On January 18, 2007 Bruce Stanton Member of Parliament for Simcoe North was pleased to welcome Joy Smith Member of Parliament for Kildonan-St. Paul in Manitoba to Simcoe North.

Joy and Bruce had a very busy schedule. They met with Deputy Commissioner Vince Hawkes on the Ontario Provincial Police followed by a group consisting of representatives of a number of women’s groups and finally Joy was the guest speaker at the Simcoe North Conservative Electoral District Association annual general meeting.

Among her many accomplishments (Joy taught for 22 years, ran successful businesses, and was nominated as Manitoba’s Woman entrepreneur of the Year) Joy is the Vice Chair of the standing committee on the status of women and the resident parliamentary expert on Human Trafficking.
Joy Smith was first elected to the House of Commons in 2004 and re-elected on January 23, 2006. Prime Minister Stephen Harper re-appointed her as the Manitoba Conservative Caucus Chair as well as her position on the Standing Committee.

She is a committee member on Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group, Canada-Israel Canadian Parliamentary Friendship Group, Canada-USA Parliamentary Association, Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association and the CPC Health Caucus.
Joy has been researching human trafficking for several years and more recently traveled to Ukraine and Israel to further the cause to put an end to this modern day slavery.

As the Vice Chair on the Standing Committee of the Status of Women, with the help of Bruce Stanton, Joy initiated a formal study of Human Trafficking during the fall of 2006, and a report will be presented to Parliament early in 2007.

She was instrumental in the announcement last spring by The Honourable Monte Solberg, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, to adopt a new temporary visa for victims of human trafficking in Canada.

Human Trafficking is a global problem, and it is occurring in our own backyard. The battle to put an end to this devastating blight on humanity continues and the first step to combat this horrific crime is awareness. It happens here. Canada is a receiver of trafficked victims to meet the demand for sexual services here and as a conduit for those sex slaves being trafficked to the U.S. Trafficking is a high profit, low risk enterprise, often with links to organized crime.

Joy’s awareness campaign and comprehensive committee report prepared and promoted by both Joy and Bruce through their activities on the Status of Women Standing Committee, will bring new recommendations to the Government of Canada to prevent these crimes, protect victims and prosecute the perpetrators.