Thursday, October 24, 2013

Vancouver man sentenced to 18 months for human trafficking



Vancouver man sentenced to 18 months for human trafficking

 Franco Orr was convicted in June on three counts under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act





VANCOUVER — — A British Columbia man who lied to immigration officials in order to bring the family nanny to Canada from Hong Kong, luring her with empty promises so she would care for his three children, should spend 18 months in prison, a B.C. Supreme Court judge said Tuesday.
Franco Orr has been a productive member of society with no criminal record but he must spend time behind bars in order to deter others who would violate Canada's immigration laws, Justice Richard Goepel told the 50-year-old businessman before he was handcuffed and led out of the courtroom by a sheriff.

"Individuals cannot be allowed to disregard the immigration laws of this country with impunity," Goepel said.

While there have been dozens of convictions for human trafficking under the Criminal Code, this is the first such conviction under the Immigration Act.
Goepel said the Crown did not prove the nanny, Leticia Sarmiento, was subjected to humiliating or degrading treatment in the Orr residence, which would have been an aggravating factor.

Read more

 

 

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Inside the world of human sex trafficking

Victims often don't fit the stereotype: they could be from a middle-class suburban family, being sold online. They could be your daughter


By: News reporter, Foreign, Published on Sat Oct 05 2013, Toronto Star

She poses on a bed, wearing pink lingerie and staring into the camera. “I’m young, I’m willing and I’m waiting for you,” reads the pitch in the online ad. “I love to please.”
Any suggestion of glamour vanishes quickly inside the seamy Scarborough hotel.
The hallways are fetid; it’s unlikely the rooms will be any better.
Brianne answers the knock, expecting to see the anonymous man with whom she negotiated sex-for-money over email about an hour earlier.

Instead, two police officers step inside the room — floral polyester bedspread, stained carpet — where the tattered beige curtains are drawn and a filmy camisole is draped over the lampshade in a sad attempt at atmosphere.More

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Toronto Counter Human Trafficking Network



Roundtable: Building Collaboration to Combat Human Trafficking in the City of Toronto


 
Date: 28 and 29 October 2013
Venue: Toronto Harbour Light Ministries, 160 Jarvis Str. (at Queen Str.)
Time: 9am to 5pm
Fee: $10 (for both days)

This is the first of a series of roundtables aiming to facilitate the dialogue between multi-sector stakeholders to address the issue of human trafficking in the City of Toronto.

Day one
Series of panel presentations by multi‐sector stakeholders who dedicate their work to counter human trafficking followed by a discussion.

Day two
Working group discussions to initiate a dialogue on policy development.

SPACES ARE LIMITED! Register by sending email at tchtn@fcjrefugeecentre.org with your name indicating if attending both days. If attending only one day please SPECIFY WHICH DAY (for catering purposes).

Payment method:

CREDIT CARD go to Eventbrite ($10+$1.59 on line fee): https://antitraffickingroundtableone.eventbrite.com

CASH or CHECK pay at the door

Lunch will be provided

 Subsidies are available for people who cannot pay the registration fee
 
 
For more information contact:
Varka Kalaydzhieva at 416-469-9754, ext.222 or varka@fcjrefugeecentre.org
 
 

The event is funded by the City of Toronto    


Monday, September 16, 2013

Job Posting



 
Peer Street Outreach Workers

JOB POSTING for 3 Peer Harm Reduction Workers (women – trans inclusive)*


All Saints Church-Community Centre is committed to providing a safe and nurturing environment, while enhancing the well-being of homeless and street-involved individuals.  The Sex Worker’s Drop-in Centre was created two years ago and provides programs to address the impact that discrimination, poverty, violence and drug use have on the lives of the women it serves. Based on a harm reduction perspective, the drop-in centre provides programming and support, counselling and advocacy to women involved in the sex industry. Programming includes: nursing care and health services; social work support; provision of warm meals; sexual health workshops; and personal rights training sessions.   PROS(Providing Resources, Offering Support) All Saints newest initiative, provides support, advocacy, counselling and programming to women and youth that have been exploited in the sex industry. We work to educate other service providers, community members and our greater society about issues of commercial sexual exploitation in Toronto, while contributing to policies that transform public perception and enhance people’s rights and safety.



