Status of Women Committee on March 23rd, 2023

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you.

My next question is for Ms. Garrett-Baird.

What specific challenges do women, girls and gender diverse people face when it comes to preventing and escaping human trafficking, and how does your department work collaboratively across government to address this issue?

[Crystal Garrett-Baird]

Thank you for the question.

As mentioned, we recently launched our national action plan on ending gender-based violence. That is a federal, provincial and territorial plan that enables us to work collaboratively not only at the FPT level but also with indigenous partners, civil society organizations, researchers, frontline service providers and other experts, as well as victims or survivors and their families. It's not only to address gender-based violence but also to end it. There is a preventative element. It is a 10-year plan that contains five pillars. Within those, one of the target groups is, as you mentioned, immigrant women and girls. We know that is one of the vulnerable groups.

That is the focus of the plan. As we move forward and work with our federal, provincial and territorial counterparts to establish bilateral funding agreements and implementation plans, we will also be working with them to ensure there are targeted measures.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

That's fantastic.

I'll let you all see this thing that shows 30 seconds and it says, “Thank you”. Instead of saying, “We're done”, it says, “Thank you”. When you see that you're at 30 seconds, start wrapping it up.

Andréanne, you have six minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here today for this important study. This issue is deeply concerning to me, not just as my party's status of women critic, but also as co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group to End Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. I pay close attention to all of these issues.

This is for all the witnesses. In 2012, the government launched the first national strategy and adopted another in 2019. However, the figures show that the number of human trafficking victims is still on the rise.

Women, girls and marginalized groups are disproportionately impacted by human trafficking. Today, we were reminded of the latest Statistics Canada figures on the subject, and they show that 96% of the victims are women and girls. That's a startling statistic, and I'm deeply disturbed every single time I hear it.

Even though we began the study only a little while ago, it's becoming clear that what we're hearing is just the tip of the iceberg. Getting an accurate sense of the full picture is tough. This is a very sensitive issue, so women and girls who are victims find it hard to speak up against their traffickers. Not only do victims lack trust in the process of accessing support after speaking out, but also the idea of coming forward is terrifying to them.

Given the roles and responsibilities of your respective departments, are you able to comment on that? When victims distrust the system and the institutions that deal with human trafficking, what is going wrong?

You can go first, Ms. Levman.

[Nathalie Levman]

Thank you.

I think that was for me.

There is a variety of reasons for a lack of trust and low reporting. You mentioned juristat. There are a lot of references to the research on those important issues as to why that might be the case. It notes, for example, that victims may be unwilling or unable to report due to trauma they've suffered or pre-existing vulnerabilities. They may have general distrust of authorities. It may be because traffickers have told them to distrust police. Traffickers may also have involved them in criminal activity in order to maintain this type of control over them, threats that police may use the criminal law against them rather than to protect them as the laws' objective states.

In the training that Justice officials provide through the Canadian Police College's human trafficking investigator's course, these issues are studied and discussed so that police are aware that they are dealing with vulnerable, traumatized people who require a special kind of support and that they might need to interact with them many times. In fact, there's research that shows it may take several interventions by law enforcement before that trust is built and the victim will come forward to denounce the trafficker.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Ms. Graham or Ms. Hayward, do you have anything to add regarding immigration and your department's role in the distrust victims have?

[Alexis Graham]

Thank you so much for the opportunity to comment on that question.

Madam Levman raised some very important points about the reasons that people feel uncertain about coming forward. Those reasons are applicable, I think, to migrants as well.

In particular for migrants, there may also be additional barriers. Migrants face things like language barriers. They may have been subjected to trauma in a variety of different contexts, not just in Canada but in their home countries. They are sometimes in a particular situation of precarity where they may not have permanent residence status or are living in a difficult set of circumstances. That precarity adds to those complex dimensions of their feeling like they don't necessarily have the agency to come forward.

Also, if you come from a different country, you may not be as familiar with the rights and laws of Canada as a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident, someone who is well established. That may add yet another barrier that migrants face in coming forward in these types of circumstances.

Sarah, do you want to add anything in addition to that?

[Sarah Hayward]

What we do with our VTIP TRP is help to address some of that uncertainty. It gives people the chance to take a breath and know that they are not going to be deported. We give them the status for six months so that they can sit back and figure out what their next steps are without having to worry about being deported.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Ms. Garrett‑Baird, your department is already familiar with the difficulties women who experience violence face. I would think it's even worse when someone is from another country.

What does the Department of Women and Gender Equality do to overcome that distrust?

[Crystal Garrett-Baird]

I have a couple of quick comments.

First, under the national action plan, there is a pillar for responsive justice systems. That's to recognize the challenges and work with our partners to have a responsive justice system to support those who are subjected to gender-based violence, including human trafficking.

Concerning the federal GBV strategy, our IRCC colleagues are a partner under that. We work with them across the government along with the Department of Justice on initiatives to support this.

I would also like to point to some of the human trafficking projects that are being funded by WAGE to focus on promising practices in supporting at-risk populations.

There are 42 projects we are currently funding, including ones like the Women's Centre for Social Justice, which is developing and implementing promising intervention practices to advance knowledge and enhance empowerment supports for at-risk populations and survivors of human trafficking in Ontario, Alberta, Yukon, B.C. and Quebec.

