Thousands of women and children are being traded like consumer goods across international boundaries. Traffickers buy and sell them to pimps and drug lords, while others are recruited for mail-order marriages or to work as household servants. Canada has become a destination for women and children trafficked from poor nations and a transit point for those on the way to brothels and sweatshops in the U.S. Evidence of the burgeoning trade is mounting. While many women willingly travel to Canada to work both legally and illicitly, others are brought here under false pretenses. Police in Canada have infiltrated rings that import women from Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America to work virtually as sex slaves.
Support groups say anecdotal evidence suggests the problem is increasing.
Ottawa has commissioned several studies on the issue, including one that investigates the lives of migrant sex workers from Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and others exploring the lives of mail-order brides and domestic workers. A fourth study is looking at changes to legislation. Pending changes to the Immigration Act will give police new powers to tackle the global trade. In the meantime, police in Toronto have mounted a joint operation called Project Almonzo, which has raided 16 strip clubs and laid 650 criminal charges against owners and sex workers. Some women are pressured to be prostitutes and are made to live in poor-quality housing, their activities monitored and controlled in a manner no Canadian stripper would ever tolerate, says Superintendant Ron Taverner, in charge of the Toronto Police Special Investigative Services, which has overseen the task force.