page_title: National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking
section_title: To the plan's establishment
hierarchical_section_title: National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking / Reactions / To the plan's establishment
caption_attribution_description: English: US Department of State portrait of Luis CdeBaca, United States Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.
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: The establishment of the plan was received positively by many Canadian NGOs and law enforcement officials. Within a day of its establishment, the plan had received support from the parents of human trafficking victims. Glendene Grant, mother of missing human trafficking victim Jessie Foster, said, "From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank the government of Canada for their development and launch of the Canadian National Action Plan to Combat the Crime of Human Trafficking, making our country one of the leaders in the fight against this crime." Around the same time, the EFC voiced its support for the plan, specifically praising the commitments to create a national human trafficking law enforcement taskforce, to raise awareness, to invest in prevention, to care for victims, and to consult with stakeholders on an ongoing basis. The EFC's policy analyst Julia Beazley said that the organization was "particularly pleased with the proposals aimed at combatting sexual exploitation, and with the focus given to our Aboriginal communities, which are particularly vulnerable to trafficking."
  Luis CdeBaca, United States Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, said, "With the announcement of a new national action plan, Canada is showing the international community what an effective anti-trafficking strategy looks like." Nagy said that she was "absolutely thrilled" with the establishment of the plan. Invidiata said that she and many others "stand proud to be Canadian" because of the announcement of the NAP-CHT's "important measures to protect our women and children in Canada." Natasha Falle, founder and director of Sex Trade 101, said that, as an organization of sex trafficking victims, they were extremely pleased with the establishment of the NAP-CHT. She said that she and the other members of Sex Trade 101 "have been collectively afraid, raped, beaten, sold, discarded [so] we are forever grateful to MP Joy Smith for being a voice for those who are not allowed to speak out."
  Brian Venables, Divisional Secretary for Public Relations and Development for the British Columbia Division of The Salvation Army, said, "We welcome a plan that enhances the support for the victims of these horrible crimes ... and are pleased to have been part of the plan's development." He also praised the plan's outline of how to educate the public on the subject of human trafficking and how the police and the judiciary should cooperate on the subject. Brian McConaghy of Ratanak International said that he was pleased to see the NAP-CHT established and that the plan's framework is necessary to protect those at risk of being trafficked. Sister Nancy Brown of Covenant House British Columbia said that her organization was in support of the NAP-CHT and Smith's efforts to combat human trafficking. The Servants Anonymous Society's chief financial officer, Dominique Machefert, said that her organization "applauds the Conservative Government for taking the issue of human trafficking seriously and for executing the necessary steps to enact the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking."
  A common criticism of the plan is that it is not victim-centric and that its support for victims is insufficient. Bethany Hastie of McGill University said that the HTNCC had a good track record of intelligence assessment and awareness-raising with respect to human trafficking, and she therefore approved of the plan's funding of the HTNCC. She was critical of the plan's emphasis on law enforcement, saying that "the crime-fighting focus of the plan has unfortunately detracted from ... victim services." She said that more attention to victim services was necessary because most Canadian provinces were employing only ad-hoc methods of supporting victims, often omitting important elements such as legal aid and situation-appropriate shelter. A few weeks after the establishment of the NAP-CHT, Dean Allison, MP for Niagara West—Glanbrook, Ontario travelled to Cambodia and Thailand to learn more about human trafficking as part of a parliamentary delegation w
caption: United States Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Luis CdeBaca said that the NAP-CHT shows "the international community what an effective anti-trafficking strategy looks like."
exif: {}