Summary
In the 1990s the trafficking and smuggling of persons emerged as a subject of debate in Canada and internationally. The first section in this report briefly sketches the official discourses as reflected in United Nations and Canadian state documents. In the second part, the Canadian judicial discourse is analyzed to ascertain how the courts respond to cases involving irregular migrant women in the sex trade, the significance accorded to the intersection between organized crime and smuggling for judicial decisions, and the reliance on documentary discourses. The third section focuses on the professional discourses in Canada.