page_title: National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking
section_title: Preparations by the federal government
hierarchical_section_title: National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking / Preparations by the federal government
caption_attribution_description: English: Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper
context_page_description: The National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking is a four-year action plan that was established by the Government of Canada on June 6, 2012 to oppose human trafficking in Canada. In 2004, the government's Interdepartmental Working Group on Trafficking in Persons was mandated to create a national anti-human-trafficking plan, but the mandate went unfulfilled despite reminders from politicians and non-governmental organizations. Member of Parliament Joy Smith put forward motion C-153 in February 2007 to put a plan in place, and the House of Commons passed it unanimously. Smith began developing a proposal and released it in September 2010 under the title "Connecting the Dots". University of British Columbia law professor Benjamin Perrin helped guide Smith's writing of the proposal. Before the establishment of the NAP-CHT, a variety of people and organizations—including the 2009 and 2010 Trafficking in Persons Reports of the United States Department of State—criticized Canada for failing to have such a plan.
  During the 2011 Canadian federal election, Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, promised to establish the NAP-CHT by 2012 and to invest CA$20 million into it.
context_section_description: During the 2011 Canadian federal election, Harper promised to establish the NAP-CHT by 2012 and to invest $20 million into it. The annual budget of British Columbia's Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons (OCTIP) was reduced by $200,000 a few months later. OCTIP was Canada's only provincial government agency responsible for coordinating efforts to address human trafficking. The federal government held a round table to determine the contents of the NAP-CHT. Carleen McGuinty, child protection specialist for the Christian NGO World Vision Canada, said at the discussion that the NAP-CHT should focus on the needs of children and that the plan should not emphasize child sexual abuse to the exclusion of addressing child labour. Smith said that she was confident that Harper would have her review the plan before it was established. The government consulted ACT Alberta, The Salvation Army, and the AAMS in the development of the plan.
caption: Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, promised during the 2011 Canadian federal election that he would establish the NAP-CHT by 2012, and he did.
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