Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

City MP's bill on trafficking becomes law

OTTAWA -- Canadians who traffic human beings outside our borders can now be prosecuted by Canadian courts under new legislation Parliament passed this week.

Bill C-310 received royal assent Thursday. The legislation Manitoba Conservative MP Joy Smith introduced gives prosecutors and police in Canada the power to arrest and prosecute Canadians for human-trafficking crimes committed outside the country. It also clarifies the definition of "exploitation in the trafficking of persons offence" in the Criminal Code. The new definition will provide clear examples of exploitation, including the use of threats, deception or the abuse of power or authority. Prosecutors and police have struggled to demonstrate exploitation in court cases using the previous definition, said Smith.

She said the new bill would be able to prosecute a Canadian who recruits people to come to Canada for the purposes of being trafficked but all the activities related to the trafficking, including payment, occur outside the country.

This is the second time Smith has successfully amended the Criminal Code with a private member's bill in the last two years.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 29, 2012 A11

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