MP Joy Smith's fight against two evils

Only the brave keep fighting  for what they believe in and winning.   I wish the Hon. Joy Smith every strength in the fight that needs to be still conquered.   She's won one battle against human trafficking and she will, with the help her husband, win the other as well.

Joy Smith almost gave up on her bill for stricter sentences for human traffickers   after her husband’s devastating cancer diagnoses.

But the Conservative MP’s family, especially her RCMP officer son, Edward, encouraged her to keep up the fight. His work in that area was Ms. Smith’s inspiration for her private members’ bill.

Even before she was elected to her Winnipeg-area riding in 2004, she had volunteered, working with trafficking victims. She had been disturbed and moved by their stories.

“It had become a family affair to try to get it through,” she recalled in a recent interview.

In July her bill, giving mandatory minimum prison sentences of five to six years for human traffickers, became law.

And to build on that, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews announced Tuesday morning a partnership with Crime Stoppers as part of a campaign – the Blue Blindfold campaign – aimed at reporting and raising awareness about human trafficking.............