offered as a land of opportunity and a chance for a better life.

“To the trafficker who can make a great deal of money from a single woman, under the control of organized crime with little risk of prosecution, it’s opportunistic.”

And the crime that so often happens in the background is more present than any of us would like to think. Numbers from the Mounties suggest  between 600-800 people  are ‘trafficked’ to Canada every year.

Many of those being victimized are prime targets for the despicable entrepreneurs –  young women from third-world countries that have high rates of poverty, violence, illiteracy and political and economic instability.

But it’s not just the more stereotyped “sex slaves” that you often read about. While that’s number one on the list, the vulnerable can also become prisoners of domestic servitude, the farming and fishing industry and sweat shops.

And the frightening fact is that next to drugs and firearms, human trafficking is said to be the third most profitable business for organized crime.

“We are here together to learn about how to serve that population, how to make our services accessible to them and how to share experiences, share our knowledge in dealing with vulnerable victims so we can reduce their victimization and also, when they are victimized, provide more supportive and compassionate services to them,” Toronto Chief Bill Blair explains.