They didn't get the memo. They're all off having their supper already.
Thank you so much, everybody, for having us. It's really a tremendous pleasure to be here. I'm Miia Suokonautio. I'm the executive director of YWCA Halifax. Temi Abiagom and Charlene Gagnon are with me. We come to you as a team.
I want to start by saying that we're very much carrying the stories and experiences of survivors and victims, thrivers and victors. We were talking quite humbly about what a great responsibility this is.
I will do our five minutes here, but any one of us can answer questions. Temi manages our youth exploitation team, which provides direct services. Charlene is the manager of our systems approach to exploitation, working with our government and community partners.
I begin also by highlighting [Technical difficulty—Editor], but also something really remarkable that is happening in Nova Scotia. It's a movement. It's the Nova Scotia trafficking and exploitation services system—we call it TESS—partnership. It includes more than 70 partners across the province, including the YWCA. These partners have worked together for more than five years. Although this thoughtful and committed group has built consensus around practice and human rights as related to exploitation, there is no consensus among the group about the decriminalization or legalization of the industry.
We will focus our testimony or our comments on Bill C-36 itself, but will not be commenting on the broader question of decriminalizing or legalizing the sex trade, because we feel a real responsibility to our partners.
With that, in watching prior testimony from last week, we understand that there are in fact really two questions before you now. The first is this: Does Bill C-36 protect people who are being exploited? That's a very important question. Is it protecting people? The second is this: Does it cause harm to vulnerable Canadians?
On the first question, if Bill C-36 protects people who are being exploited, the short answer is no. Bill C-36 is not protecting people who are being exploited. Again, we know that you've heard expert testimony from our colleagues from across the country. In our experience, people continue to be exploited. Even when there is no pimp, they are still being assaulted when engaged in transactional sex. Even though we have special Crown prosecutors and special policing units and there are no licensed strip clubs in Nova Scotia, the issue of exploitation is rife in Nova Scotia. It permeates the child welfare system. It is a crisis among indigenous women and girls. School administrators and teachers are at odds over how to stem the tide.
In Nova Scotia's youth correctional facility, Waterville, as well as in the adult system, almost without exception girls in detention have been exploited. We are also seeing increasing cases among boys and trans women. Among the dubious distinctions of our Atlantic province is that we have the highest per capita rate of human trafficking in the country.
In short, we have no evidence that would support the claim that Bill C-36 has prevented or ended the exploitation of vulnerable Canadians in our province.
On the second question, on whether Bill C-36 is causing harm, again, our experience is very similar to what has been described in previous testimony presented to you, in that Bill C-36 has prevented people from coming forward if they've been assaulted by a john. The bill has also pushed the sex industry further underground, into increasingly unsafe conditions.
In fairness, I want to add that, at the same time, as we understand it, there have been some benefits of Bill C-36 in the courts. If there is a case in which exploitation by a third party does not meet the standard of a human trafficking charge as defined by the Criminal Code, Bill C-36 has been used instead to hold perpetrators accountable. The bill can subsequently be assistive to the Crown and police, but whether it harms or helps victims has not been proven. That a small proportion of cases makes it to the point of prosecution may in fact make this potential benefit less consequential. We must consider the balance of harms.
I know I'm going to run out of time, but maybe the YMCA comment will give me just a minute more. I have a couple of further considerations.
One is that we have to understand and be transparent about the fact that this discussion is deeply affected by our values about sex and commercial transactions for sex. Whether we care to admit it, our values are squarely in the middle of this discussion. We urge you to prevent morality from infringing upon the rights of Canadians, including sex workers. Although you may personally hold views about the impropriety of sex work, we must not allow the human rights of those involved in the sex industry to be denied because of it.
Secondly, we remind you that there are already a host of prohibitions and laws on a variety of related matters, including sexual exploitation of youth, assault, sexual assault and human trafficking. Revisiting C-36 does not mean these laws are no longer in force.
Lastly, exploitation is in fact a very difficult thing to pin down. For example, young people are being exploited in many ways in our community for simple things like housing, food or access to substances. While this act of trading is technically covered by Bill C-36, it is very rarely applied in these cases and does not address the underlying needs of youth that precipitated their vulnerability.
Finally, what do we recommend? According to one of our local colleagues, there is no way we can arrest our way out of this problem. There is no silver bullet for addressing exploitation. There is no quick fix. Pretending that we can bring an end to the sex industry is a chimera.
Instead, if we are serious about addressing exploitation, we must understand that commercial sexual exploitation preys on vulnerability, and fundamentally vulnerability is best addressed in the context of the social determinants of health, not the legal system. It involves adequate income, good housing, food security, support for families, education, self-determination and much more. These more than anything else will give us the best hope to address exploitation.
