Evidence of meeting #42 for Status of Women in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was survivors.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Marilyn Gladu Liberal Sarnia—Lambton—Bkejwanong, ON
Ms. Brazeau and Ms. Brien, what are your comments?
President, Regroupement des maisons pour femmes victimes de violence conjugale
Assistance and emergency shelters are homes with multiple rooms and common spaces where help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We also offer outreach services at our shelters, because we can't house all the women. Meetings will be scheduled with women who don't need housing or whom we can't accommodate. There's a waiting period there too. Sometimes women can wait three to six months to get help.
Then we have second-stage housing, which is housing with a certain amount of supervision and support. Our resources are there to support victims.
Earlier, there was a lot of talk about hotels as a solution, and I'd like to take a moment to talk about that. Sometimes, we have no choice but to use hotels. We've tried it, and the problem we've seen is that women can experience violence because partners can show up. There is no security and, worse, women get no psychological help while at the hotels. We really don't think it's a solution.
Liberal
Marilyn Gladu Liberal Sarnia—Lambton—Bkejwanong, ON
I'm just about out of time.
Ms. Matheson, could you quickly talk about transitional housing and what that looks like?
Executive Director, Harmony House Shelter
I don't feel that transitional housing is appropriate for children, because they have been pushed from pillar to post already. We need third-stage housing, stabilized housing and supports for that supportive housing. They still need supports, and they still need trauma-informed counselling.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dominique Vien
Thank you to all four of you for making yourselves available today.
Welcome back, Ms. Matheson.
I will suspend the meeting for a few moments while we welcome the second panel of witnesses.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dominique Vien
I call the meeting back to order.
I would like to make a few comments for the benefit of witnesses and members.
Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking. For those participating by video conference, click on the microphone icon to activate your mike and please mute yourself when you are not speaking.
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I would like to remind witnesses that committee members may ask questions in either French or English. If you will need interpretation, please take a moment now to prepare your earpiece and select the listening channel you need so as not to waste precious seconds.
A reminder that all comments should be addressed through the chair. However, as you may have noticed, I don't take part in the discussions. I just stop them when the time is up.
I will now welcome our witnesses.
From Mercer Advocates Law Professional Corporation, we have Kirsten Mercer, lawyer and gender-based violence policy expert.
From the safe house and service hub for survivors of sex trafficking in York region, we have Carol Wildgoose, team lead.
Finally, from Women's Support Network of York Region, we have Dr. Jacqueline Benn-John, executive director.
Welcome to all.
We will begin the opening statements with Ms. Mercer.
The floor is yours for five minutes, Madame.
Kirsten Mercer Lawyer and Gender-Based Violence Policy Expert, Mercer Advocates Law Professional Corporation
Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee, for the opportunity to appear before you today. Also, thank you for the work that you're undertaking on this important topic.
My name is Kirsten Mercer. I'm a lawyer who practises in the field of human rights and gender justice, as well as in GBV policy, as we sometimes refer to it. I'm privileged to work with survivors, frontline service providers, antiviolence agencies, policy-makers and other experts in an effort to develop and advocate for systemic policy and program solutions that will bring us closer to a world without violence.
I have five points I'd like to share with the committee today, but I will speak to three of those points during my opening remarks. I would be happy to speak to any of the additional recommendations during questions. Some of them have already come up in testimony you've heard from my colleagues in this work.
My first point is to fix the funding structure for gender-based violence services in order to ensure adequacy for Canadians. In order for shelter services to be delivered effectively, these critical links in the architecture of our public and community safety systems must be adequately and sustainably funded.
In most, if not all, of the country, shelter funding is allocated backwards. Typically, shelters are provided with a fixed amount of funding on a per-bed basis, and that figure has usually failed to keep up with inflation and rising costs. This funding is not based on the current reality of what it actually costs to deliver emergency shelter services, much less what is required to deliver all of the other programming that is routinely delivered by shelters across the country.
As you have already heard from my colleagues who have appeared before you, most shelters in Canada consistently operate over capacity because they cannot bear to turn survivors away. However, the funding does not stretch far enough.
