MONTREAL - A couple charged in what the RCMP describes as Canada's first human trafficking case say they treated their alleged victim like family.

Nichan Manoukian and his wife Manoudshag Saryboyadijan, both of Laval north of Montreal, are facing charges of trafficking in persons, receiving material benefit from it and withholding travel or identity documents.

They denied the allegations in an interview with French-language TV network TVA broadcast Saturday.

"She had the (security) code for the garage, she had a key to the house," said Manoukian. "She went to the convenience store with my daughter."

He said the nanny had her own room in the house's basement and her own telephone.

"She was like family to us," he said. "That's how she was treated."

Daughter Arvine Manoukian said the family even helped the woman make long-distance calls.

"My brother bought five or six calling cards which cost between $30 and $40. She called when she wanted. She called Ethiopia, she called friends, she called my grandmother."

RCMP said Friday the family treated their nanny, an Ethiopian woman they found through an agency in Lebanon, like a prisoner.

Manoukian and Saryboyadijan are both Canadian citizens who lived in Lebanon before returning to Canada with the nanny in 2004. She has worked for them here and in Lebanon for about eight years.

Police began investigating the situation after an anonymous tip and removed the woman from the house in January although charges were only laid this week.

Nichan Manoukian said the couple had taken the proper legal steps to obtain a work permit.

"Don't tell me she is illegal," he said. "She is legal for me because she renewed her visa for three months after I gave the lawyer the documents for the process."

His daughter said she misses the woman.

"I am sure she loves us and misses us," the girl said.

The couple said the woman was likely influenced by an Ethiopian friend in the matter.

The couple's lawyer, who is now acting as their spokesman, said they are considering legal action against the RCMP for damaging their reputation.

RCMP said at a news conference on Friday that the woman did housework as well as acting as a nanny. She spoke neither English or French, save a few basic words.

The couple and their home in suburban Laval was all that she knew. The victim's personal documents were taken away and she was forbidden to use the telephone, police say.

She was told that if she was caught outdoors that she would be returned to Ethiopia, police said.