Those people are slaves – part of a group of nearly 500 freed from their masters in China. For as little as $50 you could but one of these men or boys to toil in your factory or to torture and murder at your pleasure:
Zhao Yanbing, a foreman who fled a brickworks where 31 men were rescued a few days ago, described on state television how he had beaten a man in his late fifties for not working hard enough. “His performance was so bad, so I thought that I would frighten him a bit. When I raised the shovel over him I never thought that he would get up and confront me, so I slammed the shovel down on his head.” The man never got up again.
You can read more about this slavery ring here.
Around the world today there are 27 million slaves – that’s more than at any time in human history. Most of the action against slavery is being done by Christian organizations, but there are some non-sectarian groups. In the UK there is Anti-Slavery International. In the US there is Free the Slaves. Here in Canada – the Future Group.
Before you get the wrong idea, we aren’t talking about so-called ‘wage-slaves’ (and what an ignorant expression that is), but real people held as chattel. Some of these people are born into slavery, others are victims of war, and others still are (as is the case with the Chinese slaves) kidnapped and sold to the highest bidder.
This is a problem everywhere – including Canada. While not a major source of slaves, this is a final destination for women and children to be used for sex. It’s surprising but Canada didn’t have a law to specifically target human trafficking until 2005. At the time the bill was passed, there were 12 slave masters on trial in Canada.
Last year the Future Group released a report on the current state of slavery in Canada. The situation is summarized here by LifeSiteNews.com):
The situation in Canada is so bad that individual law enforcement officers are reportedly approaching local hospitals and NGOs to cobble together funding to provide the most basic medical assistance for victims in major cities.
“People have been threatened and told that if they co-operate with law enforcement their families back home will be killed,” said Perrin. “What Canada has typically done is detain these victims without medical care, then deport them. It’s a practice that we’ve seen in some authoritarian and despotic countries and it has no place in a civilized, just society like our own.”
The report criticizes former Liberal cabinet ministers Irwin Cotler, Joe Volpe and Pierre Pettigrew for “passing the buck” on the issue. Conservative Citizenship and Immigration Minister Monte Solberg told Sun Media, “It’s very damning, and if there are obvious legislative or regulatory fixes that need to be done, those have to become priorities, given especially that we’re talking about very vulnerable people.”
That was back in 2006. What’s been done since then? Not enough. Monte Solberg did follow up that report with a stop-gap measure to allow victims of slavery to stay in Canada for 120 days – but they can’t stay permanently and they have almost no access to resources. In December the Commons passed a ‘feel-good’ motion condemning slavery but this isn’t legislation and it has no effect on the well-being of former slaves.
Looking at legislation, there are 2 nearly identical bills before Parliament right now. Bill s-222 in the Senate and Bill c-410 in the house. Both of these bills would allow runaway slaves to stay in Canada. Neither has moved beyond first reading and I doubt either will pass. The Senate is too busy fighting the government and c-410 is a private members’ bill from Liberal MP Marlene Jennings, and so you can imagine the chance that one has.
It’s maddening to realize that even though there are as many as 15,000 slaves in Canada this issue ranks below ATM fees, below payday loans, and below movie pirating.
What needs to be done? Domestically we need safe houses for runaway slaves. They need access to health care and they need to be granted refugee status, or at least temporary resident status for much longer than 120 days. This has been piloted in British Columbia – it needs to be extended across the entire country. Internationally, Canada has to be more aggressive with states that actively support slavery and we have to bring in laws to punish individuals and corporations such as Canada’s Talisman energy that benefit from slavery.
As individuals we have to help those who are on the ground in Africa and Asia risking their lives to free slaves and – just as important – we have to pressure our representatives to bring in legislation to deal with this.
Our ancestors would spin in their graves if they knew that the country that American slaves called the “Promised Land” did nothing while modern slaves toiled, were tortured and died in our own cities.
An Iranian PhD student in St. John’s, Newfoundland – Farhood Azarsina (pictured) – was sentenced to an additional 18 days in prison for sexually assaulting a woman on an elevator (he’s already served 3 weeks while awaiting trial). He said it was an ‘impulse’.
