Sixty-four Mexicans, forced to work in farms, factories and warehouses around Toronto, have been released after an investigation into human trafficking, Canadian authorities announced on Friday.
Five suspects have been charged and two others are still wanted on an arrest warrant. In total, they face more than 40 charges, including membership in a criminal group and human trafficking.
Police and the Canada Border Services Agency had launched this investigation in November 2022, after a Mexican worker reported his poor living and working conditions.
The migrants were “abused and exploited”, police said in a statement.
They were working and “living in appalling conditions,” York Regional Police Inspector Gary McBride told a press briefing.
According to the police, dozens of people, aged between 20 and 50, were sleeping “on mattresses on the floor”. The workers lacked “food, privacy”, and had to endure “insect infestations”.
The victims denounced “forms of coercion and control”, including isolation, a lack of freedom or threats and sexual assault.
Workers were driven to their places of work each day in three ramshackle buses and forced to work long hours for meager pay.
The alleged traffickers had promised them good living conditions and excellent salaries in Canada.
In 2019, 43 Mexicans, reduced to the state of “modern day slaves”, forced to work almost for free in hotels, had regained their freedom at the end of an operation by the Ontario police.
More than 3,500 cases of human trafficking have been reported to police since 2011, according to Canada’s Department of Public Safety. Almost all of the victims were women and minors.