Information Sheet for Law Enforcement

Criminal Code Trafficking Offences

Bill C-49, An Act to amend the Criminal Code, which came into force on November 25, 2005, created three trafficking-specific Criminal Code offences: trafficking in persons (s.279.01), material benefit (s.279.02), and withholding or destroying documents (s.279.03).

Main Offence: Trafficking in Persons (Section 279.01)

For a charge under this offence, the evidence should indicate that the suspect has:

• recruited, transported, transferred, received, held, concealed, or harboured the victim, or exercised control, direction or influence over the movements of the victim; and
• done this for the purpose of exploiting the victim or facilitating their exploitation.

For the purpose of this offence, “exploitation” means:

• causing a person to provide labour or a service by engaging in conduct that could reasonably be expected to cause the victim to believe that their safety, or the safety of someone known to them, would be threatened if they did not provide that labour or service; or
• causing a person to have an organ or tissue removed, by means of deception or the use or threat of force or of any other form of coercion.

NOTE:

• Anyone who engages in any act specified in the trafficking offence (e.g. recruiting, transporting, receiving or holding) for the purpose of exploitation is committing the offence. Different persons or groups of people may be responsible for different aspects of the trafficking crime, and all can be charged provided they knew their action was for the purpose of exploiting or facilitating the exploitation of a person.
• “Labour or a service” includes sexual services, as well as any kind of work, regardless of whether it would otherwise be a legal form of work; for example, it covers drug trafficking and begging.
• No deceptive, fraudulent, coercive or otherwise improper recruiting is required. A potential victim may enter Canada legitimately or be smuggled into Canada knowing the nature of the work they will perform, and still be a victim if exploitation is intended or has occurred.
• Victims need not have crossed the border into Canada. Trafficking may occur entirely within Canadian borders.
• No movement of victims is required. For example, harbouring or exercising control, direction or influence over them to exploit them or facilitate their exploitation is sufficient.
• Exploitation need not have actually occurred. Evidence that exploitation is intended is sufficient.

Material Benefit (Section 279.02)

For a charge under this offence, the evidence should indicate that the suspect has:

• received a financial or other material benefit; and
• known that it resulted from the commission of the main trafficking in persons offence.

NOTE:

• This offence will apply to anyone who benefits financially from a trafficking operation.
• This offence could apply to “users” of the labour or services of trafficking victims, since “material benefit” could include sexual or other kinds of services or the receipt of drugs or other kinds of goods. The alleged offender who received the labour or service must know that it resulted, or would result, from the trafficking of a person.
• Sexual assault charges may also be warranted in cases where the evidence indicates that the suspect has “received” sexual services from a person they knew to be a trafficking victim (i.e. they knew that the victim did not consent).

Withholding or Destroying Documents (Section 279.03)

For a charge under this offence, the evidence should indicate that the suspect has:

• concealed, removed, withheld or destroyed any travel document or document that establishes or claims to establish another person’s identity or immigration status (i.e. any kind of identifying document, such as a passport, immigration papers or driver’s licence, perhaps even an airplane ticket); and
• done so to commit or facilitate the commission of the main trafficking in persons offence.

NOTE:

• This offence will apply even where the alleged offender did nothing more than hold the relevant documentation, provided that they knew the documents were being withheld from trafficking victims.

Other Relevant Criminal Code Offences

Other charges may be warranted, depending on the evidence, either in addition to or in place of trafficking-specific charges. Consider, for example:

• kidnapping, s.279(1); extortion, s.346(1); intimidation, s.423; assault, ss.265-268; causing bodily harm or death by criminal negligence, ss.220 and 221; homicide, ss.229ff.; sexual assault, ss.271-273; forcible confinement, s.279(2); uttering threats, s.264.1; conspiracy, s.465; prostitution-related offences, ss.210-212, particularly living off the avails of the prostitution of a person under 18 years of age, ss.212(2) and (2.1); obtaining for consideration the sexual services of a person under 18 years of age, s.212(4); child abduction (non-parental), ss.280 and 281; child pornography, s.163.1; and organized crime provisions, ss.467.1-467.13.

Immigration and Refugee Protection Act Trafficking Offence (Section 118)

For a charge under this offence, the evidence should indicate that the suspect has:

• knowingly “organized” (defined as recruiting, transporting, receiving or harbouring) the entry into Canada of another person or persons; and
• done so by means of abduction, fraud, deception or use or threat of force or coercion.

NOTE:

• This offence applies only to cases involving victims who have crossed the border into Canada (i.e. not to domestic trafficking cases).
• This offence focuses on the way in which entry into Canada is achieved, rather than the ultimate purpose of entry into Canada (i.e. exploitation); therefore, evidence of some form of deceptive, fraudulent, coercive or otherwise improper recruiting is required.
• This offence may apply in cases where victims have not or were not intended to provide labour or services, e.g. where suspects have brought children into Canada alleging they are their own in order to obtain welfare benefits.
• Criminal Code charges may also be warranted, in addition to charges under Section 118, such as assault, sexual assault and uttering threats.