Hundreds of children, men and women believed to be bought and sold in Canada every year in what amounts to a life of slavery face large hurdles to stay in the country legally once they escape their captors.

Conservative RCMP estimates show that between 800 and 1,200 people are victims of human trafficking in Canada each year, with most ending up working in forced labour or the illegal sex trade.  

Canada has earned international praise for introducing temporary permits to help victims escape their plight, but CBC News has learned that only one such permit has been issued since the program started in May.

Instead of being deported, people who claim to be victims of human trafficking can apply for the residency permit, which allows them 120 days to get health care.

They are not allowed to work.

But those who work with human trafficking victims say Ottawa is steering the most vulnerable applicants away from the temporary permits and instead toward refugee or humanitarian applications. 

Victims stay silent

Very few trafficking victims ever speak publicly. One woman who escaped a life of slavery said it is dangerous for victims to escape, let alone speak out after they have escaped.

Coco, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, told CBC News how she was kidnapped in Mexico after her husband double-crossed the men he worked with as a drug money courier.

"At the beginning, they wanted all the information about money, properties, bank accounts and everything that my husband stole from them," she said through a translator.

Coco explained how the drug dealers soon altered their initial plans. She was beaten, locked up and forced to perform sex acts for money.

Within three months of working as a prostitute, Coco got pregnant. Her captors took her to a doctor for an abortion. Instead, the doctor helped her escape.

She came to Toronto, had her baby and asked for help from Francisco Rico-Martinez, of the FCJ Refugee Centre.

"I was so confused about to have the baby because [I thought] maybe I'm not going love her," she said, as she smiled at her 10-month-old daughter.

"But when she was born, it was a very wonderful day for me. And with the help of God, I'm understanding God's purpose for me to have my baby in this situation."

Rico-Martinez said Coco is a textbook example of a human trafficking victim, but faces major obstacles to gain permanent status in Canada.

"[Her case] has the international component," Rico-Martinez told the CBC. "The temporary permit is needed because she's not from here."

Victims often enslaved in Canada

Lorraina, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, is a 29-year-old respirology therapist from Colombia. She came to Toronto last February on a six-month visa to escape a drug trafficker who was threatening her and her children.

She met a handsome, well-dressed man at a Yorkville coffee shop. Every time he saw her, he made promises to help her get the papers to extend her visa and bring her two children to Canada.

"He's my friend and I trust him, and one day he gives you a pill for your stress," she said.

"One day he says I have to pay back for the drugs, also $10,000 for the papers. You have to work for me in a nightclub, [as a] stripper, escort and prostitution."

She recalled how she was terrified on her first day, in which she was forced to have sex with 10 men.

"Thirty times I took a shower," she said, as she looked at the site of the former brothel, above a pizzeria and across the street from a Shoppers Drug Mart. 

"After [going] inside with another customer, I take a shower again, shower and shower and shower. Because you don't feel clean, you feel dirty inside, more inside than outside."

Lorraina thanks the police for rescuing her when they raided the brothel in August.

At first, they charged her with prostitution, but dropped the charges when they realized she was a victim of trafficking and she agreed to give a statement.

Rico-Martinez, who is also helping Lorraina get legal status in Canada, said it's a clear case of human trafficking, citing how the man took her passport and promised her he'd get the papers.

"This guy was taking all the money, this guy was drugging her," he said. "All this is classic. The only thing missing is international trafficking, but it doesn't need to cross borders."