Responsibilities:

* provide street based outreach to street-involved sex workers and at risk women & youth for one 5 hour shift per week as part of our Sex Worker’s Drop In (shifts are Fridays 6:30 – 11:30 am)

* as a Harm Reduction team member, the Peer Outreach worker helps to plan new program activities


A Street Outreach Shift includes:

* handing out harm reduction materials & information, such as condoms, needles, safer crack use kits

* providing support, education, and referrals to health & community services

* keeping track of supplies given out and the number of people met on a shift

* taking part in team talks about trends seen on a shift with staff, students & volunteers

* Peers are expected to attend biweekly supervision with program social worker



The positions are a 6 month contract which is dependent on program funding and pays $15.00 per hour for a maximum of 5hrs/week per person.

 

Please call or email Jolene at 416-368-7768 ext. 24 or jolene@allsaintstoronto.com by 5:00pm Friday September 20, 2013 to apply for the position and arrange an interview time.  

 

 

 
*3 positions available for women (trans inclusive) that have lived experience with sex work, sex trafficking, and/or drug use.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Lost in translation: A trial halts while lawyers search for an acceptable interpreter

By Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun September 13, 2013
 
 
Justice is hard enough to get when everyone speaks the same language. But when they don't, it's fraught with peril.
 
It's so fraught that at times, like Thursday in B.C. Supreme Court, a trial needs to be stopped until everyone involved is satisfied that what is being said is perfectly understood and perfectly interpreted.

For Mumtaz Ladha, it's particularly crucial. She is accused of human trafficking, employing a foreign national without authorization and misrepresenting facts to both the Canadian High Commission in Tanzania and to Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The problem is not that Ladha can't make herself understood. The 60-year-old is a Canadian citizen, who speaks fluent English and Swahili.
It's her alleged victim - a 26-year-old Tanzanian woman with a Grade 8 education - who is having a hard time because she speaks Swahili and only limited English.

Since she began testifying Wednesday, the court-accredited interpreter has struggled to translate both from English into her particular Tanzanian dialect of Swahili and then from Swahili back into English. More:

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Roundtable: Building Collaboration to Combat Human Trafficking



Toronto Counter Human Trafficking Network



Roundtable: Building Collaboration to Combat Human Trafficking in the City of Toronto


 
Date: 28 and 29 October 2013
Venue: Toronto Harbour Light Ministries, 160 Jarvis Str. (at Queen Str.)
Time: 9am to 5pm
Fee: $10 (for both days)

This is the first of a series of roundtables aiming to facilitate the dialogue between multi-sector stakeholders to address the issue of human trafficking in the City of Toronto.

Day one
Series of panel presentations by multi‐sector stakeholders who dedicate their work to counter human trafficking followed by a discussion.

Day two
Working group discussions to initiate a dialogue on policy development.

SPACES ARE LIMITED! Register by sending email at tchtn@fcjrefugeecentre.org with your name indicating if attending both days. If attending only one day please SPECIFY WHICH DAY (for catering purposes).

Payment method:

CREDIT CARD go to Eventbrite ($10+$1.59 on line fee): https://antitraffickingroundtableone.eventbrite.com

CASH or CHECK pay at the door

Lunch will be provided

 Subsidies are available for people who cannot pay the registration fee
 
 
For more information contact:
Varka Kalaydzhieva at 416-469-9754, ext.222 or varka@fcjrefugeecentre.org
 
 

The event is funded by the City of Toronto    




 
 
 
 

Monday, September 9, 2013

Invisible Industry: Exposing human trafficking in Canada

 

Event: Invisible Industry: Exposing human trafficking in Canada

We Talk Women

Monday, 30 September 2013 from 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM (PDT)

Toronto, ON

This event will begin with a documentary screening of The Price of Sex. You can watch a trailer here: www.priceofsex.org

The Price of Sex is a feature-length documentary about young Eastern European women who’ve been drawn into a netherworld of sex trafficking and abuse. Intimate, harrowing and revealing, it is a story told by the young women who were supposed to be silenced by shame, fear and violence.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion on human trafficking in Canada. The panel will include:
Veronica Chail - An OMNI TV host and national advocate for the cause, Veronica brings a voice to the panel that everyone can relate to.

