Evidence of meeting #68 for Status of Women in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was million.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Marci Ien Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
—so we're going to give you some more time, Leah.
I do want to set this straight, because this really comes from a place of not just practicality but also empathy.
I've visited transitional houses and shelter organizations in each province and territory in this country. I see the need. I understand the need. That $300 million was an emergency measure, and you are right that it went a long way and it saved lives. That was short term, and short term—because we need to look at long term—
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Minister, thank you very much. I know there's much more to this discussion, but our time is actually up for the hour.
On behalf of all of the members of this committee, I would like to thank you, Minister. I'd like to thank all of you for coming. Thank you, Crystal, for being online as well to support the minister on her visit here.
I want to turn it back to the committee and go on to the votes on the main estimates 2023-24.
Does the committee wish to dispose of the main estimates 2023-24?
4:45 p.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
DEPARTMENT FOR WOMEN AND GENDER EQUALITY:
Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$59,176,748
Vote 5—Grants and contributions..........$225,416,914
(Votes 1 and 5 agreed to)
Shall I report the votes on the main estimates 2023-24, less the amount voted in interim supply, to the House?
4:45 p.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
We'll suspend now so that we can get the witnesses back on here for our second panel. We're going to do it as quickly as possible, so we're going to suspend hopefully for less than two minutes.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
I would like to welcome both of our witnesses for today's study. They are returning as witnesses on the human trafficking study.
I'm going to remind everybody that pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted on Tuesday, February 1, 2022, the committee will resume its study of human trafficking of women and girls.
I would like to make a few comments for the benefit of the witnesses.
Kelly and Cathy, I believe you've been shown how to select English or French interpretation.
I'm also going to remind everybody not to put their earpieces close to the microphone. It's giving feedback to the translators.
Before I welcome our witnesses, I would like to provide this trigger warning. This is a difficult study, of course, and we'll be discussing experiences related to abuse. If there is anything triggering to viewers, members or staff with similar experiences, or if you feel distressed, please advise the clerk and we can see how we can assist you.
I would now like to welcome our witnesses for today.
As an individual, we have Cathy Peters, an educator. From Courage for Freedom, we have Kelly Tallon Franklin, chief executive director, and from DisAbled Women’s Network of Canada, we have Bonnie Brayton, chief executive officer.
You will each be provided with five minutes for your opening statement.
Cathy, we'll begin with you. I pass the floor to you for five minutes.
May 18th, 2023 / 4:50 p.m.
Cathy Peters Educator, As an Individual
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I am a former inner city high school teacher and private citizen raising awareness about human sex trafficking—sexual exploitation for the purpose of prostitution—in order to stop it.
Prostitution would not exist without trafficking. Prostitution would not exist without buyers. Prostitution everywhere in the world is unequal, unhealthy, unsafe and unfair to women. In regard to any federal policy or law regarding women and girls, the question to ask is, does this practice or industry make women more equal and advance the equality of women and girls, or does it set the equality of women and girls backwards?
Since 2014, when the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act became federal law, I've been doing presentations to politicians, police and the public. I just presented at the Canadian Sexual Exploitation Summit.
The most notorious cases in Canada for human sex trafficking and sexual exploitation are from British Columbia: Amanda Todd, victim; Reza Moazami, trafficker, 23 years in jail; and Robert Pickton, sex buyer and serial killer.
B.C. is an example of PCEPA not being enforced, and the result is that sex buyers and sex traffickers act with impunity. British Columbia has become a magnet for criminals and organized crime. B.C. urban centres have become sex tourism destinations. Sex traffickers are targeting very young girls from 10 to 12 years of age.
Dr. Jacqui Linder, a traumatologist from Alberta, states, “Human trafficking is one of the forms of trauma that when you really understand what people are going through and what is being done to them, it is true evil.”
Survivors tell me that it is easy to get into the sex industry and very hard to get out.
Former MP Joy Smith states that education is our greatest weapon. Her foundation operates the National Human Trafficking Education Centre.
In my brief, I described the current trends contributing to human sex trafficking, and I gave 10 recommendations to stop human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Please read my brief to the federal justice committee of February 2022.
PCEPA focuses on the source of harm: the buyers of sex and the profiteers. The clear statement from Parliament was that girls and women are not for sale. They are full human beings with dignity and human rights.
Repealing this law would be a disaster. With the longest border in the world, Canada would become America's brothel. Indigenous women and girls would be the first casualties.
