Canada Adopts New Measures to Help Trafficking Victims

In a press release from today, the Canadian federal government has announced plans to put new measures into effect that would aid and protect victims of trafficking brought to their country for the purposes of exploitation.

The new measures are explained in the press release:

Working within Canada's existing legislative framework, immigration officers will issue temporary resident permits (TRPs) for up to 120 days to victims of human trafficking. The permit will enable victims to begin to recover from the impact of this crime. Victims who receive the TRPs will also be exempted from the processing fee, and will be eligible for health-care benefits under the Interim Federal Health program. The new measures have been carefully designed so that only bona fide victims of human trafficking will benefit from them.

Canada was ranked as a "High" country of destination in the recent UN report, Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns.