Evidence of meeting #118 for Status of Women in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was housing.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Thank you very much.
For our final witnesses, we're moving over to Alma and Tara. You have seven minutes.
5 p.m.
Alma Arguello Executive Director, SAVIS of Halton
We're splitting our time.
SAVIS of Halton is the only sexual assault centre in Halton Region. We service folks who have been sexually assaulted. We also do public education programs and have long-term counselling programs for them. We also have the anti-human trafficking initiative, a complete exit program and long-term support through which we support women who are ready to start living a life, rather than just surviving their life.
This brief is strongly recommending that survivors of human trafficking be conceptualized as distinct from survivors of domestic violence, and that instead of addressing the housing needs of survivors of human trafficking through a domestic violence, violence-against-women model, housing support cater directly to the unique, multi-faceted experiences of survivors of human trafficking.
In Halton region, a geographical area made up of Oakville, Burlington, Milton, Georgetown and Acton, minimal housing supports are available for women and children who have experienced domestic violence. There's only one shelter, Halton Women's Place, that is specifically for women and their children seeking refuge from domestic violence. As it is the only women's shelter in Halton region, many of the women seeking housing support services there are not survivors of domestic violence but survivors of human trafficking.
Survivors of human trafficking face distinct barriers when accessing housing supports. The trauma that survivors of human trafficking have been through is different from that of survivors of domestic violence. For this reason, the housing needs of survivors of human trafficking diverge from the needs of survivors of domestic violence.
Currently one of the most glaring gaps in housing support services of the shelter model is that many service models homogenize survivors of human trafficking and survivors of domestic violence, ultimately failing to fully address the distinct needs of both groups.
The following brief outlines some of the barriers that are unique to survivors of human trafficking when accessing housing support services.
5:05 p.m.
Tara Setaram Crisis Counsellor, Human Trafficking, SAVIS of Halton
Many of the violence-against-women shelters have strong anti-sex-work policies. These policies not only create another barrier for access for survivors of human trafficking, who may be taking part in survival sex work, but also work to stigmatize survivors of human trafficking. Frequently these anti-sex-work policies are veiled as a no-recruitment policy. Although understandable, no-recruitment policies gloss over the possibility that some women within a shelter may be choosing to take part in autonomous sex work and may need to rely on the information or connections of another autonomous sex worker within the shelter.
These policies contribute to a highly policed environment that encourages a panoptic surveillance of survivors of human trafficking. These policies also ignore the nuances of experiences that survivors of human trafficking have. Many survivors of human trafficking will have recruited for their trafficker as a means of self-preservation and survival. By blacklisting a woman who has been accused of trafficking herself, shelters alienate some of the most vulnerable survivors.
The conflation of domestic violence with the violence specific to human trafficking works to undermine the distinct trauma survivors of human trafficking must navigate. Yes, there are many similarities between domestic violence and human trafficking, in that both survivors will have experience of manipulation, physical abuse, verbal abuse, financial control—the list could go on, but these survivors of human trafficking experience higher degrees of sexual trauma than most survivors of domestic violence. For this reason, survivors of human trafficking need to be able to access a housing model that incorporates and operates with trauma-informed support and best practices. Within violence-against-women shelters, because of the volume of clients and lack of available resources, this framework is often absent.
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, SAVIS of Halton
Black women, indigenous women and women of colour who are also survivors of human trafficking are less likely to access a VAW shelter and resources, as they do not feel their experiences and distinct needs are reflected in this service model. Housing support model shelters need to be operating from an intersectional foundation to better address the needs of survivors of human trafficking who are black, indigenous or women of colour. This experience is especially exaggerated in Halton region, as demographically it is largely white.
We also recommend a centralized shelter intake in transitional support that shows where all beds are found and who can provide the individuals with safe transportation.
Shelters should not be the only places that have or get funding for transitional support. Folks who seek support are not all deemed to have had domestic violence or seeking support in shelters, and sometimes the old definition of intimate partner or head of a traditional family unit excludes same-sex partners or abusive siblings in the case of some human trafficking survivors.
