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.