It has been many years since the allocation of funding was driven by an evidence-based, ground-up understanding of what it costs to properly deliver these services. These factors must be understood, and we must understand these services as core to public safety. They are being delivered to some of the most vulnerable members of our community. In many places, services are being funded, at least in part, through raffles, T-shirt sales and donations from members of the public. We can do better than that.
Funding for these vital services should be based in reality and on what it costs to do the job properly, not on outdated funding formulas. Our approach must start with the true cost of delivering services at the standard of adequacy that Canadians deserve, with allowances for the unique needs of rural and remote communities and for the cost of delivering fully accessible services, as well as with an ability to meet the language and cultural needs of all the people who need to access these services.
My second point is to support the leadership of the anti-gender-based violence movement. Beyond providing emergency and transitional housing services, many shelters are committed to working upstream to support violence and femicide prevention. They are engaging in community coordination and high-risk case management in their communities, along with other programs that are rooted in evidence-based practices to keep survivors safer. In many cases, this work is seen as ancillary. It's a nice-to-have, not a need-to-have, and it's funded that way. Many agencies do this work off the corners of their desks with little or no core funding support for this critical prevention work.
The organizations do it because they believe that we should be working at least as hard at preventing gender-based violence as we do at trying to keep survivors safer when they flee that violence. These workers are subject matter experts in gender-based violence, and they have the knowledge and experience around what we need to do in order to prevent it. They have to be afforded the resources to lead that prevention work in their communities.
My third point is that gender-based violence infrastructure is essential physical, human and social infrastructure. It's a critical part of the care economy. The gender-based violence workforce in Canada is a huge economic and wellness driver for both survivors and the gender-based violence workforce. With over 30,000 workers, it's a critical part of the care economy in this country. Those workers exist in every riding. Real gender-based violence prevention will help unlock vast economic capacity in Canada by freeing up literally billions of dollars that are being spent to deal with gender-based violence, both the impact on survivors and the cost of delivering services. The human and physical infrastructure of this sector is a critical part of what makes our communities safe.
Although people may not see these workers as visible pillars in their communities—
Conservative
Lawyer and Gender-Based Violence Policy Expert, Mercer Advocates Law Professional Corporation
That's okay. I was almost done.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dominique Vien
You're very kind. Thank you very much.
Ms. Wildgoose, you now have the floor for five minutes.
Carol Wildgoose Team Lead, Safe House and Service Hub for Survivors of Sex Trafficking in York Region
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.
For six years, I have had the privilege to work in a volunteer capacity as team lead with senior leadership of York Regional Police, 360°Kids, the Women's Support Network and Victim Support Services in York region to have a purpose-built safe house and service hub for survivors of sex trafficking constructed in York region.
I am here to share with you a first-hand experience of trying to build housing for an extremely vulnerable population experiencing gender-based violence, whose needs differ from those experiencing intimate partner violence and domestic violence. They are the literally hundreds of young girls and young women who are bought and sold every day in the conduct of sex trafficking. The reality is that in York region, in the 15-month period between January 1, 2025, to the first quarter of 2026, the aforementioned agencies supported over 360 survivors. All need specialized care because of having experienced extreme trauma from physical and sexual violence, emotional manipulation causing extreme mental health issues and substance use disorders resulting from coerced use of substances for the purposes of control. In some cases, survivors are tortured; Stockholm syndrome can also be involved.
Some survivors have children with their trafficker, with children used as yet another form of control. Survivors will not leave a trafficker without a safe place to go with their children. They need security and trauma-informed care delivered 24-7 in a small, specialized, safe-house environment by experienced professionals and professionals with lived experience. Experts recommend no more than six survivors housed in one setting.
Women's gender-based violence shelters are not equipped to care for survivors whose experiences and traumas are very different and very disturbing to their clients. In York region, there are only six beds for survivors operated by 360°Kids. These are restricted to women ages 16 to 26. There are zero crisis beds and zero new beds for those over the age of 26.
