OTTAWA — A new Statistics Canada report suggests the majority of human trafficking victims in Canada are women and girls younger than 25, while most of the people charged with the crimes are men between 18 and 34.
The report on police-reported human trafficking says the rate of human trafficking in 2016 was the highest since record-keeping on the subject began in 2009.
Between 2009 and 2016, 865 victims of human trafficking became known to police, 95 per cent of them female and 72 per cent under the age of 25.
The report says children under the age of 18 account for more than one-fourth of the victims, while one-third were trafficked over international borders.
The numbers reflect only police-reported incidents of human trafficking, which means the actual number of victims is likely much higher, since human trafficking is known to be a widely under-reported crime.
A parliamentary committee recently concluded a study of human trafficking and a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says a new national strategy to address the complex problem is in the works.