The reason we have a growing problem with sexual exploitation today is that PCEPA was never consistently enforced across Canada. Police were not trained to enforce it, attorneys general and justice systems had no training about it, and there was no robust prevention education rollout campaign to explain it, so Canadians do not know about it.
The idea that sex work is work is completely contradicted by the preamble in PCEPA, the testimonies you have heard and my 40 years in prevention education.
Men and boys are the key to end sexual exploitation and trafficking, because they are the perpetrators and buyers of sex. They need to be taught that girls have value and worth and that every woman and girl has the right to be free of violence.
Please check out my website at beamazingcampaign.org. It is a one-stop shop on the issue. My book is finished, hot off the presses: Child Sex Trafficking in Canada - and how to stop it. It has the resources and research to stop this in Canada. I have a book for each party, including the Bloc. MP Andréanne, I want to make sure that you get a copy as well.
Thank you very much.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
4:55 p.m.
Kelly Tallon Franklin Chief Executive Director, Courage for Freedom
As a survivor of human trafficking, I ask for your indulgence with accommodation if my brain stops to work and I stall.
I want to first just say thank you, Madam Chair and members, for your hard and ongoing work.
I'm going to outline my collective points at the beginning so that if I'm not able to speak to them, you can reintroduce them to me in the form of questions so that I may respond.
My collective points are that prevention and law enforcement are separate issues.
National strategies require a national action plan or adoption of an existing national referral mechanism as a right to safety and providing access.
Intersectional issues include biases, discrimination, lack of agency, harms and needs definitions of terms and standards, including ageism in that collective.
Another is legal reforms with witnesses, bail policy, sentencing, policing gaps and inconsistencies and the need for coerced crime understanding and record impunities.
Law enforcement focuses need to be extended to corrections, probation and parole as both support and prevention and can provide reformation to this issue.
Another is cross-border allowances for travel without harassment and stigma for survivors like me.
Another is tri-governmental delivery in safety and child protection responsibilities as a matter of federal oversight and policy expectations in all activities.
There are the matters of core issues, such as risk mitigation, housing, a living wage, mental health, addiction, child services, labour, immigration, migration, refugee supports, access to basic needs, food security, education, jobs and skills. As survivors, this is what we call prevention.
Reporting soft and complex data, grey data and anecdotal data that can be verified and deemed statistical, both from survivors and under-reporting provinces, will support both the reporting and the non-reporting. It's the number one under-reported crime in Canada.
There are research biases and duplication, and instead we should aim for trial projects that are pan-Canadian that will be deliverable in capacity and shareable like a template. We need to learn to test drive and then have the funding ready and available to roll out. We can't call in to crisis centres when we don't have somewhere to support somebody who's in a crisis.
Issues of ownership and solution planning in agencies, industries and stakeholders must include mental health and addiction awareness, including our understanding of sexual impulsive behaviours as part of the DSM description of perpetrators.
Another is community responsibility to work under and with strategies for survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation to form a future association. It needs to include the government, first nations, Métis and public engagement all interfaced at the table.
With over 500 personal engagements to support survivors, I can say that some common threads shared in my case notes are statistical and anecdotal. I use these to share those points above. This committee can confirm these surveyed lines. We cannot ignore or conflate the issue that there are victims of this crime. We, Courage for Freedom, have travelled across provinces and territories in Canada, the U.S.A, Costa Rica and India and other global destinations that I cannot share to support women and girls who are asking for support, not for rescuing but in exiting the industry with opportunities regardless of whether or not they're available to become witnesses. Pursuant to your standing order, I am speaking directly to preventing trafficking and improving law enforcement capabilities. I am not conflating it with other issues today.
Time on our streets, in courts, jails, probation homes, system supports, food banks, subsidized everywhere and everything in addiction, incarceration areas, child sexual abuse areas, domestic violence, sexual assault, in court and in homes—that was my life, which I now share with the survivors I support.
Yet I came from a demographic with a father whose basketball friend was Ken Dryden. My godfather was the Honourable Gilbert Parent and my grandfather was Wilbert Tallon, the chief of detectives in Welland, so please do not offer that there's only one specific demographic that we need to address in this committee. I think that you are well aware of that.
Recently we shared public statements with allies, 180 different organizations that are aligned with what we are looking at putting forward and asking our government to take action on. We have addressed many of the things that have been brought forward in the meetings and presentations. We have been watching intently and reviewing every witness and every brief, because survivors need to be able to vet the information with and for you.
