Status of Women Committee on March 20th, 2023

[Cpl Jennifer Demers]

Thank you for the question.

We've been working in partnership with organizations such as Via Rail—it travels right along the 401—and other police of jurisdiction to bring awareness to what they are seeing, the targets and how to manage that.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

There's no particular program per se, other than this communication among the organizations. Is there anything key in place that says that this is the program we're working on, right now, to target this?

[Cpl Jennifer Demers]

We work together in partnerships. We share information. It's a priority for all the partners with whom I personally work. We know this is an area of risk. We share awareness products and training pieces. We're in constant communication with each other.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Thank you.

Ms. Van De Bogart, one key thing that I think would be critical to solving the problem or crisis is data. I have first-hand witnesses in my community. Again, a young woman who was homeless was a victim of trafficking. She didn't get the media attention. Nobody really looked for her. Her mother fought tooth and nail. They were able to find her because of social media, but I don't even know that she would have been reported.

How do we close this gap in data? As my colleague Ms. Gazan said, the numbers aren't truly reflective of how big this is. How do we fix that?

[Michelle Van De Bogart]

Thank you for the question.

You're right. This is a crime that is under-reported, and we know that. We work closely with Statistics Canada to garner data, so we can inform our strategy with as much data as possible.

I will go back and talk about awareness. We've talked about the fact that we need to ensure Canadians understand what human trafficking is, the signs of possible human trafficking and how to report signs of human trafficking. Under our prevention pillar, Public Safety has been doing a lot on awareness campaigns. We spoke, earlier on...how would you describe human trafficking? In 2021, we launched our “It's not what it seems” campaign, because a lot of Canadians don't understand that many people are trafficked by their boyfriends or intimate partners, or by people they know.

I think data collection is absolutely key. It's an area we need to continue to work on, but awareness is key as well—among the general public, but also in service industries and places where people are trafficked. We're working on some guidelines right now in four key areas to support frontline workers in the service industry, so that they can better understand the signs of human trafficking and—if they see it—know how to report it.

I think that's one way. We can work to ensure people understand. They can report, and that reporting becomes data.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Thank you. That's very helpful. Even my own children, right now.... My son is in grade 8. He came home.... They did a great symposium on human trafficking. That's how a lot of change happens. Our kids come home and educate us. I know it is changing. I never learned about it in my years at school. It is good to see that.

Ms. Taplin, if I may, once a victim is identified and provides a statement or evidence, what steps are taken to provide resources to the victim, in order to prevent them from returning to that lifestyle? We know the person who has taken them has coercive control. It's very challenging to get back into a healthy lifestyle and have trust again.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

I'm going to interrupt here because we're getting so close to the end of this panel. If you want to provide a brief oversight, perhaps the rest of that could be in writing because there will be so many steps to that on what we can do.

I'll allow only 15 seconds for that answer, and then pass it over to Marc Serré.

[Supt Kimberly Taplin]

Mindful of the time constraint, I'll note that the RCMP provides and works with victim services at the local level and nationally. We refer all victims to the appropriate victim services within the community to provide extended services to those victims. I'm happy to expand on that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Excellent.

Thank you so much. We greatly appreciate it.

Marc, you have the last five minutes.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I also thank the witnesses for their testimony.

My first question is for Ms. Van De Bogart from the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

Ms. Van De Bogart, you mentioned the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline. The committee has just completed its study on mental health. In that study, we heard that there are many gaps in terms of municipal and community services for trafficked women and girls. You said that victims have access to the hotline 24/7 and are referred to the right service.

What information can you share with the committee about the gaps and challenges that staff face? They sometimes have to recommend services that don't exist or differ between small and large municipalities.

[Michelle Van De Bogart]

Thank you for that question.

I know you're going to be hearing directly from the hotline next. I'm sure they'll be able to provide some specific information there. I will tell you they provide services in over 200 languages. It's not just for victims, but it's also for people who may have some questions about seeing somebody they may think is human trafficked, so I know you'll be asking them detailed questions.

I would say that, in addition to the work being done with the hotline, in the 63 projects we funded, and specifically 20 from a public safety perspective to grassroots organizations across the country, we've done that purposely because we know one size does not fit all. We know we need to be able to support those communities that know their own communities, know what's going on within their communities and what services they require.

