SELECTED CASE LAW
ONTARIO:
In 2014 ONSC 990, Mr. B, who had been found guilty of, among other things, human trafficking. At age 21, Mr. B had lured the 17-year-old complainant from Montreal to Windsor through the assistance of a mutual friend on the premise that Mr. B desired a romantic relationship. The complainant, who was a ward of the Children’s Aid Society at the time and had been diagnosed as having bipolar disorder and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, was told by Mr. B that she “be-longed to him” and would be working for him. When she attempted to resist, Mr. B threatened and physically assaulted her. The complainant was forced to perform increasingly risky sex acts with more than 100 men over a year and a half. Mr. B kept all of the money paid for the sex acts.
In addition, Mr. B posted semi-nude pictures of the complainant in sexual service advertisements on the internet offering services that provided little or no protection from sexually transmitted infections that were rarely offered due to their high risk, which were posted count-less times on the internet. In this regard, the Court noted (at para 36):
All cases of this nature must be taken very seriously. Young people must be protected from being trafficked, exploited and abused in this fashion. Sadly, in this era of social media and the use of the internet, the online advertisements for sexual services continually victimize those who have been forced into prostitution against their will because it is impossible to remove those images from the internet. This is particularly tragic when the individual is a minor, as was [the complainant].
Mr. B did not accept responsibility for the offences and was sentenced to 6 years of incarceration, with ancillary orders including a 20-year registration as a sex offender, a 10 year weapons prohibition, a DNA order, and a no-contact order with Ms. B.
Criminal Offence(s): Human Trafficking and Advertising Sexual Services