A Saskatoon judge has found two men guilty of human trafficking. In a decision Friday, Mohammad Masum and Sohel Haider were found guilty of human trafficking a Bangladeshi woman to work in restaurants in Gull Lake, Tisdale and Elrose. Masum was also found guilty of three counts of sexual assault. The offences were committed between Aug. 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023. The woman cannot be named due to a publication ban. Both men have been taken into custody while they await a sentencing hearing. Masum and Haider were charged in June 2023 after several individuals provided statements to RCMP, outlining the victim’s situation. The court also heard the woman’s employers withheld her immigration paperwork and threatened to revoke her work permit or call the police if she did not follow their demanding work schedule and restrictions to her freedom. The trial began in September 2024 in Rosetown and consisted of seven weeks of hearings spread over an extended period ending on Nov. 24, 2025, with proceedings being slowed by the continuous translation from English to Bengali. During the trial, court heard the woman came to Toronto on a visitor visa, with plans to stay in Canada as a permeant resident. After responding to a job ad, Haider brought her to Saskatchewan to work at his restaurant in Gull Lake. She was later taken to Masum’s restaurant in Tisdale, and then to Haider’s second restaurant in Elrose. Court heard the woman worked long hours at the restaurants, six days a week with little to no pay, until she was able to get help to leave the situation. Judge Miguel Martinez found Masum and Haider’s testimonies were not credible, while he said the woman’s testimony was reliable saying she was detailed in and not shaken from her narrative. Martinez said the men took advantage of their authority as her employer and played on her fear of having to leave Canada by threatening to withhold or cancel her work placement or to report her to the authorities. Martinez said he believes the woman was truthful in her account that Masum sexually assaulted her eight times. The men’s defence lawyers denied requests to speak to media. Crown Prosecutor Leslie Dunning said this is one of the first employment trafficking cases to go to trial in Saskatchewan. “This case certainly sets a precedent for human trafficking cases because we don’t have written decisions in our province,” Dunning told reporters outside the courthouse.