Transitional supports should also be extended to organizations that work with the most vulnerable: sexual assault centres, women's centres, settlement agencies, indigenous friendship circles—which we don't have in Halton—PSN, LGBTQ2+ and transitional support, trans support services, and seniors and advocacy agencies. The language needs to be changed. We need to look at the programs and the funding we provide from an anti-racist, anti-oppressive, intersectional approach.
We are still leaving behind the most vulnerable, even in the language and how we use it. What is the definition of “intimate partner”? Is it someone who has sex? That has to be changed. What is cohabitation? Is it someone with whom you have to live? If we just look at it within the traditional family unit, we will leave behind the most vulnerable of our population.
Thank you.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
5:05 p.m.
Crisis Counsellor, Human Trafficking, SAVIS of Halton
As a racialized first-generation Canadian survivor of human trafficking, I am bringing forward some of our human trafficking recommendations.
I also experienced domestic violence, and while exiting through human trafficking, I was placed in a domestic violence shelter. It was stigmatizing and traumatic, and I experienced a lot of victim blaming. My presence created a perceived hierarchy of victimhood within the shelter that resulted in a tense shelter stay. Residents questioned me constantly regarding agency involvement and the perceived special treatment that I received.
We recommend that transitional housing models be trauma-informed, have intersectional foundations, be harm-reduction-based and offer a continuum of care that's based on that non-linear path of healing that many survivors of human trafficking may experience. We recommend that enter and exit programming be without repercussion—so not being blacklisted—and that they be sex-positive spaces that don't try to ascribe sexual citizenship in order to permit entry. Survivors need to access housing supports that empower them and foster their autonomy.
That's it.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Thank you very much.
Just to give everybody an idea of how today's going to run, if it works for everybody, until 5:50 we'll be doing our questions to the panel. Then we'll immediately go in camera so that we finish at six today. There is just a little bit of business, but since we have an excellent panel with so many witnesses, we will give them that extra time and take it away from committee business.
We're going to start our seven minutes of questioning with Pam Damoff.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Thanks, Chair.
Thanks to all our witnesses for being here today. To those of you working with survivors, I say a special thank you for the work you do and for the work you have done for many years, many of you. I give my heartfelt thanks to you, because it's not easy work, and I quite honestly don't know how you keep doing it day after day.
I'm going to start with SAVIS because we have had conversations about survivors of human trafficking and about them trying to find a place to live and get out of the life they had and some of the challenges they face. In our area, we have one women's shelter. I know that SAVIS has tried working with the region to try to get some transitional housing for survivors of human trafficking, and it's been a real challenge. I wonder if you could share with us some of the challenges that make that different and why you've run into roadblocks in trying to set something up.
5:10 p.m.
Executive Director, SAVIS of Halton
Tara, do you want to talk? You work directly with them.
Tara is the crisis worker for human trafficking as well, so this is right from the horse's mouth.
5:10 p.m.
Crisis Counsellor, Human Trafficking, SAVIS of Halton
Which part did you want me to talk about?
5:10 p.m.
Crisis Counsellor, Human Trafficking, SAVIS of Halton
With regard to the transitional support, a lot of our clients are seeking housing, but we're not able to provide it because we do not have a crisis unit. What happens is that we need to relocate them very quickly, so we're putting them up in a hotel, which isn't sustainable. They're not able to access the shelter. Some of them have been blacklisted from the shelter, which means that we have to move them out of the region, and when we move them out of the region, we move them away from the supports they have.
In terms of accessing housing through the region, if they are approved as special priority, they get portable housing benefits. What happens is that they need to seek an apartment rental, get a lease, and provide first and last months' rent, and then the region will step in and start making that assistance payment.
Unfortunately, what happens with some of our clients is that when they seek out that rental agreement, they're not given a rental agreement because they do not have first and last months' rent. They have low credit rating scores and their income is inconsistent or too low to sustain the unit. What happens is this perpetual cycle of looking for an apartment, finding one, and not being eligible.
We've tried working with the regions to create some sort of format, because this is creating barriers and a hopelessness for our clients that they can be housed.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Where are they going between looking for an apartment and coming to you? The phone rings. They're calling you. Where are they staying while they're looking for that apartment?
