Thank you to the standing committee for the opportunity to present on behalf of the Ottawa Coalition to End Human Trafficking.
The coalition is a volunteer-based network that works to meet the service and resource needs of those affected by all forms of human trafficking. To our knowledge, we are the only organization offering an established training program for service providers to develop their ability to identify a trafficked person and to know how to respond appropriately.
As mentioned, my name is Sherry Lacey. I've been the Head of the coalition's Youth Committee for about three years. I've also been working as a Social Worker with Youth and Families, including victims of trafficking, for about 12 years.
I will begin with a declaration that human trafficking is modern-day slavery that is alive and well in Canada. It exploits for profit by extracting sex, labour, or human tissue and organs through deception, coercion, or force. It is a gross violation of a person's most basic and fundamental human rights. Sadly, no person or community in Canada is immune.
The focus of our coalition work is on the response. It is important to recognize that an appropriate response that is effective is also extremely complex and must consider the following factors.
First, before a victim exits a trafficking situation permanently, they typically return to that situation multiple times. For a response to be effective, it must understand and take into consideration the reasons behind this in order to prevent it.
Secondly, the needs of trafficked victims are unique to the experience of each person. No two situations or sets of needs are the same. Why, might you ask? Consider this. We have seen victims forced to have children with their traffickers. We have seen youth who have been trafficked out of the bathroom stalls of their high school or over their lunch hour. We have seen adult victims who are incapable of giving legal consent to exit a trafficking situation because their trafficker has forced them into a drug addiction and a constant state of psychological fear. The needs of these victims are vastly different; therefore, a one-size-fits-all approach will ultimately be unsuccessful.
The obstacles faced by trafficked persons in trying to access services and resources allow the coalition to conclude that the current response to human trafficking does not take the above factors into consideration in a meaningful way. To that end, I would like to highlight the need for a renewed national action plan to combat human trafficking that includes all provinces, territories, and indigenous communities. This plan should be driven by input from grassroots front-line professionals who work directly with trafficked persons within established codes of conduct. These workers understand the wide range of unique needs and challenges in accessing services and resources.
Second, it should include standardized data collection about the human trafficking landscape in Canada so that it may inform the development of an effective response.
Third, there is a need for the advancement of services dedicated to factors that link with human trafficking, including addiction and homelessness. The needs of specific groups, such as youth, indigenous peoples, LGBTQ individuals, and migrants, must also be incorporated.
Lastly, all forms of human trafficking need to be addressed in the plan, including trafficking for labour exploitation and trafficking for organ harvest and removal. In Canada the demand for organs by patients in need of transplants far outweighs the available supply. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some of the demand is met by Canadians purchasing organs from the “red market”, which is known to extract organs from donors by force or without their knowledge or consent. More work is needed to better understand this form of human trafficking.
I will now turn this over to my colleague, Jodi Mosley, for a more detailed look at the gaps.