Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Honourable senators, tomorrow, February 22, we will mark National Human Trafficking Awareness Day for the second time in Canada. This day was established last year thanks to the efforts of the All Party Parliamentary Group to End Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, of which I am a member. The aim is to educate the general public about this often misunderstood scourge.

It is often thought that trafficking only occurs outside our borders, never here in Canada. That is not true. In Canada, 95% of human trafficking convictions involve Canadians. Nearly all the victims are women and girls trafficked for sexual exploitation.

Sex trafficking often occurs right before our very eyes, without us realizing it. A girl or woman is lured by someone she knows or considers to be her lover. Indigenous and racialized women are overrepresented. It starts with gifts, outings or a seduction operation during which the trafficker exploits the vulnerabilities of his prey before desensitizing her by raping her to achieve his goal: forcing her into prostitution.

How can the victim’s parents or close friends detect the troubling signs of this trap? The Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking provides a few potential signs to look out for. We could see such signs, for example, in the case of a girl or young woman whose behaviour has changed suddenly, who seems controlled by her partner, who isolates herself, who suddenly wears clothing that is not age appropriate, who receives expensive, unexplained gifts or who has several cellphones.

The pandemic has heightened the risk of human trafficking of girls and women on the Internet, whether through the recording of intimate images without consent or the posting of illegal images of minors online.

Canada is also a destination for people trafficked from abroad. They are lured by false or real job offers, often for seasonal work, or a contract to work as a server or child care provider. Unfortunately, the job that is promised sometimes becomes a form of modern slavery with excessive hours, threats, or the confiscation of the person’s passport.

Throughout the world, an estimated 25 million adults and children are victims of forced labour, often accompanied by trafficking. There too we can be vigilant as consumers, because these shameful human rights violations are used to produce goods and food at the lowest price possible. The labelling provides a certain number of indications that can alert us, but it is far from enough.

Beyond the legislation and policies, each of us can contribute in our own way to fighting human trafficking. When we confront these tragedies we cannot look away. On the contrary, we must open our eyes.