Bridget Perrier - A trafficking survivor and co-founder of Sextrade 101, Bridget will shed light on the reality of trafficking in Canada.


To register, please, click here

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

[FRRE-THEM] annual FREEDOM WALK




Name: 4Th Annual Freedom Walk presented by The Fairmont Royal York hosted by OMNI Television’s Veronica Chail

 Register: www.freethemwalk.ca - $12 - under 18 years old are free 


Where: The Fairmont Royal York Hotel |100 Front Street W. Toronto

When:   Saturday, September 14, 2013

 9:00AM | Registration
10:00AM | Honorary Ceremony
11:30AM | 4KM Freedom Walk
 Attendees:Civilians: Expected attendance from all over Southern Western Ontario, Ottawa, Quebec, Oxford England, and USA


Law Enforcement Represented: Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Ontario Provincial Police, Niagara Regional Police, Stoney Creek Police, Hamilton Police, Waterloo Police, Halton Regional Police, Peel Regional Police, Ancaster Police, Toronto Police Service. 


Canada Border Service Agency


Toronto Crime Stoppers


Political Figures Represented: Member of Parliament Joy Smith, Member of Parliament Terence Young, Toronto City Councillor Shelley Carroll Ward 33 


Notable Figures: OMNI Television Host VeronicaChail, CityLine Producer Kate Moore, **Director, Producer and Writer Christopher Bessette, CanadaAM Host Karen Johnson, and Writer Pay Chen, Sex Trafficking Survivor Timea Nagy, Sex Trade Survivor Katarina MacLeod, Actress Zara Durrani and many others!


** Trade of Innocents is a 2012 American madethriller independent film written and directed by Christopher Bessette, and starring Dermot Mulroney,Mira SorvinoJohn Billingsley, Trieu Tran. Trade of Innocents was shot on location in Bangkok, Thailand. The film will look to bring awareness and involvement to work against human trafficking

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Roundtables to combat human trafficking in Toronto area



 

Toronto Counter Human Trafficking Network

 
 

Building Collaboration to Combat Human Trafficking in the City of Toronto

A Series of Roundtables

 
 
 
The Roundtables series carried out over several months to facilitate the dialogue between multi-sector stakeholders to address the issue of human trafficking in the City of Toronto. The series will begin with an extended roundtable conference that will bring together multi-sector stakeholders to initiate dialogue and begin to develop protocols and promising practices to offer services and protection tailored to the needs of trafficked persons. The initial roundtable will be followed by two subsequent meetings, to work through longer-term goals, new developments and unforeseen challenges.
Objectives

  • Establish and foster relations between multi-sector stakeholders;
  • Develop model for response and collect promising practices in delivering services and protection to trafficked persons corresponding to the particularities of Toronto area;
  • Initiate policy development on city and provincial level.
Roundtable One
Date: 28 and 29 October 2013
Venue: Toronto Harbour Light Ministries, 160 Jarvis Str. (at Queen Str.)
Time: 9am to 5pm 

Day one
Series of panel presentations by multi-sector stakeholders who dedicate their work to counter human trafficking followed by a discussion.
Day two
Working group discussions to initiate a dialogue on policy development and set the stage for the following meetings to work through longer-term goals, new developments and unforeseen challenges

Contacts: For more information, please contact Varka Kalaydzhieva, tel.: 416-469-9754, ext. 222 or at varka@fcjrefugeecentre.org     

 


The project is funded by the City of Toronto


Thursday, August 15, 2013

Human-trafficking conviction in nanny’s case hailed as precedent-setting - The Globe and Mail

Authorities and domestic worker advocacy groups across Canada are applauding this week’s landmark human-trafficking conviction in British Columbia, calling it a precedent-setting victory in the fight against a crime that has seen fewer than 50 guilty verdicts in Canadian history.

Franco Orr, who was accused of keeping Filipina nanny Leticia Sarmiento in domestic servitude in B.C. for nearly two years, was convicted Wednesday of human trafficking, employing a foreign national illegally and misrepresenting facts that could induce an error.

More http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/human-trafficking-conviction-in-nannys-case-hailed-as-precedent-setting/article12881196/

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Canada’s National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking - One Year In!

