There has been a decrease in human trafficking in Canada

Statistics Canada has released its annual report on human trafficking. In 2023, a total of 512 such crimes were recorded, a small but important improvement over the previous year: in 2022, there were 528.

The data is generated from surveys, and the numbers have been rising almost continuously since 2012. The exception was a slight decrease in 2018. However, the peak was reached in 2021, when StatCan recorded 555 cases of human trafficking. After that, there was a sharp drop in 2022, and now the number of recorded victims is not as steep, but still declined again.

At the same time, human rights activists remind that official data is only the tip of the iceberg. Julia Drydyk, executive director of the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking, said that this problem is faced by residents of large and small communities in all regions of the country — evenly. However, not all cases are recorded by the government:

"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."

Statistics say the highest number of human trafficking cases per capita is achieved in Ontario and Nova Scotia, but Drydyk believes this may speak to better detection of such crimes.

Human trafficking in Canada is defined as the recruitment, transportation, harbouring and controlling or influencing the movements of a person. From 2012 to 2022, there were 3,996 cases. 24% of the victims were under the age of 17, another 45% were between 18 and 24 years old, and 21% were between 25 and 34 years old.