Montreal couple face human-trafficking charges
Canadian Press
May 18, 2007 at 2:26 PM EDT
RTGAM.20070518.whumantraf0518/BNStory/National/hom e
MONTREAL – The RCMP in Montreal have arrested a couple for human-trafficking
and say it is the first arrest of its kind in Canada.
RCMP spokeswoman Constable Magdala Turpin said Friday that a 29-year-old
Ethiopian woman was forced to work round the clock at a residence in nearby
Laval after her travel documents were withheld.
A new law came into effect in November 2005 to deal with human-trafficking.
Constable Turpin told a news conference that it is the first time in Canada
that human-trafficking charges have been laid in a case of international
scope.
Nichan Manoukian and his wife, Manoudshag Saryboyadijan, are facing charges
of trafficking in persons, receiving material benefit from it and
withholding travel or identity documents.
The couple, who are Canadian citizens, obtained the services of the
Ethiopian woman while living in Lebanon and brought her back with them when
they returned to Canada. Police say she had been living with the family for
some time, working as their nanny, and had lived alone.
Laval police began investigating after receiving anonymous tips from a
number of people, Detective-Sergeant Richard Brosseau of Laval police said.
"They had contact with the woman and they found her behaviour bizarre,"
Det.-Sgt. Brosseau said. "She was always confined to the home, she was never
allowed to go outside without one of the couples. When she went outside, she
couldn’t speak to anyone."
She was not physically abused, he said.