Parliament’s Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights is being blasted by anti-prostitution groups in Canada after releasing a report that concludes Canada’s current anti-prostitution law does more harm than good.

VANCOUVER -- The Archdiocese of Vancouver is urging a parliamentary committee to support the strengthening of legislation that bans most activities associated with prostitution, including the buying of sex, pimping and the keeping of a bawdy house.

VATICAN CITY -- Prostitution is a horrendous crime that reduces vulnerable women to tortured slaves who are at the mercy of their clients, Pope Francis said.

DUBLIN – President Michael D. Higgins of Ireland described the treatment of women and children in state-controlled institutions managed by the Catholic Church as a "deep stain on Ireland's past."

The latest weapon aimed at the heart of Ontario’s pimps and purveyors of flesh is a toll-free phone number.

VATICAN – Prosperous nations where foreign women are forced into prostitution need to drop their hypocrisy and "face the idea that they are part of the problem, rather than turning away, proclaiming their innocence," Pope Francis said.

OTTAWA – While some progress has been made combating human trafficking in Canada more needs to be done, especially in educating the public, says former MP Joy Smith.

The request was simple: “I’m going south for a week, could you give me a ride to the airport and pick me up on my way back?”

OTTAWA – A Nova Scotia court decision that upheld the right of police to release names of men arrested for soliciting prostitutes is being applauded by experts in human trafficking who are now calling for Canada’s anti-prostitution laws to be enforced across the country.

OTTAWA – Founded in the United States more than a century ago to battle the “evils of alcohol,” the World Women’s Christian Temperance Union has grown into a world-wide organization confronting 21st-century social ills that include everything from drug addiction to Internet pornography and human trafficking.

TORONTO – It’s not the oldest profession. It’s age-old oppression.

TORONTO - With thousands expected in Toronto for the Pan Am Games this summer, Faith Alliance To End Human Trafficking's Gift Box project seeks to share with the city and its guests the horrors of selling souls.

“What are you doing in this bad part of the city?”

I looked around and saw a young man bent over and out of breath, his rollerblade wheels still spinning in the dark of the evening.

He had seen my clerical collar.  The “bad part of the city” he referred to is a Toronto neighbourhood known as “the track,” where prostitution is open and drugs are barely concealed.

By Joy Smith, Catholic Register Special

On New Year’s Day, Pope Francis delivered his annual World Day of Peace message that passionately called for an end to modern-day slavery. The title, “No longer slaves, but brothers and sisters,” is taken from St. Paul’s letter to Philemon. Pope Francis noted that “slavery is rooted in a notion of the human person which allows him or her to be treated as an object” and highlighted the many forms of modern-day slavery, including “persons forced into prostitution, many of whom are minors.”

OTTAWA - Canada’s parliamentary crusader against prostitution and human trafficking is leaving federal politics.

Conservative MP Joy Smith said she will not run in the next federal election so she can devote her time to fighting human trafficking in Canada.