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United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney has released a nine-point plan to fight human trafficking, with steps including the creation of a provincial task force and the introduction of legislation that would allow victims to get restraining orders against their traffickers and to sue them.

Kenney said the plan, which would be implemented if his party becomes the government, is aimed at preventing trafficking, protecting victims and prosecuting traffickers.

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“Too often, we think that human trafficking is something that happens in remote corners of the developing world,” Kenney said at a news conference in downtown Calgary Friday. “The truth is it happens in our own communities, and sometimes it happens right next door.”

He said according to data from Statistics Canada, there has been an “alarming increase” in the number of reported human trafficking incidents in recent years, and Alberta had the third highest amount of reported incidents after Ontario and Quebec. He added 95 per cent of victims of human trafficking in Canada are women, and 70 per cent are under the age of 25.