THIS ARTICLE IS NOT ABOUT JESSIE, but it was at this forum that I met Deb Noel from the CWL, who introduced me to Mark Price from CrimeStoppers. I started doing some of my presentations with them both.
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The Daily News, Kamloops
December 5, 2008
Group tackles human trafficking
by Catherine Litt, Daily News Staff Reporter
A women’s organization in Kamloops is hoping it can help stop a problem that affects millions of people worldwide.
The Catholic Women’s League will hold a public information meeting next Wednesday at Sa-Hali secondary school on the topic of human trafficking, an issue that is closer to home than most people might suspect, said league representative Cathy Dahl.
“It’s like it’s invisible,” said Dahl. “But it’s becoming more and more a problem that people are becoming aware of.”
Human trafficking is a global but also domestic problem that manifests in many different ways.
When many of us think of human trafficking, images of Asian immigrants bring smuggled in shipping containers comes to mind, but the act of trafficking in persons has more to do with exploitation than movement.
According to the B.C. government’s Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons, people who are smuggled into a country are usually set free from their smugglers upon arrival. Trafficking comes into play when smuggled people are not set free but enslaved and exploited – essentially indentured to repay a smuggling fee or some other bogus debt.
The provincial government considers human trafficking a problem to which Canada is not immune.
In fact, Canada has been identified as both a transit and a destination point for human trafficking, and Vancouver has been singled out by the U.S. state department as a port of major concern.
Dahl says it’s not a huge leap to think Kamloops could be home to trafficking victims.
“And now with more legislation there’s more realization that these people have rights,” she said.
Dahl’s group became aware of the problem of human trafficking several months ago when a Catholic Women’s League branch on Vancouver Island hosted a visit from Victor Malarek, a W-Five reporter and author of The Natasha.
Malarek’s book exposes the worldwide problem of sex-trade trafficking.
A video presentation of Malarek’s visit made the rounds to other Catholic Women’s League branches throughout B.C., and Dahl says the more her group learned about human trafficking and its Canadian connections the more they realized they needed to do something to help.
“We decided we wanted to share this information,” she said.
So the league’s regional group got together and organized a forum for Dec. 10 at 7 p.m., which features guest speakers RCMP Const. Cheryl Bush and Crime Stoppers spokesman Mark Price.
Dahl hopes the forum inspires action, such as a call to governments to enact more legislation preventing human trafficking in Canada.
“Out of this, we hope would come some pressure on the justice department,” added Dahl.
Everyone is welcome to attend next week’s information forum. Admission is free.
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