VANCOUVER • Canada is a destination spot both for sex tourists and for men, women and children who are brought here by traffickers for sexual exploitation and forced labour, according to the U.S. State Department in its ninth annual State of Trafficking in Persons Report.

The RCMP estimate that between 800 and 2,200 people are trafficked through Canada each year.

While many sex tourists are from the United States, many trafficking victims are from Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, South Korea, the Philippines, Russia and Ukraine, says the report, released yesterday.

Asian victims tend to be trafficked more frequently to Vancouver and Western Canada, while Eastern European and Latin American victims are trafficked to Toronto, Montreal and Eastern Canada.

The report also says Canadian women and girls, many of whom are aboriginal, are trafficked internally for commercial sexual exploitation.

Despite its failings, Canada is among the best in combating what the report refers to as “a modern-day form of slavery.” Only once — in 2003 — did Canada fall to tier two, when it was deemed not to fully comply with even the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking.

The fact that Canada is among the best should give people pause. Even though Canadian politicians promised long ago to eliminate exotic dancing from its list of skilled worker categories for immigration because of fears that traffickers were using it as a loophole to legally import women into forced prostitution, 14 permits were issued last year. Fifteen were handed out in 2007 and 22 in 2006.

The RCMP estimate that between 800 and 2,200 people are trafficked into or through the country each year.

But only five traffickers have ever been convicted, and that was last year. Maximum penalties are a $1million fine and life in prison, but the sentences ranged from two to eight years in jail. Only 31 trafficking victims were identified in the two years ending 2008. Of those, only 15 were given temporary residence permits last year.

The U.S. report notes that Canada has incorporated an anti-trafficking component into its 2010 Olympic security plans. RCMP do not expect any increase in trafficking prior to or during the Games. That is supported by research done for the Sex Industry Workers Safety Action Group and paid for by the B.C. government’s Office to Combat to Trafficking in Persons and the Vancouver Police Department.

“The commonly held notion of a link between mega sports events, trafficking in persons and sex work is an unsubstantiated assumption,” it says.

Still, almost everyone expects that one million Olympic visitors will attract more prostitutes. Whether they will come on their own or be brought by pimps is the source of heated debate. When the Summer Olympics were held in Athens, Greek police found double the number of trafficking victims. The following year, the number dropped 24%.