Human trafficking has many faces. A year-end report suggests that 80% of all human trafficking victims are subject to sexual exploitation. Therefore, our submission today will focus on the human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and girls.
While we, ourselves, are not experts in human trafficking, we know that through knowledge-sharing and active participation we can create changes, and that through collaboration and perseverance we can also become a global success story of commitment to doing the right thing.
Our project was funded by MCSS in Ontario. We received a three-year grant with a goal to strengthen the capacity of service providers to serve survivors of human trafficking in the Region of Peel. We applied a theory of change that asserts that women's rights are human rights.
Our work is grounded in an equity, anti-racism, and anti-oppression framework. This framework introduces the determinants of health and well-being into the strategies of prevention, services, programs, research, and policies on human trafficking. The determinants of health according to the framework are divided into proximal, intermediate, and distant factors.
Our interviews and focus groups—which are we what we did, and we work with survivors as well—provided a first-hand account of the sex industry in Canada, namely in Peel because that's the area we live and work in. The interviews and focus groups presented two main themes: powerlessness and lack of support.
Here are some of our findings from the research that we have done to date, which is quite recent.
First is a population data analysis. While trafficking has become a worldwide concern, current data collection activities reveal that the data are limited in scope, incomparable, and insufficient to ascertain the true extent of the problem in Canada. That's the first challenge that we encounter.
The scantiness of human trafficking stats is noticeably linked to the fact that human trafficking is a hidden phenomenon. The Region of Peel has higher rates of actual incidents of human trafficking and total persons charged compared to the rest of Canada, especially during the years from 2009 to 2016. There is definitely a need for more comprehensive, unified, and national data collection.
With regard to the magnitude of the problem, human trafficking is a social issue of growing concern across the globe. As we have heard from many of our witnesses, the estimated number of individuals affected by human trafficking worldwide is 20.9 million. It is the fastest-growing area of organized crime and the third largest income-revenue stream for systemized crime after narcotics and arms sales. The global sex trade is worth about $32 billion annually. This is because women and girls in sex trafficking earn profits for their pimps and traffickers over a great number of years.
Who is being trafficked? We heard some of that earlier on, too. Human trafficking victims include men and women, with women representing the majority. They have diverse educational and economic backgrounds. They include runaway and homeless youth, as well as lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual individuals. However, an issue not generally discussed in sex trafficking literature is that many come from homes that lack positive masculine or male influences.
Those at most risk of being trafficked are those with low economic status, indigenous populations, and people with disabilities. They have the greater vulnerability of becoming victims of human trafficking.
We know that indigenous women—and I don't need to elaborate too much on that—are more likely to experience discrimination, poverty, poor living conditions, and violent crimes.
Few researchers have examined the sex trafficking of women with disabilities. Some specific vulnerabilities include the lack of awareness of exploitation on the part of the victims, the inability of victims to self-identify the exploitation, and the relative ease with which traffickers can manipulate these girls and women.
One of the greatest challenges in the battle against human trafficking is removing the veil of silence that allows this oppressive behaviour to flourish. Lack of understanding with regard to the scope and severity of the problem has also contributed to its dramatic rise, so there is also a need for research and data collection.
In terms of services for men, interestingly, we have that as part of talking about the human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women. There is a lack of services for men, and this is often because of the assumption that men do not seek psychological help because of the stigma of showing emotions. This represents a large area of unmet needs because men who have been trafficked have health problems, mental health issues, and needs similar to trafficked women. As their needs are similar, it is important that there are services available equally for them.
What are our recommendations after one year of research and with still two more years for the project? We have eight recommendations from the work we are doing.
Collaboration and communication are key. A national system should be created to lead collaboration and communication among all sectors.
All sectors need to be involved. Health, social services, police, and justice need to be involved in cross-communication.
Human trafficking has been defined as a process, not an event. If we're able to have a long-term impact on the problem, we must use research to identify the most cost-effective ways of intervention. The Government of Canada has developed and implemented its tools for the prosecution of traffickers, thereby responding to most of the prosecution recommendations of the UN protocol in 2000. However, the international data shows that legal and police prosecution have not reduced the aggregate amount of trafficking. The focus should be on prevention and support for survivors.
The more structural elements of prevention have yet to be adequately sourced. They have not happened as of yet, including awareness-raising campaigns, education campaigns, and training. It can only be achieved through research and, again, through victims' participation in the entire process so we are duly informed and we're not making our decisions in ivory towers and just through research alone.
