CANADA

Women-trafficking charges against Vancouver man

VANCOUVER.CBC.CA

The owner of a Vancouver massage parlour faces the rare charge of trafficking women into the country for the purpose of prostitution.

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Women-trafficking charges against Vancouver man

Michael Ng, who owns King City Massage Centre, is charged with bringing two Chinese women into Canada to work at his business as prostitutes.

He is also charged with running a common bawdy house and living off the avails of prostitution.

·  LINK: UN backgrounder on human trafficking

King City Massage Centre

Victims' groups say the rarity of the trafficking charge indicates the federal government is not doing enough to combat human trafficking.

Deborah Isaacs of MOSAIC – a Vancouver group that assists immigrants and refugees – says prosecutions such as this one are few and far between.

And she says much more needs to be done because life for women being trafficked into Canada is very hard.

"Very isolating. They don't have much contact, they have no freedom," she says. "For those in prostitution, they may have to have an enormous number of clients a day to meet the demand."

Naomi Minwalla, an immigration lawyer who deals with victims of sex-trade trafficking, agrees that no one appears to be paying attention to the problem.

"There seems to be a clear lack of communication between parties who should have an interest in eliminating this problem," she says.

·  LINK: Status of Women Canada background on trafficking in women

RCMP Supt. Bill Ard is in charge of a 35-member team in B.C. that investigates human trafficking. He admits police don't know the extent of the problem. But Ard says steps are being taken to get a handle on the situation.

"The bottom line is we're still getting going with this and I don't know what the future will hold."

The RCMP is responsible for investigating human trafficking cases under the 2002 Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. So far, there have been no convictions under the legislation.