Small decrease reported in human trafficking incidents since 2021, StatCan says

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After year-over-year increases in human trafficking since 2012, new data from Statistics Canada shows a small downward trend of police-reported incidents in the last two years.

Based on reports collected through the Uniform Crime Reporting survey, Statistics Canada estimates a total of 512 human trafficking offences for 2023, which is a small drop from the 528 reported for 2022. Statistics Canada data shows that 2021 saw a peak of 555 police-reported human trafficking incidents.

This small decrease comes after year-over-year increases in human trafficking incidents from 2012 to 2021, aside from a slight decrease in 2018.

Julia Drydyk, executive director of the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking, says the reported data on human trafficking in Canada is "only the tip of the iceberg."

"There are many reasons that survivors don't report human trafficking to the police, including negative experiences with law enforcement in the past, excessively long and re-traumatizing trial lengths, and incredibly low conviction rates," Drydyk wrote in an email statement to CTVNews.ca.

Drydyk added that human trafficking happens in "every region of the country."

"Most people think it is a big city issue, and we certainly see it in our larger urban centres. However, it also occurs in smaller cities, towns, hamlets and rural areas."

According to the government of Canada website, human trafficking involves the "recruitment, transportation, harbouring and/or exercising control, direction or influence over the movements of a person." Incidents typically qualify as crimes of sexual exploitation or forced labour.

The Statistics Canada data shows that the number of trafficking incidents on a per capita basis is highest in Ontario and Nova Scotia. Drydyk says several factors contribute to this trend, "including higher rates of government investment in human trafficking specific policing, the proximity of urban centres to Canada's human trafficking corridors and the level of awareness in Ontario and Nova Scotia."

Statistics Canada reports that there were approximately 3,996 police-reported human trafficking incidents between 2012 and 2022, and that these incidents accounted for 0.2 per cent of all police-reported crime during those 10 years.

Within the same time period, the data shows that 83 per cent of incidents were reported in census metropolitan areas, and 96 per cent of victims were reported to be women and girls. Eighty one per cent of the people accused of facilitating human trafficking were also men.

The statistics show that 24 per cent of the victims were aged 17 and younger, with 45 per cent between the ages of 18 and 24, and 21 per cent between the ages of 25 and 34.