Note that SafeHope Home moved from Durham region to York region this year after fire destroyed their home last summer. While they are now located in York region, this is not new capacity. The math is very simple. There is an enormous need for specialized housing. Today, I am sharing the roadblocks we have experienced in securing funding from two levels of government for survivors. Despite six years of sustained work that resulted in all the required justified groundwork being completed, and despite securing the support of MPs, provincial cabinet ministers and regional council, there is still no approved capital funding for the critically needed safe house and service hub that would support 15 resident survivors and many more through the service hub.
One of the important messages I hope is received today regarding funding is that the unique needs of this population have not been recognized by government systems and departments. Thus, there are very few dollars allocated to housing specifically for trafficking victims. Examples of current federal and provincial housing funding application scoring questions or requirements include the cost per door, a need for funding partners, having the site already purchased and readied, etc.
As discussed, survivors need to be supported in small, home-like environments, and thus if the cost per door is considered, it will be high, and the safe house will not receive approved funding.
The Build Canada Homes and former CMHC chicken-and-egg challenge of needing partners and/or readied land before funding is approved is another roadblock. Without money, land cannot be purchased. I've secured $500,000 in private pledges, but these cannot be exercised without a government commitment.
Not only are girls, young women and children further harmed without a safe place to live, agencies providing support experience challenges in staff retention due to burnout. Social workers must currently deliver support with the most critical piece missing—that is, safe, supported housing.
Human trafficking as a crime is second only to the traffic of guns and drugs. Unlike a drug or a gun, a girl or young woman can be sold many times each day, and they are. Without anywhere safe to go, a survivor is at a very high risk of returning to a trafficking situation, and in many cases this can mean a lifetime of harm or even death.
If cost justification is needed, a study done at the University of Manitoba in 2007 demonstrates that by providing appropriate, timely support to survivors there is a cost saving to society of $1.7 million per survivor. That's in 2023 dollars.
This is not a partisan issue, nor is it solely a gender issue. This is an issue of our values as humans, truly owning that the worst of humanity is being demonstrated here in our country every day, when one human takes control of another using extreme violence and psychological manipulation—and then sells that victim for their own benefit.
Thank you.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dominique Vien
Thank you for providing us with this information. It's not very easy to hear things like that.
Dr. Benn-John, the floor is yours for five minutes.
Thank you.
Dr. Jacqueline Benn-John Executive Director, Women’s Support Network of York Region
Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women study.
My name is Dr. Jacqueline Benn-John and I am the executive director of the Women's Support Network of York Region. WSN was established in 1992, and it's the only community-based sexual violence support centre serving York region. It provides free and confidential support to women, trans women, youth and gender-diverse individuals impacted by sexual violence, including human trafficking.
Today, I want to highlight one critical issue: Housing insecurity, poverty and gender-based violence are deeply interconnected. A survey of 500 women and gender-diverse people experiencing homelessness across Canada conducted by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness found that 75% of respondents who were experiencing homelessness or housing needs identified themselves as survivors of gender-based violence.
Housing insecurity and poverty are drivers of gender-based violence and causes of it. Gender-based violence compels women and their children into situations in which they lose access to family and personal resources, including their own employment and financial resources. This pushes them deeper into poverty and housing insecurity. Further, nearly 80% report that unaffordable housing prevented them from leaving a violent situation. Many remain with, or return to, abusive partners, including traffickers, simply because they have nowhere else to go.
We see these realities every day in York region and across Ontario. Survivors are routinely turned away from shelters because there are no available beds. At the same time, women already in shelters cannot find affordable housing or are unable to meet the screening criteria to qualify for a lease. This creates a bottleneck that weakens the entire system intended to keep survivors safe.
To compound these challenges, survivors do not experience these barriers equally. Survivors who are indigenous, Black, racialized, newcomers, living with disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals or living in poverty often face additional barriers when seeking shelter and housing. Experiences of discrimination, racism, inaccessible services, language barriers, immigration concerns and a lack of culturally responsive supports can make it even more difficult to access safety and stable housing. As a result, those who are often at greater risk of violence are frequently those who face the greatest obstacles to finding safe places to live when fleeing from violence. Without safe housing options, leaving abuse becomes increasingly difficult and, in some cases, dangerous.
