On Nov. 6, 2014, the government issued Bill C-36, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act. Its overall objectives are to “protect those who sell their own sexual services; protect communities, and especially children, from the harms caused by prostitution; and reduce the demand for prostitution and its incidence.”
In Canada, it is illegal to traffic another person, buy sexual services and advertise the sale of another person’s sexual services.
The London Abused Women’s Centre outlines the central criteria that defines sex trafficking. It involves someone recruiting, transporting or selling another individual by force or coercion for the purpose of prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation.
It’s a vastly underreported crime, according to the Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services. Still, the organization reports that two-thirds of all human trafficking cases in Canada arise in Ontario.