5:10 p.m.
Executive Director, SAVIS of Halton
We have to put some of the clients outside the region. We have gone to Toronto. We have gone to Hamilton. I have driven clients as far as Windsor. There's also a huge systemic barrier when even those who are verifiable for the special priority.... Sexual assault centres are not deemed to be part of that special priority. It seems that the system itself has not caught up to the real needs of folks who are experiencing this type of victimization.
One of the systemic barriers is that it is not being put as verifiable that these women have experienced this type of heinous crime. That also holds up the application a bit longer. It takes that much time. Some folks have been denied, and the appeal process takes that much longer, so we have to put them outside of the region to a shelter that has some transitional support, which re-victimizes them even more.
We're able to allow them to have housing after we have jumped through all the hoops. The system is still not there yet. The survivors of human trafficking are still being victimized and stigmatized even after they exit.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Are these shelters that offer special transitional housing for survivors of human trafficking, or are they—
5:10 p.m.
Executive Director, SAVIS of Halton
Some of them are, and some of them are not.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Where is there a good example of one that's operating? Is there one?
5:10 p.m.
Crisis Counsellor, Human Trafficking, SAVIS of Halton
One that we've accessed and found great support through is the Native Women's Centre in Hamilton. They have a program on human trafficking called “Healing Sisters”. That's one place that we've relied upon because of the issues we're having within our region.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
What sets it apart? If that's a model that's working, how could you translate that across the country?
5:15 p.m.
Executive Director, SAVIS of Halton
There are various models. For our community, we need a sustainable model, not just for bricks and mortar, but for folks to actually be able to own their own place and call it their own place, their home, and to have a really safe corner of their own little world. I don't think that a formal transitional support program or a shelter system will work for a lot of these women. Part of being able to completely exit and start living your life is having your own place, because then you're no longer just surviving. That's part of the healing path that has to happen.
It's about more supports, more transitional support workers and organizations like ours and the other organizations here, so that we're able to find transitional support funds to have transitional support workers who are able to go out and negotiate with landlords.
It's also to have in our region, the Halton region, the removal of some of the barriers we're currently experiencing when accessing funds for a lot of those vulnerable folks. That kind of model will work, because a lot of women do not want to live in a shelter. It's very traumatic for them as well.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
I only have about a minute left, but this came up in our last meeting, and Megan, you mentioned that we need to prevent this from happening in the first place.
One of the programs you run is the Male Ally Network. Can you tell us quickly about that?
5:15 p.m.
Executive Director, SAVIS of Halton
The Male Ally Network is a program that helps young boys and teaches what gender-based violence is. How do we start teaching boys what is positive masculinity? How do we teach them what is toxic masculinity? The conversation has to start at a much younger age.
When we applied for the program originally, it was through Trillium and it was for high school. We noticed that we had to move from high school all the way down to grade 5, because in grade 5—they're only 10-year-olds—boys were actually becoming perpetrators of unwanted touching of little girls. That conversation needed to happen even further down.
We have seen huge success even in three years. We have seen success in boys actually pointing out bullying behaviour as bystanders and also in looking at young women and women with respect. In some schools, we have seen a complete cultural shift. In our community, we also have the male allyship tables, where leaders in our community come together and have conversations about how we make a safe space for young boys. These leaders are the chief of police, who is a role model to many boys, and the fire department, members of our own political community—
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
That's excellent. Thank you very much.
We went a little over the time there. We're going to move to Kellie Leitch.
Kellie, you have seven minutes.
5:15 p.m.
K. Kellie Leitch Simcoe—Grey, CPC
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to all the people who have taken the time to come to present to us.
Donna, you started to go down the path of some of the recommendations you have. In terms of what you were starting to talk about, I think they actually dovetail very well with regard to transitioning into actual homes for women. Maybe you could speak to that a bit, please.
October 29th, 2018 / 5:15 p.m.
As an Individual
As we all know, right now we have a stress test in our country that was put out by our current finance minister. However that came about, I don't get it.