The letter cites a Senate report that calls the Vancouver Games “a potential flashpoint for human trafficking” and found that the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens saw a 95-per-cent increase in human trafficking victims. The Games will be held Feb. 12-28.

“As pastors of the Catholic Church in Canada, we denounce human trafficking in all its forms, whether it is intended for forced labour (domestic, farm or factory work) or for sexual exploitation (whether it be prostitution, pornography, forced marriages, strip clubs or other),” the bishops wrote. “We invite the faithful to become aware of this violation of human rights and the trivialization of concerns about prostitution.”

The bishops urged faithful Catholics to learn about the issue, so “we can share in the suffering of the victims and change the behaviours and mentalities that foster institutionalized violence in this new form of slavery which is human trafficking.”

The CCCB letter echoes concerns expressed in 2009 by B.C. Catholic bishops in a statement that urged government agencies and the media to become active in combatting the human trafficking that is expected during the Games. The CCCB stressed that human trafficking is already happening in Canada. An RCMP estimate reported that up to 1,200 people are victimized in Canada each year while other estimates put the number much higher.

“We need to recognize it, talk about it with others, and take action in our communities to stop it,” the bishops wrote.

Human trafficking is a multi-billion-dollar, international business that is created by world poverty and fueled primarily by a market for sexual services. 

“In a country that considers equality between women and men to be a fundamental value, a country where a majority of citizens are Christians who promote the dignity of each person created in the image of God, how can we tolerate prostitution, which is a form of institutionalized violence that destroys the physical, psychological and spiritual integrity of other human beings?”

The scale of human trafficking is “alarming,” they wrote, citing a UN study that reported 79 per cent of human trafficking is done to support the sex trade. That same study estimated that the victims are 66 per cent women and 22 per cent children.

Poverty is at the root of the problem.

“When hunger threatens their family’s lives, people are more likely to believe the promises of unscrupulous smugglers or to succumb to the attraction of earning money through sexual tourism,” the bishops said. “Today, the speed of Internet and cellphone communication makes it easy to recruit people, who may find themselves in another country just a few hours later.”

The letter highlighted the plight of aboriginal women and girls who “disappear from their villages and are never seen again.” They wrote that young immigrants to Canada often get caught up in the “living hell” of work in street prostitution, massage parlors or escort services.  

The letter is online at www.cccb.ca .