Human trafficking happening within 10 blocks of where you live, says MP

Windsor police organized a conference for front-line service providers and law enforcement to talk about human trafficking.

Arnold Viersen, a Conservative MP from northern Alberta (Peace River — Westlock) sits on the all-party human trafficking committee and spoke in Windsor Tuesday.

"We put together this group to raise awareness around human trafficking and to work on holding the government to account," said Viersen about the all-party group. "We're looking for the government to finance the national action plan, or come up with a new national action plan." 

Viersen said human trafficking is a big problem, but there isn't good data available to give exact numbers. According to Viersen, Canada ranks high as a problem area and there are probably 1.5-million people being trafficking in North America.

"Human trafficking is happening with ten blocks of where you live," said Viersen. 

Windsor is often at the forefront of human trafficking organizations because border towns are "typically" where you see it happening, said Viersen. 

"Anywhere along the Highway 401 corridor."

This week, Global Affairs Canada announced the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise position, which mandates appointee Sheri Meyerhoffer to review human rights abuses from Canadian companies operating abroad. Viersen said he hopes this position will help end modern slavery in the form of human trafficking.