You've heard and read about the breadth of the issues. That's one of the reasons that we often end up siloed and infighting about actions, resources and approaches. We're overwhelmed in our work. The core causal issues are broad and more comprehensive than any resources we have ever had.
5:05 p.m.
Chief Executive Director, Courage for Freedom
It mirrors the same problems I suffered—and Kelly Mombourquette and Amber Carrie Potts—at the hand of North Preston's Finest in south Regent Park.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Kelly, thank you so much. I know you have so much to offer this committee.
We do have to get to Bonnie, who is going to be our next witness, so that we can get these questions in too. I'm going to pass it over to Bonnie for the next five minutes. If there's additional information we need to get the committee, we can do that as well. I have your talking points here.
Bonnie, you have five minutes.
5:05 p.m.
Bonnie Brayton Chief Executive Officer, DisAbled Women's Network of Canada
Thank you, Madam Chair. It's nice to see everybody. I'm sorry I couldn't join you in person today.
Girls, women and gender-diverse people with disabilities are vulnerable targets of human trafficking.
I'll remind the committee that we submitted a brief that I hope has been circulated by now. If not, I'm sure it will be soon. Please make sure you do take the time to review that and the recommendations. Of course, we can speak to them today.
Disability is the centre of the cycle of violence, trauma and revictimization that many trafficking survivors experience. Women and girls with disabilities are more likely to experience childhood sexual violence. Childhood sexual violence is linked to revictimization through the course of life and has negative impacts, including mental health conditions, addictions, social exclusion and poverty. In turn, these factors have been identified by Public Safety Canada as risk factors for human trafficking.
One thing I decided I would talk about today, instead of what I originally had in my speaking notes, is an important case that DAWN was consulted on by an Ontario Crown attorney last year. The reason we were consulted by the Crown attorney was that they had five people for whom they needed to prepare sentencing. They asked us to prepare something that's called a “community impact statement”, which is very similar to a victim impact statement but focuses on an entire community that is likely to be victim to a specific type of crime.
I thought I would just share the facts. In this instance, a father began sexually assaulting his daughter at the age of four. As she grew, he began trafficking her to other men. By the time she was an adolescent, her father and four men were trafficking her, and trafficking her to other men. By the time this stopped, this woman was 30 and had been sexually assaulted, in all likelihood, thousands of times. This is the form of trafficking that I think is the most egregious, and it is something that I think is very important for the committee to consider.
Notwithstanding that, of course there are all kinds of other forms of trafficking that take place, including some you've heard about from other witnesses, including those here today. Of course, sexual trafficking is a huge and important problem. It is a fact that 24% of all women in Canada live with a disability, and if we add the lens of race in terms of indigenous and Black women, we're above 30%, so we know that a huge number of women who live with disabilities are at other intersections.
In terms of what we put in the community impact statement, I'll quickly share a few things that I think are important.
The victimization of women, girls and gender-diverse people with disabilities is indicative of the systemic factors. The sexual violence we experience occurs repetitively and frequently precisely because of the fact that a woman is disabled.
As stated in the community impact statement, “The sexual violence we experience involves multiple perpetrators, often individuals who are in positions of trust; starts when we are young children and is compounded into adulthood; is a spectrum of verbal and physical abuse to severe sexual attacks; is coercive and exploitative and this is viewed as socially permissible because of our disabilities; is often dismissed simply because we, the victims, live with disability and our inherent dignity is discounted; and is rarely subject to serious denunciatory findings because we are treated as less credible.”
A later section reads, “Disability scholars point out that women with mental disabilities are often taken advantage of when they are most vulnerable—by people in positions of trust and authority and in places such as shelters or institutions. Often, sexual favours are traded for money, cigarettes, or some other form of reward. Much of this abuse is often chronic and often goes unreported (one in 30, according to one study). This is often due to their reliance on others, including those that may be exploiting them.
A later paragraph reads, “Women with intellectual disabilities and cognitive disabilities, including women with brain injuries—frequently acquired as a result of violence—experience staggering rates of sexual assault and are seen as easy targets. As recognized in the Supreme Court case R. v. D.A.I., perpetrators believe that disabled women are powerless to complain or will not be believed even if they do complain. Because of their precarious status and limited reach within their social networks, women and girls with disabilities are easily marginalized and their concerns delegitimized simply because of their disability and ingrained images of disability as lacking capacity. Women and girls with disabilities are at a high risk of violence due to social stereotypes that often serve to reduce their agency by infantilizing, dehumanizing and isolating them.”
