Community, Contract and Aboriginal Policing

Organized Crime and Human Trafficking in Canada:
Tracing Perceptions and Discourses

by

Christine Bruckert Ph.D.
Department of Criminology
University of Ottawa

and

Colette Parent Ph. D.
Department of Criminology
University of Ottawa

Research and Evaluation Branch
Community, Contract and Aboriginal Policing Services Directorate
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Ottawa

Opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or the Government of Canada.

Executive Summary

In the 1990s the trafficking and smuggling of persons emerged as a subject of debate in Canada and internationally. In particular the locus of concern, embodied in the image of the ‘sex slave’, was women trafficked by crime syndicates to work in the commercial sex trade. The lack of definitional consensus, theoretical frameworks or solid empirical research in support of underlying assumptions notwithstanding, the United Nations and countries around the world including Canada adopted a particular discourse that informed policies to address the issue. In this report the findings from a three part study that offers a preliminary analysis into the intersection and interaction between official legislatively-enshrined discourses, judicial rulings, and the understanding and knowledge of criminal justice professionals and sex trade worker advocates, are presented.

The first section briefly sketches the official discourse as reflected in United Nations and Canadian state documents. Here the trafficking and smuggling of humans is situated within the broader context of social and economic inequity, however strategies to address the problems are principally framed in terms of a criminal justice tactics - greater criminalization and cross-national collaboration by police and other authorities. By contrast, the counter-discourse embodied in the documents produced by national and international rights organizations speak to the need to address the root causes of trafficking and smuggling and the implementation of strategies to meet the needs of victims.

In the second part of the report the Canadian judicial discourse is analyzed to ascertain how the courts respond to cases involving irregular migrant women in the sex trade, the significance accorded to the intersection between organized crime and smuggling for judicial decisions, and the reliance on documentary discourses. A thorough data bank search indicates that between 1992 and 2002 the issue was largely addressed through refugee tribunals with limited criminal court engagement. Analysis of these recorded refugee hearings speak to the question of shifting discourses. Prior to 1997 the courts framed the victimization of migrant women in the sex trade as perpetuated by individual(s). Absent is any mention of debt-bondage, organized crime or trafficking. By 1997 trafficking women into North America for the purposes of prostitution by organized crime was widely accepted as problematic. While this discourse did facilitate the emergence of a new category of refugee claimants, “single women involved in [or alternately forced into the sex industry with an outstanding debt bond” it did not appear to have resulted in greater responsiveness on the part of the judiciary to irregular migrant sex trade workers.

The review of the cases reveals that, in spite of the judiciaries’ implicit acceptance of the official and counter discourse vis-à-vis the trafficking of women for the purposes of prostitution by organized crime, judgments are, for the most part, marked by a lack of sensitivity to the cultural, economic and social reality of undocumented migrant workers generally and to the reality of exploitation, violence and stigma experienced by sex trade workers more specifically. Moreover the documents are interpreted in a manner that renders the majority of claimants outside the discourse and hence not entitled to the consideration afforded ‘victims’. In particular the extra-judicial and potentially moral question of whether the women knew they would be working in the sex trade is rendered significant. It would appear that embedded in the sex slave/sex worker dichotomy is another dualism – innocent/culpable. Therefore women who are unaware that they will participate in the trade are potentially protected while women who experience severe labour abuse are held accountable for their situation regardless of the exploitation they may experience. In short the ‘sex slave’ discourse may operate against the interests of many irregular migrant sex trade workers by obscuring their exploitation at the same time as it renders exploitation the defining characteristic of others.

The third section of the report focuses on the professional discourses in Canada. In this part of the report the findings of a series of ten directed interviews with criminal justice representatives and sex trade worker advocates who represent a range of perspectives and institutional locations, are presented. A number of notable points emerged from the interviews, some of which challenge established discourses and speak to the need to rethink assumptions. These include an image of smuggling as undertaken by loosely affiliated networks of enterprising individuals motivated by financial gain, engaging in market-driven activities that are not regarded as deviant by either agents or the alleged victims.

Research respondents did not deny the agency of irregular migrants by defining them solely as victims. They drew attention to peoples’ active pursuit of “snakeheads” (the leader of human smuggling) to facilitate their passage to North America and situated their decision to migrate through irregular channels in the context of global inequity conditioned by poverty, the lack of alternatives and culture. They did however indicate that these individuals were vulnerable to victimization by smugglers and by employers. On the one hand irregular migrants might be subject to excessive fees, extortion, real or threatened violence and debt-bondage, on the other hand they may be the victims of exploitative labour practices by employers who take advantage of their vulnerability and lack of alternatives. Within this context of limited options, family obligation, high debt and exploitative labour conditions some irregular migrants may choose to earn their livelihood in the illicit sectors of the labour market including smuggling activities and the sex trade. Not surprisingly the media conflation of the sex trades and irregular migration embodied in the image of the ‘sex slave’ was marginal in the discourse of research participants. Instead a more nuanced analysis was put forward that conceptualized the issue in relation to broader questions of exploitation and labour migration while recognizing that the hardships confronted by irregular migrants generally including the lack of legal, health and political resources is exacerbated for these women by their status as sex trade workers.

In short the interviews speak to the need to revisit the dominant discourse. Reactive strategies of repression not only fail to address the root causes of irregular migration but also obscure the labour exploitation of irregular migrants in consumerist host countries. Moreover although human smuggling is indisputably consistent with the Canadian Criminal Code definition of organized crime to the extent that it is an illicit activity that requires the cooperation of more than three persons in, or outside of, Canada. It is less clear that the organized crime model provides a useful conceptual framework for analysing smuggling practices. Among other things, this immediately positions the activities within a broader discourse of alien conspiracy and hierarchically structured gangs. In addition conceptualizing irregular migration as a criminal justice problem obscures not only the political, social and economic context out of which the trade emerges but also renders the complicity of ‘reputable’ non-criminalized employers and consumers in receiving countries outside of the discourse. It also leaves little room for addressing the needs of illegal migrants.

When we focus on irregular migrant women in the sex trade the need to rethink the framework in which the issue is conceptualized is further supported. The discursive association with organized crime function to further legitimate the criminalization of the trade which in practice defines the women as victims at the same time as it sanctions them; denies them information, protection and support; and renders them more vulnerable to exploitation and violence by agents, employers, and customers. It also obscures the commonality with broader issues of the irregular migration and situates the issue outside of considerations of labour.

From this point of departure it is important, on the one hand, to attend to the complex interplay of push and pull factors that drive irregular migration and on the other hand, to address the social and labour needs of all persons regardless of immigration status or labour location. Such an approach does not necessarily entail the abandonment of criminal justice intervention in response to the violence and exploitation which can characterize the trafficking and smuggling of persons. It does however speak to the need to envision a model of intervention that is sensitive to the needs of irregular migrants ensuring that the state response neither victimizes them further, nor facilitates their exploitation.

To obtain an electronic copy of the complete report (PDF), please send a request by e-mail to the Research and Evaluation Section (Community, Contract and Aboriginal Policing Services) of the RCMP research_evaluation@rcmp-grc.gc.ca