National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking
The National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking is a four-year action plan that was established by the Government of Canada on June 6, 2012 to oppose human trafficking in Canada. In 2004, the government's Interdepartmental Working Group on Trafficking in Persons was mandated to create a national anti-human-trafficking plan, but the mandate went unfulfilled despite reminders from politicians and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Member of Parliament (MP) Joy Smith put forward motion C-153 in February 2007 to put a plan in place, and the House of Commons passed it unanimously. Smith began developing a proposal and released it in September 2010 under the title "Connecting the Dots". University of British Columbia law professor Benjamin Perrin helped guide Smith's writing of the proposal. Before the establishment of the NAP-CHT, a variety of people and organizations—including the 2009 and 2010 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Reports of the United States Department of State—criticized Canada for failing to have such a plan.
Joy Smith suggested the NAP-CHT to the House of Commons, prepared the initial proposal, advocated that it be implemented, and announced its establishment once it had been adopted.
When Joy Smith proposed the implementation of an anti-human-trafficking national action plan to the House of Commons (pictured) in 2007, the motion was passed unanimously.
The Salvation Army made recommendations for the NAP-CHT and was consulted by the government in the plan's development (Salvation Army officers pictured with Natasha Falle).
Before the NAP-CHT was established, University of British Columbia law professor Benjamin Perrin said that, "while traffickers have a plan, Canada doesn't."
Joy Ann Smith is a Canadian politician. She served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba between 1999 and 2003, and was in the House of Commons of Canada from 2004 to 2015.
Joy Smith, September 23, 2009