OTTAWA WOMAN SENTENCED TO SEVEN YEARS FOR HUMAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 000304 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR G/TIP, INL, WHA/CAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV KTIP KWMN CA SUBJECT: OTTAWA WOMAN SENTENCED TO SEVEN YEARS FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING REF: A. OTTAWA 151 ¶B. SCHRANK/FLECK 3/2 E-MAIL ¶C. OTTAWA 285 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: A Quebec court sentenced a Canadian woman to seven years in prison on April 9 for human trafficking and sexual exploitation offenses. Her accomplice is scheduled to face charges in December. This conviction further demonstrates Canada's progress and commitment in fighting human trafficking. According to official information provided to post this week to supplement our Trafficking In Persons (TIP) report submission, Canada secured 12 convictions in cases involving human trafficking or trafficking-related offenses during the 2008-2009 reporting period. Sixteen accused individuals remain before the courts and numerous investigations are ongoing. This reporting period has been a break-through year in Canada's efforts to combat human trafficking, with its first convictions under specific human trafficking provisions of the Criminal Code passed in 2005. According to Department of Justice and NGO contacts, prosecutors and judges are gaining increasing familiarity with these provisions, which increases the likelihood of more cases and convictions in the future. End summary. ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL CONVICTION -------------- ¶2. (U) A Gatineau, Quebec court sentenced Laura Emerson on April 9 to 7 years in prison for human trafficking and forcing three young women to work as sex slaves. Her global sentence totaling 41 years will be served concurrently for 7 years. Emerson, who was first charged on August 12, 2008, spent eight months and ten days in prison waiting for the case to proceed. Although the victims identities are protected under a publication ban, all three were reportedly under eighteen years at the time of the crime. ¶3. (U) According to Gatineau police, Emerson abducted the victims from a shelter for young women in Ottawa and kept them in a Gatineau apartment, holding one of them for a year and two others for several months. Emerson pled guilty to assault, forcible imprisonment and forcing the victims to perform sex. She forced the victims to work eight to ten hours per day and to hand over their earnings, usually C$1000-2000. The crown prosecutor noted that Emerson forcibly drugged her victims, and had recaptured and beaten the women after they tried escaping. Emerson's accomplice Gordon Kingsbury faces charges of sexual assault, forcible confinement, and procuring prostitution from minors in a trial scheduled for December 15. SUPPLEMENTARY ENFORCEMENT DATA FOR THE TIP REPORT -------------- --- ¶4. (SBU) Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) contacts also provided information on April 16 to supplement Post's (ref A) and Canada's (ref B) submissions for the Trafficking In Persons (TIP) report. There were 12 cases of convictions for human trafficking or trafficking-related offenses during the 2008-2009 reporting period. Four of these cases involved convictions under the new human trafficking-specific sections of the Criminal Code (279.01 through 279.04),and 8 cases involved convictions under trafficking-related offenses (such as child prostitution, procuring, living off the avails of prostitution, assault, uttering threats, extortion and forcible confinement). These cases involved 12 offenders and at least 20 victims. Offenders have been sentenced in eight of these cases to prison terms ranging from 9 months to 8 years. ¶5. (SBU) Thirteen cases of human trafficking remain before Q5. (SBU) Thirteen cases of human trafficking remain before the courts, involving 16 accused individuals and at least 17 complainants. The charges were laid in 2009 (four cases), 2008 (five cases) and 2007 (four cases). DFAIT contacts reiterated there are also numerous ongoing criminal investigations for human trafficking, as stated in our submission for the TIP report. A Department of Justice Criminal Law Policy Section official told poloff that Canadian law prohibits the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and other law enforcement agencies from releasing further details of these ongoing investigations, such as whether they include cases of international victims or forced labor, until charges are laid. (Note: The RCMP may not even divulge such details to the Department of Justice or DFAIT, according to Justice contacts. End note.) ¶6. (SBU) Both Department of Justice officials and a former OTTAWA 00000304 002 OF 002 Ontario provincial prosecutor who now heads an Ottawa NGO told poloff that as education efforts and precedents increase, prosecutors and judges will continue to become more comfortable pursuing cases under the new trafficking-specific sections of the law, rather than under general trafficking-related provisions with which they are more familiar. Using the new trafficking-specific laws has shown that prosecutors and law enforcement are willing to pursue the most difficult cases, according to these contacts. COMMENT - STEADY PROGRESS IN COMBATING TIP -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Comment: The Gatineau conviction is another encouraging sign of Canada's success in and commitment to prosecuting human traffickers. It follows last year's ground-breaking convictions under trafficking-specific provisions of the Criminal Code passed in 2005. In another important development, the federal government on April 6 announced a first ever grant to combat trafficking of aboriginal women and children (ref c). Visit Canada,s North American partnership community at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / BREESE