Human Trafficking Awareness Day: Let’s put an end to labour exploitation

February 22, 2024 FCJ Refugee Centre

February 22nd is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day in Canada, since it was proclaimed by the federal government, in 2020.

The crime of Trafficking in Persons was added to the Canadian Criminal Code in 2005, less than 20 years ago. The law criminalizes forced organ removal, forced marriage, indentured servitude, labour exploitation, and sexual exploitation. These crimes are commonly known as human trafficking.

Trafficking exploitation exist in many forms and usually entails victims being caused to provide sexual services or labour through force, coercion, deception and/or abuse of trust, power or authority.

Human trafficking therefore results in substantial physical, psychological, and emotional trauma to the victims.

Human trafficking is still happening in Canada, and continues to take advantage of systemic issues such as poverty, inequity, and legislation focused on prosecuting criminals, as opposed to empowering communities and supporting survivors.

On this Human Trafficking Awareness Day we are focusing on labour trafficking, an especially underreported and unnoticed crime.

How do labour exploitation and labour trafficking look like?

In a society where hundreds silently endure the chains of labour exploitation and trafficking, it’s crucial to shed light on their harsh realities. See the images in the following gallery to know the common indicators faced by vulnerable workers, as we strive to recognize, understand, and break the chains binding them.

Click on the images to enlarge them and access the gallery

HT Awareness Day - Labour Trasfficking and Exploitation 01

HT Awareness Day - Labour Trasfficking and Exploitation 02

HT Awareness Day - Labour Trasfficking and Exploitation 03

HT Awareness Day - Labour Trasfficking and Exploitation 04

HT Awareness Day - Labour Trasfficking and Exploitation 05

HT Awareness Day - Labour Trasfficking and Exploitation 06

HT Awareness Day - Labour Trasfficking and Exploitation 07

HT Awareness Day - Labour Trasfficking and Exploitation 08

HT Awareness Day - Labour Trasfficking and Exploitation 09

HT Awareness Day - Labour Trasfficking and Exploitation 10

How do labour trafficking exploitative practices look like?

Knowing about the harsh truths of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, the next sequence shows exploitative practices affecting countless workers. From physical and financial abuse to psychological and other forms of exploitation, there is an urgent need for justice and policy changes. See the images in the following gallery to know the depths of these issues.

Click on the images to enlarge them and access the gallery

HT Awareness Day - Exploitative Practices 01

HT Awareness Day - Exploitative Practices 02

HT Awareness Day - Exploitative Practices 03

HT Awareness Day - Exploitative Practices 04

HT Awareness Day - Exploitative Practices 05

HT Awareness Day - Exploitative Practices 06

HT Awareness Day - Exploitative Practices 07

HT Awareness Day - Exploitative Practices 08

What are the stages of labour trafficking?

Unveiling the dark stages of labour trafficking: recruitment, control, and forced labour. See the images in the following gallery to understand the journey from promising dreams to the tight grip of exploitation and trafficking. At the recruitment stage, individuals are often attracted to false promises of better opportunities and a brighter future for themselves and their families. Dishonest practices, such as altered job details and misleading predetermined agreements, open the door to exploitation. Also, many end up trapped in debt, forced to pay high fees for getting a job and traveling, making them stuck in a cycle of control and dependency that does not seem to have the option to leave. Action is urgently needed, let’s join to break the cycle, offer support, empower survivors, and work towards a society free from forced labour.

Click on the images to enlarge them and access the gallery

HT Awareness Day - Stages of Labour Trafficking 01

HT Awareness Day - Stages of Labour Trafficking 02

HT Awareness Day - Stages of Labour Trafficking 03

HT Awareness Day - Stages of Labour Trafficking 04

HT Awareness Day - Stages of Labour Trafficking 05

HT Awareness Day - Stages of Labour Trafficking 06

HT Awareness Day - Stages of Labour Trafficking 07

HT Awareness Day - Stages of Labour Trafficking 08

HT Awareness Day - Stages of Labour Trafficking 09

HT Awareness Day - Stages of Labour Trafficking 10

You can help fight human trafficking by staying informed and informing others about the extent of the problem. Get the facts and talk about it:

Stay Awake Campaign: A dedicated initiative spotlighting human trafficking among precarious migrant youth. Through this campaign, we adopt an intersectional lens, addressing the intertwined vulnerabilities and oppressions faced by migrant youth. See the whole campaign here.
A Call For Action to End Human Trafficking – How Collaboration Can Lead to Solutions: As a part of the annual Victims and Survivors of Crime Week, the Toronto Counter Human Trafficking Network hosted a hybrid forum to raise awareness and address the root causes of the ever growing labour trafficking issue in Canada. You can watch it here.
The reality of labour exploitation and uprooted people: How does human trafficking impact precarious status migrants and where does it take place? What support is available for migrants who have been trafficked? Executive Director of FCJ Refugee Centre, Loly Rico; and Anti-Human Trafficking Manager of FCJ, Jovana Blagovcanin, share their insights, experience and knowledge about this topic on an episode of Freedom Fighters: Code Gray, at Rogers TV. Watch it here.
FCJ representatives speak about human trafficking before the House of Commons: Two FCJ Refugee Centre representatives, Jovana Blagovcanin, Anti-Human Trafficking Manager, and Chiara Rossi, Anti-Human Trafficking – Women Coordinator, participated as witnesess in a House of Commons’ meeting on Human Trafficking of Women, Girls and Gender Diverse People, in the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. Watch it here.
Human Trafficking news and events on the FCJ Refugee Centre website.

If you are concerned that you or someone you know may be a victim of forced labour or sex please contact the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline: 1-833-900-1010.