Thank you very much.
My name is Erin Wolski. I'm here on behalf of the Native Women's Association's president, Beverley Jacobs. She sends her regrets that she was unable to attend today.
I'm a member of the Chapleau Cree First Nation in northern Ontario, born and raised in Chapleau, Ontario. I'd like to thank you again for allowing us to come and speak here today.
First, I'd just like to acknowledge the Algonquin territory on which we currently sit.
I want to focus my discussion today on three main themes related to human trafficking. First, I'll make some general comments on the issue, highlighting Canada as a source country. Second, I will identify some of the research gaps and offer suggestions on how to best address these gaps. And third, I want to bring your attention to some of the potential linkages between human trafficking and aboriginal women's situation in Canada today. Finally, I'll wrap up with some specific recommendations on how we see Canada moving forward in a proactive manner to appropriately deal with this rapidly growing criminal activity.
What is human trafficking?
The issue of trafficking in human beings is of particular concern for us, as it is for all aboriginal women in Canada. Human trafficking represents a modern-day slave trade that strips human beings of basic human dignity, fuels corruption and organized crime, and jeopardizes individual and public health. It represents human rights violations that are occurring in global proportions. It's a disturbing trend that Canada, unfortunately, has taken limited action to address.
It's an extremely lucrative business, generating up to $10 billion a year internationally. It's the world's fastest growing crime, thought to be more lucrative than drug trafficking. In fact, penalties for human trafficking in Canada are much less than those for drug trafficking. It's a low-risk, high-gain criminal activity affecting the most marginalized sectors of the human population in Canada. It's extremely unsettling to know that criminals today can buy and sell human beings with less consequence than for dealing illegal drugs.
The United Nations estimates that up to one million people are trafficked throughout the world every year. In Canada, the majority of those affected are girls and women under the age of 25. Canada is described as both a transit and a destination country. This means that people are trafficked through Canada to other countries and to Canada as migrant workers.
The question I pose today is, what is the extent of human beings being trafficked from Canada to other countries? This is a critical issue. There is a lack of knowledge about Canada as a source country.
Are Canadian women and girls themselves targeted by traffickers? This is of particular concern to us given that aboriginal women possess the highest vulnerabilities to this type of activity. If in fact Canadian women and girls are falling victim to trafficking in humans, it is highly likely that aboriginal women are the targets.
Regarding research gaps and what needs to occur, we're calling for more research. There's clearly a lack of solid knowledge on the issue in Canada. However, the research must go simply beyond descriptions of the phenomenon to approach the issue from a human rights and socio-economic perspective where the root causes can be brought to light.
The approaches we choose will determine the strategies we use in dealing with this problem and ultimately our rate of success in combating the problem. Current measures in Canada focus on border control and national security; however, the phenomenon of human traffic is much broader in scope, and we need to define it as it is. It's an issue founded in social and economic disparity. It's a human rights issue.
We feel that the gaps in information and the narrow-scoped approach taken by Canada thus far are completely unacceptable. We hope to create some momentum today toward gaining a better understanding of root causes. This approach, although daunting, is necessary if we ever hope to deal with the problem of human trafficking in Canada.
It is also vitally important that we develop and implement a system to monitor the problem nationally. It should be quantified, measured, and monitored. Aboriginal-specific, gender-specific research is needed in this area.
I want to discuss the linkages between human trafficking and aboriginal women. At this point, I think it's important that we identify the indicators that Canadian aboriginal women and girls, in particular, are easy targets for criminals and organizations dealing in trafficking of human beings.
Of the over 500 missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada, how many have become victims of this international phenomenon? Many of our sisters have simply vanished off the face of the earth, their families, their parents desperately holding onto hope that they'll return or be found.
It has become apparent as more aboriginal women go missing, and a huge majority of the cases are not being investigated, that this type of trafficking must be looked at as a possible source for information. We cannot rule out human trafficking as a trend affecting our women, some of whom, as you know, are in situations of extreme vulnerability.
We need to acknowledge the linkages here. Research indicates that trafficking victims are the poorest, most disadvantaged groups in society. Aboriginal women fit that description, as 40% of our women live in poverty in Canada. More than half over the age of 15 are unemployed. More than half of single-parent households live in core housing need.
Aboriginal women are at higher risk for alcohol and substance abuse, and life expectancy is five to six years less than it is for non-aboriginal women.
Amnesty International noted that Canada has often failed to provide an adequate standard of protection to aboriginal women. This is evidenced through the following statistics.
Aboriginal women are three times as likely to experience violence. Female youth are eight times as likely to commit suicide. Aboriginal women make up almost 30% of the female inmate population in Canada. The number of aboriginal women in federal institutions is increasing at a rate that far exceeds that of aboriginal men.
There are an alarmingly high number of aboriginal women experiencing sexualized, racialized violence in Canada. Aboriginal women have the highest mobility rates. Almost 60% of our women have changed their place of residence in the past five years.
Aboriginal women have experienced a legacy of legislated discrimination that impacts every aspect of our lives and our children's lives.
There has been a fair amount of activity from British Columbia, indicating that this area of the country is commonly used by traffickers to transport their victims. The linkage here is the increasing numbers of missing aboriginal women from British Columbia. The numbers are high and continue to rise, as you know.
In the downtown east side, 70 women are missing. We estimate that one-third of those women are aboriginal.
As you might know, Highway 16 is where locals estimate that the number of missing women is over 30—and all but one are aboriginal.
Given that there's a growing pool of evidence indicating that aboriginal women face the largest socio-economic challenges in Canada, we can speculate as to how strong the linkages are to human trafficking. And given the gaps in information on Canada as a source country, we are left to wonder.
Clearly we cannot deny the linkages between discrimination, poverty, violence, addictions, and incarceration. Aboriginal women are forced into desperate situations in order to provide for their families, in order to survive.
I will now provide our recommendations. As discussed, the measures taken thus far do not constitute genuine solutions, nor do they focus on the structural causes of human trafficking. Too often as a society we choose to deal with the symptoms rather than uncover and address the underlying factors, the root causes.
We would like to see a long-term commitment by the federal government to support work on evidence-based research specific to aboriginal women. We need to gain a better understanding of the extent of the human trafficking issue to be able to determine whether it is an element that requires specific attention, as it relates to the high number of missing aboriginal women in Canada.
We would like to see a national strategy on human trafficking. Collaborative approaches to the issue are needed beyond the interdepartmental working group on human trafficking.
We would like to be involved in the development and implementation of a national strategy.
Finally, we are calling for an end to poverty. The Assembly of First Nations currently has a national campaign to end poverty. Although anecdotal, poverty is clearly a root cause to aboriginal women being forced into high-risk situations. The AFN is raising this as an issue. Canada needs to acknowledge and address some of these root issues.
That's it. I'd like to thank you for hearing me today, and I sincerely hope we can work together on these issues.