Status of Women committee  Yes, I believe we already have a definition for this population, which is child sexual exploitation. I think it stands distinct from human trafficking.

Status of Women committee  Sure. I think it comes back to the discussion about definitions. The way that human trafficking is currently defined is so overbroad and ambiguous that we are not able to actually tailor solutions to the actual problems. We cannot have a cookie-cutter solution that will fit for all of these different issues that are often being caught in the net of human trafficking.

Status of Women committee  I don't have any stats on that. I'll reiterate that SWAN has been working with this population for over 20 years. We very rarely come across someone who has been trafficked. I'm not sure if that answers your question.

Status of Women committee  I agree with Ms. Price 100% that we need to keep in mind that we don't actually get to decide for each of these people. They can decide for themselves. As Ms. Price said, everyone deserves to be safe no matter what their occupation is.

Status of Women committee  I think the main piece is that sex work is inherently exploitative; it is not. There are people who exploit and people who are exploited. However, the act of sex work is not in itself exploitative. I think that is the underlying misconception in all of our laws and policies in Canada.

Status of Women committee  I think the big picture piece for this question is that we currently have laws that criminalize sex work, so how do people who are facing exploitation in the sex industry—which is what I understand this committee's main concern is—access justice when the police are actually meant to enforce these laws?

Status of Women committee  Yes, absolutely.

Status of Women committee  Yes, absolutely. I think that is a big piece of it. Like you said, it comes down to choice and the options that we have as people living in society and living in capitalism. I do believe that a universal basic income would make a big impact for people. However, I will say that it needs to be accompanied by decriminalization and destigmatization of working in the sex industry because some people might still choose to do it.

Status of Women committee  I don't have any hard stats on this. The people we support at SWAN are primarily self-identified women, so we don't actually support males.

Status of Women committee  I'm sorry, but can you clarify that question?

Status of Women committee  Essentially the IRPR prohibition on sex work makes it impossible for migrants to Canada to choose freely what occupation they do. When they choose to work in the sex industry, they automatically are placed at risk of arrest, detention and deportation. We have actually seen that happen several times with the women we support.

Status of Women committee  I would add that this goes back to the idea that “human trafficking” is used as a term to label so many different things. The women we support face a spectrum of exploitation on which trafficking might be the most extreme.... When they are seeking help and being asked, “Are you a victim of trafficking?”

Status of Women committee  Again, repeatedly the women we support at SWAN tell us that they actually fear the police more than they fear predators. This is due to the IRPR provisions that prohibit sex work. They are not able to access justice as freely as the rest of us can because they live in fear of being arrested, detained and deported if they are found to be engaging in sex work as temporary residents in Canada.

Status of Women committee  Thank you very much. My name is Angela Wu, and I'm the executive director of SWAN Vancouver, a member group of the alliance. I am calling in today from the traditional and unceded territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam nations. For the last 20 years, SWAN has supported newcomer, migrant and immigrant women engaged in indoor sex work.