We talk about training. Service providers need to be trained on how to work with the population. Training at all levels needs to be developed and implemented. The training that is available currently does not have a proper evaluation process. The training was developed with no evaluation process attached to it. There's no reiteration of what's working and what's not working. There's a great need to develop evaluations that measure impact and a need for a robust social and health care system response as well.
A workforce is needed that is aware of the health and social impacts of this issue. I do not think that people working in this area understand the impacts holistically on individuals who have been trafficked or caught in human trafficking. They need to be educated on how to identify and treat affected individuals in a compassionate, culturally aware, and trauma-informed manner, and trained on how to collaborate efficiently with law enforcement, case management, and advocacy partners.
Competent therapeutic supports that are person centred and survivor informed can successfully manage the psychological impacts of human trafficking. We know that the most prominent of these therapies include behavioural, cognitive, and psycho-dynamic. All services and programs should be mobile to reach a population that is transient and geographically close for them to access. This leaves room for further research as to how we're going to make that happen. Again, it should happen with survivors involved in the process.
One of the things that we found is about peer to peer. Every transformational journey is unique, but here our survivors have two things in common. First, they integrate the traumatic experience into their public identities and make their experience a defining part of their life stories. Second, they talk or write about it in a way that has an inspiring effect on others. Often victims are unwilling to acknowledge the trauma and exploitation that they have experienced. Many survivors are reluctant to seek treatment. However, in working with others who have had similar experiences, many individuals feel more at ease. Overall, the services found to be most effective regarding treatment of this population are peer-to-peer support, physical health support, reintegration services, and mobile clinic services to work with those leaving sex trafficking.
We need a trauma screening tool. Early identification of human trafficking survivors needs to happen. Development of a trauma screening tool should be of great assistance to all professionals who work in this area, whether they be police, health care, or social services.
On education and outreach, we should raise awareness and understanding of the needs of survivors of human trafficking amongst service providers and the general public. In 2017, Ontario declared February 22 a day of awareness of human trafficking. Edmonton has a week since 2004. I think a national day to raise national awareness on this issue will garner much momentum for us for education and awareness training for professionals as well as for the general public.
What is the role of government in civil society? It is to reduce or eliminate the expectation that government alone is responsible for eliminating social issues like human sex trafficking by developing meaningful, purposeful relationships, with knowledge of organizations that are currently working in the field, on the ground, and involved in the work. It is also collaborating to develop strategies to assist in extracting victims currently embedded in human trafficking. While we cannot legislate morality, we can certainly develop comprehensive legislation to facilitate a reduction of the profitability of human trafficking and to protect survivors.
Housing, as we know, is always an issue. How do we move people out from human trafficking into housing? There's a lot to be done in this area.
In conclusion, understanding the roots of vulnerability is invaluable, whether in safeguarding young people from exploitation or in helping them to escape. Billions of dollars are made by human trafficking. The victims may be enticed to work in the sex trade because perhaps they don't value themselves. The only value they have, and what they're aware of, is what money can buy, and that's why we find that the age is now increasing from 11 to 12 to 13 because of all the gadgets out there, and the need of the immigrant population, newcomer population, to feel they are part of society, to feel they fit in. Certainly this leads to that sense of where they can get this money as fast as possible.
They have learned that money is made by selling their bodies. What they need to learn is that they have value that is of far greater significance. They can't recognize that value because they have often been raised to believe they are worth less and have other issues to deal with around self-esteem and identity, so it's a deeper issue. To gain self-esteem they need a program that will help them identify the strengths they have within themselves, which is more preventative, and that the talents they were born with are talents that can help them to earn an honest living.
Our study has documented a lack of service in programs at all levels for survivors of human and sex trafficking. Even when there is good intention to assist, the deficiency of knowledge and of understanding the complexities of the issues, and the level of violence encountered by survivors impede proper interventions.
Finally, we understand today that just being here is a miracle, and we're in the business, as family services, of saving lives. To fight against human sex trafficking is an extraordinary cause, and it can be accomplished by extraordinary people, so let's join in building a better society, a better culture with better values, and a better Canada. Let's make sure that future generations and our grandchildren and their children can find their happiness, not through sex trafficking, but through understanding their worth.
Thank you.