 

On June 6th, 2012 Canada launched the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking. The Annual Report on the progress made in the implementation of the plan is soon to be released.

More information about the National Action Plan here http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/ntnl-ctn-pln-cmbt/index-eng.aspx.

Couple charged with human trafficking first in London Police history | Metro

A London man and woman are the first two people in the history of the London Police Service to face charges related to human trafficking.
As a result of what police are calling the Human Trafficking Pilot Project, 36-year-old Steven McDonald and 31-year-old Kristen MacLean, both of London, have been charged with several offences including:
Trafficking in persons by exercising control.
Receiving a financial/material benefit, from the commission of an offence.
Procuring illicit sexual intercourse.
Exercising control over a person for prostitution.
Living on the avails of prostitution of a victim over 18 years of age.
As well, McDonald faces charges of attempting or procuring a person to be a prostitute, sexual assault and giving an intoxicating substance to a person for sex.

More http://metronews.ca/news/london/736428/couple-charged-with-human-trafficking-first-in-london-police-history/

Canadian Council for Refugees new report "Temporary Resident Permits: Limits to Protection for Trafficked Persons"



In May 2006, the Canadian government issued guidelines for temporary resident permits (TRPs) for trafficked non-citizens. This represented an important step towards recognition of the protection needs of trafficked persons, and TRPs remain the main avenue to protection offered under Canada’s immigration legislation. However, experience has shown that, even with the TRPs, there are continuing gaps in access to protection and rights for trafficked persons. Trafficked persons continue to fall through the cracks.

The CCR has issued a new report, Temporary Resident Permits: Limits to protection for trafficked persons that examines shortcomings of the program, including the following:

· Access to TRPs is limited in practice, and now in law;

· When trafficked persons do receive TRPs, their rights are restricted;

· Options for receiving permanent protection are uncertain;

· Trafficked persons continue to be detained and deported.

While the CCR acknowledges the many positive aspects of the permit, it continues to call for clearer statutory protection for trafficked non-citizens.

The report is available online at: http://ccrweb.ca/en/temporary-resident-permit-report.

U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report 2013 Released

On 19 June the U.S. Department of State released its 2013 global report on trafficking in persons. The TIP Report is published every year and provides a summary of almost every country’s response to trafficking as well as their compliance with the U.S. Department of State’s standards. Even though the report considers Canada to be a country that complies with these standards, it urges it to improve on many areas. Some of the recommendations include: in the areas of:


  • intensify efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses, and convict and sentence trafficking offenders using anti-trafficking laws;
  • enhance specialized care services available to trafficking victims in partnership with civil society and through dedicated funding;
  • increase use of proactive law enforcement techniques to investigate trafficking cases, including allegations of forced labor;
  • amplify efforts to educate officials working in law enforcement, immigration, the justice sector, health care, and social work about human trafficking;
  • strengthen coordination among national and provincial governments on law enforcement and victim services.
 
Download the Report here http://goo.gl/iQmCXY
 



 

Awareness-raising: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has lunched a Blue Heart Campign


 


What is the Blue Heart Campaign?
An awareness raising initiative to fight human trafficking and its impact on society.
The Blue Heart Campaign seeks to encourage involvement and inspire action to help stop this crime.
The Campaign also allows people to show solidarity with the victims of human trafficking by wearing the Blue Heart.

___________________________________________

The Blue Heart
 
The Blue Heart represents the sadness of those who are trafficked while reminding us of the cold-heartedness of those who buy and sell fellow human beings. The use of the blue UN colour also demonstrates the commitment of the United Nations to combating this crime against human dignity.
 
In the same way that the red ribbon has become the international symbol of HIV/AIDS awareness, this campaign aims to make the Blue Heart into an international symbol against human trafficking. By "wearing"the Blue Heart you will raise awareness of human trafficking and join the campaign to fight this crime.

Follow the Blue Heart

By following the Blue Heart you can change your Facebook profile picture to a Blue Heart, stay connected through Twitter or watch videos on human trafficking on YouTube. Get involved and support the Blue Heart Campaign virtually.
 

Campaign website: http://www.unodc.org/blueheart/en/about-us.html

For more information on the Blue Heart Campaign, please contact:

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
PO Box 500, 1400 Vienna, Austria
 
Donate