I think one of the challenges we've seen since the pandemic is that the baseline that we were working off relating to access to emergency shelter services was based on individualized needs. When you look at the general state of the social safety net in Canada and these programs specifically for people who are generally oppressed, stigmatized and marginalized, we weren't working from a great space to start with.
Part of what I think people need to consider is the fact that human trafficking services should not be considered in complete isolation from other services associated with homelessness, housing and other supports for women experiencing other forms of intimate partner violence and gender-based violence. We don't always necessarily need to have a human trafficking specific system, but when the overall system is struggling and it's hard to place anyone in those systems, then those who have gone through the traumas and have other kinds of specific needs associated with having a trafficking experience means that it's just that much harder to find a place for them.
One of the trends we're seeing in the requests for services is that, especially because of the trauma when people initially exit human trafficking, being in a highly regulated emergency shelter system does not work for them. The hours of when they're expected to wake up and go to sleep, and then being controlled in terms of what they're eating, when and how.... Also often people will use substances to try to deal with the traumas experienced.
I think, because we've got a general lack of harm reduction, trauma-informed housing and wraparound services in Canada, the addition of a pandemic to that only makes it worse. If we're really going to get at the heart of this, it means that we're going to take a coordinated, evidence-based approach to really mapping out these services across the country and making sure that in every area across Canada we've got the services in place to provide those supports when they are needed.