I would also just quickly say that, when we did our initial consultations to build the strategy in 2018, we heard three key principles from our over 200 stakeholders. In order for the strategy to be effective in anything we do, it needs to be culturally responsive, trauma-informed and survivor-centric. We built our strategy on those three principles. Like I said, in the commitments within our strategy we ensure those principles are enshrined in there. Gaining support and confidence from victims, in order to be able to report, and from survivors, to be able to reach out for assistance, is really important. We don't want to retraumatize. We don't want to revictimize. I think that's important as well.

I will just lastly say that we are doing an official evaluation of this current strategy, because we are in the last year. That official evaluation is going to help us in identifying gaps and challenges, in celebrating successes and actually in shaping the restructuring of the renewal of the strategy moving forward.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, madam.

My next question is for Mr. Anson, but Ms. Van De Bogart can answer it as well, if time permits.

Mr. Anson, earlier you talked about the fact that you don't necessarily have control of refugees at the borders. We also heard that the number of people being trafficked is increasing.

Recently, we have heard through the media that more refugees from Panama, Colombia, and Haiti will be arriving in the United States and Canada in the next few months. As a result, the number of human trafficking victims may increase.

What steps have you taken?

What recommendations do you have for the committee?

[Daniel Anson]

Thank you for your question.

Just to clarify one point, we absolutely are a significant point in the process. Bringing refugees into Canada is not something that we've necessarily lost control of. It's not necessarily an issue, but it's something I'm not speaking to today.

Regarding the specific question you asked, though, yes, there are refugees from new countries of origin who are arriving in Canada. There are continually evolving migration patterns, both regular and irregular, through official and unofficial channels and processes, whether those be smuggling or, in certain circumstances, trafficking.

Our intelligence reporting is exactly the way the agency adjusts and continues to modify our approach regarding specific countries of origin. There are a lot of different changing and evolving migration patterns, day to day and month to month, and in many cases they're subject to the events or the geopolitical situations abroad, as well as to the changing legislation of some of our partner nations, certainly within North America and in Central and South America.

Intelligence reporting allows us to continue to assess what percentages and proportions of these arriving populations are potentially victims, users of human smuggling networks and chains, and what types of organized crime groups are supporting these processes, but also which nations are potentially presenting more frequently as the ones producing victims of human trafficking. That is exactly how the agency is focused and continually evolving with respect to the threat.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

That's excellent. Thank you so much.

We have allowed this panel to go a little longer, but we got a lot of information that is really important to building the foundation for our study.

I'd really like to thank all of you for coming and providing that information. I know there have been a few requests for follow-up, so we'll be following up with you on those as well.

We will suspend for about one minute because we have people to get in here immediately. I will ask for the exchange of the panel, and we'll get started immediately.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

The meeting is resumed. I would like to welcome our witnesses today, and I'm just going to advise that all sound checks were completed and have been successful for the panellists.

Today, from the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking, we have online with us Julia Drydyk, who is the executive director. We also have, in the room, from Creating Opportunities and Resources Against the Trafficking of Humans, Kyla Clark, who is the program coordinator.

Thank you very much for joining us. You will each have five minutes for opening statements, beginning with Julia.

Julia, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Julia Drydyk, Executive Director, Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking]

Thank you.

Thank you so much to members of the committee for having me here today.

My name is Julia Drydyk, and I'm the executive director at the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking. The centre is a national charity dedicated to ending all types of human trafficking in Canada. We work to mobilize systems change by collaborating and working with various stakeholders to advance best practices, share research and eliminate duplicate efforts across Canada.

In May 2019, the centre launched the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline, a confidential, multilingual service that operates 24-7 to connect victims and survivors with social services and/or law enforcement if they so choose.

I want to share three truths with you today that I’ve learned throughout my time at the centre.

The first is that no one really knows how pervasive human trafficking is in Canada. The few datasets that we do have are incredibly limited in the information they are able to capture. This means that the number of marginalized individuals who do show up in our datasets represents only the tip of the iceberg. That said, the information we do have is concerning.

