Human trafficking is a Fancy Name for the Slave Trade

There has always been a push to legalize sex work. If we do that, we are normalizing an industry where women are bought and sold for the pleasure of men.

I wrote Operation Trafficked a few years ago about human trafficking from St. John’s to Montreal. My books are always based on true crime.

This week, human trafficking is back in the news again because officials say human trafficking is an underreported crime in N.L., according to the CBC site.

Hotels in Newfoundland and Labrador are being trained to recognize human trafficking and criminal activity, despite a lack of cases, which officials say is, in fact, present in the province.

Hospitality N.L. has decided to join the, Not In Our Hotel, initiative after discussions with other regions in Canada.

In Operation Trafficked, I told you that hotel workers are well aware of this problem. It operates openly in hotels and is rarely reported.

Hotel workers are being offered free online training modules that explain how traffickers use means of coercion or force for the purpose of providing forced sex or labour. The modules go through different scenarios and describe the nuances of trafficking, like how, in some cases, victims may not leave their traffickers.

What the news story doesn’t say is whether taking the modules will be mandatory for hotel workers and whether they will be paid while taking the course. Because if it’s up to their discretion and they are not being paid to do it, I don’t think it is going to be successful.

Data from Statistics Canada indicates 23 human trafficking incidents were reported to police in N.L. from 2014 to 2024. Over those 10 years, 17 of the reports fell under the Criminal Code, and six under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

The RNC confirmed one additional incident reported in 2025 is currently under investigation, but could not provide details.

The RCMP only laid its first charge related to human trafficking in 2022, and it was withdrawn.

An RNC spokesperson said the numbers are low because it’s an under-reported crime.

That may be so, but the reason the stats are so low is also that prosecuting human trafficking is expensive. So, the charges are often pled down to assault, sexual assault or other crimes.

Victims of human trafficking tend to be members of vulnerable populations. They are people who have suffered abuse, addiction, poverty and homelessness.  Most reported cases involve young people, and some involve children.

Here’s the bottom line: if you want to help sex workers and people who are being trafficked, don’t be ok with men and boys using their socio-economic power to buy sexual access to someone with less power.

The idea behind normalizing sex work is being ok with buying sex from an 18-year-old.

If you want to help sex workers and human trafficking victims, then demand our government tackle the core issues of inequality, like poverty, mental illness and abuse that leads people into the sex industry in the first place.

Human trafficking is just a fancy name for the slave trade.