Canada must do more to curb human trafficking: report

Law enforcement officials must do more to protect Canadians, particularly women and children, from being dragged into the sex trade against their will, a new report says. The report, issued by the U.S. State Department, also said Canada must prosecute more of its own citizens who engage in so-called sex tourism abroad.

According to the U.S. State Department's "Trafficking in Persons Report 2009," Canada is "a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor."

The report, released Tuesday, says Canadians are trafficked abroad for the purposes of sexual exploitation, while Canadian women and girls, "many of whom are aboriginal," are trafficked internally.

Benjamin Perrin, a University of British Columbia law professor and human trafficking expert, said Wednesday that while Canada has laws that make human trafficking a crime, it doesn't have a national action plan to investigate crimes and prosecute offenders.