C-308 – The National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking Act – sets guidelines to maintain and update the National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking.
Canada currently has a National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking, but C-308 will create the requirement for the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness to keep it up-to-date. The first review will be two years after C-308 passes, with reviews happening every five years after that. Annual reports will also need to be made on the progress of the strategy and its effectiveness.
The Strategy
The first thing the National Strategy needs to consider is Canada’s obligations under the following international agreements:
- The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
- The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
- The Convention on the Rights of the Child
- The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography
The Strategy itself needs to include measures to:
- Make it easier for trafficked individuals to regain their independence and integrate back into their communities, including providing financial assistance
- Expand community awareness of trafficking
- Address root causes of exploitation, including poverty, sexism, and racism
- Promote culturally sensitive support, tools, and awareness training to help protect groups vulnerable to trafficking
- Increase the capacity for the justice system to identify and prosecute trafficking
- Improve national and international cooperation to identify and share information that helps with prevention and recovery
- Create and maintain a website for research findings and resources for Canadians to address trafficking in their communities
- Ensure federal government employees are provided with ongoing training and resources
- Monitor the progress of the National Strategy, including setting clear objectives and timelines
When reviewing the National Strategy the Minister will need to hold public consultations, as well as meet with all other levels of government and representatives of groups that are disproportionately affected by trafficking.
Progress
C-308 is currently outside of the Order of Precedence.