A staggering 90% of survivors who contact our hotline identify as female. This finding may be intuitive to some Canadians, but it provides additional evidence that human trafficking and particularly sex trafficking need to be understood and addressed as gender-based violence. We also know that approximately 2% of the victims and survivors who contact the hotline identify as transgender men, women or gender-diverse individuals. This means that these groups are eight times more overrepresented in the data relative to their share of the population.

Governments must do more to understand how trafficking impacts high-risk communities, including how it's perpetrated, discussed and understood amongst these groups. We all need to do a better job to tailor our supports to meet those unique cultural needs.

The second truth is that human trafficking is a symptom of much deeper socio-economic factors. Trafficking can happen to anyone, but those who are most economically disadvantaged are at greater risk.

In 2017, the United Nations found that Canadian institutions have historically denied Black Canadians equitable access to economic opportunities. This has led to higher levels of poverty, poor educational outcomes, incarceration and health disparities amongst Black Canadians. We know that this is also true for other historically marginalized groups, including indigenous women and girls, the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and migrant workers. Governments need to work holistically to address the economic inequality that makes exploitation and human trafficking possible in our country.

The third truth is that we need to be thoughtful and careful about when and how we involve law enforcement. Many survivors fear police for very understandable reasons. In most cases, survivors are seeking access to counselling, shelters and other services when they call the hotline. Speaking with law enforcement is simply not a priority for the majority of survivors who contact us looking to exit their trafficking situation.

Fortunately, some police agencies are responding to this feedback. In Ontario, specially trained police services are actually stepping back and allowing service providers to lead. This allows service providers to stabilize the situation by addressing a survivor’s immediate needs and building trust. Later, police, who have been trained in trauma-informed care, are then brought in to initiate their investigation. We need to see more police agencies examining and adopting this model across Canada.

I want to share one last observation on the limitations of our criminal justice system.

In Canada, there's an overreliance on testimonial evidence to prosecute human trafficking cases. Victims are often reluctant to share details about their exploitation for fear, shame and difficulty recalling traumatic experiences. We know that the court process in and of itself can be very traumatizing, which acts as a disincentive for survivors to seek justice.

Within this context, maybe it's unsurprising that the current approach rarely leads to successful convictions. A 2019 Statistics Canada report found that less than one in 10 trafficking charges results in a guilty verdict. Canada’s low prosecution rate is concerning. It's telling us that human trafficking continues to be a high-reward, low-risk crime.

Finding justice for victims while reducing harm will require a significant shift away from standard practices. We need to move towards approaches that better leverage other types of evidence.

I want to thank the committee again for inviting me to speak with you today. I'd be pleased to answer any questions you may have.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Wonderful. Thank you very much.

Next we have Kyla Clark.

Kyla, I'll pass the floor over to you for five minutes.

[Kyla Clark, Program Coordinator, Creating Opportunities and Resources Against the Trafficking of Humans]

Thank you very much for inviting me here today to share my thoughts on how to combat human trafficking, especially human trafficking of youth in Canada.

Creating Opportunities and Resources Against the Trafficking of Humans, or CORATH, works with youth and young adults aged 12 to 24 in and around the Ottawa area who are experiencing or are at risk of human trafficking, most often for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

Having been with the Roberts Smart Centre and CORATH for nearly two years, I have seen first-hand how vulnerable youth are to being trafficked and have observed a significant shift in the age of our clients. Since CORATH's inception, we have observed the average age move from 16 to 12 and 13. This may be linked in part to changes around the online browsing habits of youth since the start of the pandemic.

Social media is a powerful tool for our youth and provides instant access to people they may not have met otherwise. In one instance, we had a youth who friended somebody via Instagram and within the hour was engaging in sexual activities. It can take mere minutes to make friends online, assume they are safe and then meet them in real time.

In this digital age, smart phones provide 24-7 access to hypersexualized media and pornography. It's easy to access, it's free and it's hard core.

Dr. Gail Dines noted that the average age of first viewing of pornography, whether intentionally or accidentally, is estimated by some researchers to be 12 and anecdotal research suggests as young as eight. This type of online exposure undermines the healthy development of our children and youth, and has contributed to school boards taking on an almost frontline role, seeing the need for bold action against the threat of sex trafficking of school-age children.