We also have the Native Courtworker and Counselling Association of BC, which is developing and implementing indigenous-led, community-based, culturally rooted anti-human trafficking approaches, practices and materials to advance and enhance empowerment supports for at-risk indigenous populations and survivors of human trafficking throughout British Columbia.

We're really taking a multipronged approach. There's certainly many more project examples, but those are just some to demonstrate what we're doing to get to those issues.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

We're going to pass it over to Leah Gazan.

Leah, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you so much, Chair.

Thank you so much for coming to committee today.

My first question is for Madam Garrett-Baird.

At the beginning of your presentation you spoke about the government's investment in gender-based violence strategies. You also mentioned the most at-risk populations being indigenous women, girls, two-spirit, 2SLGBTQQIA+. I've raised this issue many times. It's of deep concern to me. I put forward an Order Paper question. I just resubmitted it.

In 2020, the present government put in $724.1 million for a violence prevention strategy. It's now 2023. Only 5% has been spent: $37.1 million. Not one new shelter or transition home has been built. We're at three years. We know that one of the ways to protect all women, girls and gender-diverse populations is first having a safe place. Are there plans to expedite spending the money?

This is costing lives, certainly in Winnipeg. It's been in the news: The two women who they're searching for in a landfill were staying in a shelter not housed for women. I believe that if they'd had this housing, they would still be with us today—right?—that and a guaranteed livable basic income.

I'm wondering what the plan is to speed up the spending of that money.

[Crystal Garrett-Baird]

Thank you for the question.

In budget 2021, as I mentioned, $601.3 million was provided, including funding for WAGE to deliver on a number of items. One of these was actually providing COVID emergency funding.

Since April 2020, the department has provided over $259 million in COVID emergency funding to 1,400 organizations, including women's shelters, sexual assault centres and other organizations providing critical supports and services to those experiencing gender-based violence. We are also currently funding—

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Yes, I appreciate that, but that's not actually my question. I know what the allocation is. It sounds great, but it's not being spent. What is the plan to get that money out the door?

I share this as well because in the 2022 budget around addressing the crisis of murdered and missing indigenous women and girls, there was a zero budgetary allocation. As we sit on the money from 2020, I think it's holding up other necessary monies that will save lives.

What is the plan to get that money out the door? That's really what my question is.

[Crystal Garrett-Baird]

Thanks.

The funding that WAGE has received has been sent out the door to those emergency shelters, and that has impacted a significant number of women.

In addition, we are working with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation on the national housing strategy and with Infrastructure Canada on reaching homes under pillar five of the national action plan to end gender-based violence. This pillar is about social infrastructure and enabling environment. There are potential opportunities for action here as well to build on investments, shelter and transitional housing supports and affordable long-term housing, with support for operating costs—

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Could you submit to the committee how much funding has been allocated and how much funding has been spent to date? It's just because I have limited time and I want to move on to other questions.

[Crystal Garrett-Baird]

Yes.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you so much.

My next question is for Alexis Graham or Sarah Hayward in terms of IRCC.

A member from the CBSA was here during the last meeting, and one of the things he said was, “You should ask the IRCC.” You are here, so I will ask you.

We know that a lot of migrant workers, even sex workers, won't come forward because of fear of deportation. A 2015 article by the CBC indicated that IRCC should provide permanent residency for migrant sex workers caught up in sex trafficking investigations, because if they're not worried about their status, they're more likely to report violence.

Where is the IRCC in terms of heeding that call? It was an article written by the CBC on May 8, 2015. What steps has IRCC taken in terms of offering permanent residency to protect people who are being swept up in the human trafficking investigation?

[Alexis Graham]

The first step is the VTIP TRP in order to get people who are in urgent need out of those precarious situations. Following the issuance of that first permit, a person can apply for a subsequent permit for up to three years and stay in Canada for that duration of time. They can also apply for permanent residence programs, such as family sponsorship programs. They can also apply under our economic programs and our humanitarian and compassionate programs.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

We are going to our next round. I'm going to reduce this round. We'll go five, five, two and a half, two and a half, and cut off the last two.

We'll start with Anna for five minutes.

You can share your time if you wish.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you Madam Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for being here.

I'm going to start with Ms. Graham and Ms. Hayward.

Do we have any stats on foreign national victims? Do you have any numbers for us?

[Sarah Hayward]

On the types of citizenships, do you mean the people who would have the...?

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Let me explain the reason I am asking this question.

I have been doing some research with a police officer who worked directly with human trafficking. I have been told these numbers are increasing. Foreign students are coming from abroad. Foreign perpetrators are coming from abroad illegally. They find that it's easy for them in Canada to have a business of human trafficking, because the sentences don't match the crime, whereas with drug dealers, it's a little different. They get a stiffer penalty.

How many perpetrators have been convicted? How many foreign victims have you come across? Do we have the stats for that?

[Sarah Hayward]

We do not have stats on the perpetrators. Currently, we only have stats for the people who were issued VTIP TRPs. As we said, that's a very small portion of human trafficking. It's people who did not have status when they came to our attention. I have stats on that. In 2022, we saw citizenships from Mexico, the Philippines, Guatemala, Jamaica and Ukraine. Those were some of the citizenships we saw when we issued the VTIP TRPs.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Were these victims?