Further, “It is no surprise then that since women with disabilities rely on caregivers to have their basic needs met, they are particularly susceptible to being trafficked by those caregivers. Girls with disabilities are seen as ready and accessible prey, easily targeted, exploited and manipulated by predators.”
Before I—
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Bonnie, thank you so much. Your five minutes are up. I got you right at the end of that one sentence.
What we're going to do now is switch to our round of questioning. We'll be starting off with six minutes. I'm going to pass it over to Anna Roberts for the first six minutes.
Anna, you have the floor.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Anna Roberts Conservative King—Vaughan, ON
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Thank you to all the witnesses. I'm very intrigued and I have a lot of questions.
I'm going to start by asking one question to all three. I'll start with Cathy.
Do you believe the laws in place are steep enough to ensure that these perpetrators are kept behind bars for a long time so that they learn and understand what they've done to society, yes or no?
5:10 p.m.
A voice
That's a good question.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
5:10 p.m.
Chief Executive Director, Courage for Freedom
I don't believe they're steep enough, given that the majority of them are pleaded out before they even get to court.
Also, in regard to a witness's statement, if anything is pleaded out, that witness has to go back to realign their statement and isn't allowed to talk about anything that's related to human trafficking, which is why our conviction rate is so low.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Anna Roberts Conservative King—Vaughan, ON
Can I also ask the same question to Bonnie about our laws?
5:10 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, DisAbled Women's Network of Canada
Yes. I'll say again... You heard me speaking about the community impact statement we created specifically for the judicial system. That is because, whether or not the laws are in place, over and over again DAWN Canada has found itself at the Supreme Court speaking to judges because, in instances of women and girls with disabilities, we find they are not believed as witnesses. In many cases, the charges are not brought forward.
What I would say is this: Before we even talk about the current laws, we have to reform the judicial system so that all people who come forward with complaints are believed.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Anna Roberts Conservative King—Vaughan, ON
I'm asking this question because I recently found out that one of the missionaries from my community, I'm saddened to say, has been sentenced to 30 years in jail in the U.S. for child pornography and extortion of underage girls. The investigation went from June 2014 until June 2016. The individual from the Ahmadiyya mosque was arrested for using young girls or teenage girls from the ages of 12 to 17.
Here is what appeared in the Toronto Sun: ”Of course, facing decades in an American prison, Luqman Rana will no doubt ask for a transfer back to Canada where his tough sentence would undoubtedly turn to dust. After all, if it was a Canadian deal, he'd already be sprung on time served.”
That's the reason I'm bringing this to everybody's attention. Our laws do not fit the crime of these perpetrators. That's my vent for the evening.
I'm sorry. I get very passionate because I'm a mother. I have a daughter myself, and a son. It would throw me into a rage.
There is another question I want to ask.
We've heard from other witnesses that sex work is a job, a a choice. I don't believe it is. Is it not a form of conditioning? In order to help these victims, do we not have to get mental health help for them? We need to sit with them and “uncondition” what they've been conditioned to believe—that they're not worthy of anything else but selling their bodies.
Would you agree with that statement?
5:15 p.m.
Educator, As an Individual
I'm going to jump in and say yes, absolutely.
I brought a German brothel menu. If anybody thinks sex work is work.... I'm happy to read it out loud. I give this to every MP, and most of them can't read through it. If you think sex work is work, I have a German brothel menu right here.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
Anna Roberts Conservative King—Vaughan, ON
I guess what I'm looking at is that if we took the time to help these victims through their abuse and help them understand they've been conditioned to believe they're not worthy, I think we could put them back into society.
One reason I bring this up, Kelly, is because I have met with Timea on many different occasions. I have to tell you that I am so proud of you and her for being able to understand that you're more than worthy of this life. I want to applaud you for that because, as Cathy said, I do not believe women need to degrade themselves by selling their bodies to earn money. We have opportunities in Canada and the freedom to get an education to become whatever we desire, whether it's a construction worker, a doctor, a lawyer or whatever—a politician. We have that opportunity in Canada. We don't need to do it and disgrace ourselves.
I want to applaud all of you for doing that. Kelly, don't give up.