We have also seen important changes to how youth are being exploited, making it clear that a combination of approaches is needed to protect our youth.

The place to start is with education and awareness. We need youth, their families and the public to know about the risks of human trafficking, to understand the tactics that traffickers use to recruit and to ensure youth have the tools they need to protect themselves.

Many of the youth we see at CORATH have benefited from learning about recognizing unhealthy relationships, strategies for setting clear boundaries, online safety and transportation safety. Many youth take public transit to get around without adult supervision. This is a prime recruitment location. Many are also trafficked via public transit.

In another instance, we had two 12-year-olds who were bored during COVID and began to ride the buses and trains. Within a couple of weeks, they had met some older youth, started using substances, changed their makeup and were appearing with new gifts.

To that end, we need public transit personnel trained to identify and intervene in cases of human trafficking, knowing what sexual exploitation can look like, recognizing instances of grooming and understanding how to intervene. Similar to public transit, training should also be available to hotel employees and others in the service industry, who may encounter human trafficking.

You may have heard the saying that human trafficking can happen to anyone, regardless of their socio-economic status. That is true, and we have seen cases with youth from all backgrounds. However, we can't ignore that some youth demographics are more at risk than others. Many youth who are at risk of being trafficked come from vulnerable populations, such as those experiencing poverty, homelessness, familial rejection due to gender identity, cultural discrimination or trauma. We refer to these as the invisible identities.

It is critical that we have systems in place with readily available access to support and with resources, including safe housing, mental health services, education and job training. A one-size-fits-all approach to reaching and servicing these communities will not work.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have about 30 seconds left. I know you have one full page, but you have 30 seconds.

[Kyla Clark]

CORATH itself is a collaboration between the Roberts Smart Centre, the Children's Aid Society, the Elizabeth Fry Society and the Youturn Youth Support Services. This collaboration needs to continue in order to combat human trafficking.

We need to use a trauma-informed approach, including lived experiences and survivor voices in policies, programs and policing. We can prevent trafficking, support victims and build a safer and more just society for all.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you guys so much.

We are going to start off with our first round of questioning. It's six minutes each. We'll start off with Dominique.

You have the floor for six minutes.

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good afternoon to our two witnesses.

My first question is for Ms. Julia Drydyk.

In your brief, you say that “Governments must do more to understand how trafficking impacts high-risk communities, including how it is perpetrated, discussed, understood [...]”

What exactly do you mean by “must do more”, Ms. Drydyk? What are we to understand from this recommendation, this wish you have expressed?

[Julia Drydyk]

Human trafficking is experienced very differently in communities across Canada. Depending on where you are or what your background is, the language is different and what it looks like is different. We need to be working in partnership and funding frontline organizations so that we're really in tune with the realities on the ground.

Unfortunately, the term “human trafficking” is a dirty term among most of our youth in Canada. It takes a lot for someone to identify as a human trafficking survivor or victim. Sometimes they choose to never do so.

We need to see targeted, thoughtful and evidence-based outreach strategies so that we're developing materials for prevention but also supporting and being responsive to the realities on the ground.

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

This morning, people have told us how big, sprawling and tightly woven the web is. Even the police forces have a hard time penetrating it, seeing into it.

Is that your opinion as well? How are we, as parliamentarians and as a committee, going to get it right?

[Julia Drydyk]

A lot of the people we serve have real fears and issues in engaging with law enforcement. When you look at the people touched by human trafficking and the calls to the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline, the biggest group is actually the victims and survivors. That's followed by friends and family.

One of the reasons I think we're seeing this big increase in human trafficking is that we are seeing progress on awareness and education. As more people are given the tools to be able to detect what might be happening in front of them, they're reaching out for help. That's great news.

I think that we really need a community-based response to this. Many victims and survivors of trafficking are reinforced to be afraid of cops. They're told that they are doing something illegal and wrong. The shame and the stigma are intense. In many ways, that's a reality of their experiences. We need to be working with schools, community groups and parents to break through that web, because so many of the barriers to coming forward to law enforcement are so real. Many victims and survivors are also coerced or forced into conducting criminal activity for their trafficker's gain.

We need to be creating safe spaces where the individual is protected and their human rights are put at the very forefront of whatever interventions are put in place.