The Ontario government is committing to the development of a new strategy to combat the problem of human trafficking in the province.
Premier Doug Ford, alongside Solicitor General Sylvia Jones and Jill Dunlop, associate minister of children and women’s issues, made the announcement Thursday morning in Richmond Hill.
“Every day across Ontario, young women and children are being lured into human trafficking by criminals who rob them of their safety and dignity,” Ford said.
The government also pledged an annual investment of $20 million for anti-human-trafficking initiatives.
“Ontario has more police-reported incidents of human trafficking than any other province in Canada,” Jones said.
The government also reports 70 per cent of victims identified by police are under the age of 25, with the average age of recruitment into sex trafficking being just 13 years old.
“We must put an end to this disgusting, absolutely disgusting industry,” Ford said.
“Once they get in front of the judicial system, a message to the judges, these people need to be put away and throw away the keys,” Ford said to reporters as he went off-script. “It shouldn’t be tolerated and the judges shouldn’t be tolerating it either.”
Jones said more needs to be done to protect victims and ensure a reduction in incidents of trafficking, “which is why we are committed to providing ongoing funding to stop the criminals who are profiting from this crime so we can protect our children and keep our communities safe.”
In October, 31 people were arrested over their alleged involvement in a multi-province human-trafficking ring.
Multiple police departments handed out 300 charges as part of a year-long investigation called Project Convalesce. At the time, police said a network of criminals was trafficking individuals through an organized crime ring that operated across the country.
On Tuesday, in a separate incident, Toronto police arrested a fourth person in connection with the reported trafficking of a teenage girl.
Police allege a 17-year-girl met two men in the downtown core near Yonge and Dundas streets on Dec. 30, 2018.
The men allegedly befriended her, gave her drugs and alcohol and then took her to Hamilton, where police say she was sexually assaulted. The girl was then assaulted by a third man and eventually forced into the sex trade, according to police.
The funding announced on Thursday will, according to the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, serve to provide more co-ordination across police services, provide training to officers and support victims.
Ford committed to a “new, stronger, cross-government strategy to raise awareness of these disgusting crimes, ensure survivors get the supports they need and bring their traffickers to justice.”
Over the summer, the province hosted a series of roundtable meetings with survivors, Indigenous partners, law enforcement and front-line service providers.
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