First OFFICIAL National Human Trafficking Awareness Day & New Ontario Legislation ALL In ONE Week!
A unanimous vote in the House of Commons on February 16th made February 22nd our official National Human Trafficking Awareness Day in Canada!
AND on the 22nd the Ontario Government announced new legislation and amendments to existing legislation to help raise awareness, protect victims, support survivors, and hold offenders accountable
Thank you Associate-Minister of Children and Women’s Issues @JillDunlopMPP for all your efforts over the years in our Provincial Government!
The proposed changes include two new acts and amendments to two acts first announced in 2017. Here is a breakdown of some of the proposed changes:
Strengthening the ability of children’s aids societies and law enforcement to protect exploited children
Supporting more survivors and people who support them in obtaining restraining orders against traffickers, with specific consideration for Indigenous survivors
Increasing government’s ability to collect non-personal data to better understand the impact of the strategy and respond to human trafficking
Providing law enforcement with more tools to locate victims and charge traffickers, including increasing penalties and clarifying how and when police services can access information from hotel guest registries
The bill, if passed, would compel hotels and similar companies to keep a list of information on guests that officers could request if they believe it could help locate, identify or protect a suspected human trafficking victim.
Companies or guests who fail comply with the rules or make false statements could be fined up to $5,000.
The bill would also require companies that sell sexual services to publish their contact information and respond to law enforcement within a set time frame.
The legislation would also increase penalties for those involved in human trafficking cases that interfere with a child in protective custody, with possible fines of up to $50,000 or two years of jail time.
Ontario’s government would have to review its anti-human trafficking strategy every five years under the new legislation, and that would include consultations with the public, human trafficking survivors and other stakeholders.
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