I think there are a couple of areas where the changes to the terms and conditions are going to be very, very difficult for us. One is with regard to advocacy and lobbying. Certainly without the work that has happened across the country with regard to advocating for protections, we would not have had even the temporary resident permit, which is not a good solution, but we wouldn't have even had that. The work continues for full legislative protection for trafficked persons. Unless we have adequate funding to continue that work, the women who are working directly with the trafficked persons will not be able to partner with them in informing the policy that fits for women who are being victimized. So it's very, very important that funding for lobbying and advocacy be continued.
In terms of our work as well, while there is a great deal of research that has happened around trafficking, the particular area that Status of Women has for independent research, the independent research fund, enables us to do certain kinds of research with vulnerable populations in ways that are different from, say, an academic researcher. What does that mean? Again, it involves community-based strategies. It involves participation of the women who have the lived experience, and it privileges those.
We aren't sure exactly what will be happening with the independent research fund, but it's of concern to us, because in the past it has funded things in ways that no other funding agency would have funded, and in particular, the methodologies that we're able to use in those constructs are very, very important to reducing that “us” and “them” dichotomy that exists.