Safe housing is not simply a social support. It is a life-saving intervention. According to the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses' most recent femicide data, 79% of victims are killed inside or directly outside their residence. The Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability notes that “A woman is killed by her...partner, on average, once a week” in Canada.
At the same time, we know what works. We've been doing this work. Survivors demonstrate tremendous resilience. When they have access to stable housing and trauma-informed supports, they can heal, rebuild their lives and achieve long-term stability.
To strengthen Canada's response, we recommend four actions.
First, increase federal investment in affordable and supportive housing dedicated to individuals and families fleeing violence.
Second, expand the base funding of sexual assault centres, emergency shelters, transitional housing and second-stage housing programs to ensure that survivors can access safety when they need it.
Third, create dedicated housing pathways for survivors of sexual violence and human trafficking that prioritize safety, confidentiality and trauma-informed care. York region does not have a safe house for trafficked women, as you heard, and VAW shelters or homeless shelters cannot effectively address their unique needs.
Finally, engage sexual assault centres, shelters, housing providers and survivors themselves in designing and implementing housing solutions. Safe, stable and affordable housing is not only a housing issue. It's a violence prevention issue, a health issue and a human rights issue. No survivor should be forced to choose between homelessness and violence.
Thank you for your leadership and for the opportunity to contribute to this important study.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dominique Vien
Thank you, Madame.
We'll now go to questions from members.
Mrs. Roberts, you have the floor for six minutes.
Conservative
Anna Roberts Conservative King—Vaughan, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to all the witnesses. In my eyes, you are our heroes because the work you do will help save a life.
I'm going to start with Ms. Wildgoose.
As you know, I recently did an undercover investigation with York Regional Police. I have to admit, I learned a lot. It was very educational. It was sad, but educational.
I'm going to ask you first before I move on: Are the laws tough enough to ensure that we protect women, yes or no?
Team Lead, Safe House and Service Hub for Survivors of Sex Trafficking in York Region
No.
Lawyer and Gender-Based Violence Policy Expert, Mercer Advocates Law Professional Corporation
I'm a lawyer, so it's hard for me to answer with one word.
The gap that really needs the attention of this committee is less the law and more the implementation. Where we're falling down isn't so much the law on paper as it is the way it is being implemented, whether it's in the courts, on the ground or bringing resources to bear on these situations.
If I were to offer any words in terms of where it is most important to place this committee's attention, it wouldn't necessarily be on reforming specific laws as it would be on ensuring that those laws are being effectively implemented and that the resources are getting to the front lines, where they're needed.
Conservative
Anna Roberts Conservative King—Vaughan, ON
Dr. Benn-John, are the laws sufficient to protect survivors?
Executive Director, Women’s Support Network of York Region
They are absolutely not, but laws alone cannot protect survivors. As you've just heard, it's a concern with implementation. We need to look at how laws are applied in different jurisdictions. We have to address the root problem. This is a systemic issue that goes beyond policies and laws. Addressing the systemic issues is addressing poverty, discrimination and immigration—
Conservative
Anna Roberts Conservative King—Vaughan, ON
I'm sorry to cut you off, but I only have limited time. I do appreciate your response.
What really upset me during the undercover investigation was that within less than a minute of their posting on LeoList, as I believe it's called, the police officers had 100 requests. One of the requests was for someone younger than 13.
I met a mother in my office who was devastated. She doesn't believe that this government cares about women and survivors. Her daughter was groomed at the age of 15. By the time she found her five years later, they had to operate on her anal...and she's now on suicide watch. You know what the worst thing about it is? She was so afraid to go to court that the perpetrator got off.
When I ask the question about the law.... How can we continue to protect women? Violence against women has increased 76%.
We hear it time and time again. People go to jail; they get out, and they do the same thing. We have a housing issue. We have a safety issue.
Ms. Wildgoose, I know you have been an advocate in York region to ensure that we provide shelters, but again, there's a housing issue.
What can we do here on Parliament Hill to make sure the government knows and understands?
We need a few things. We need more shelters. We need more housing. We need to educate these perpetrators to make sure that they don't become repeat offenders.
Team Lead, Safe House and Service Hub for Survivors of Sex Trafficking in York Region
I'm sorry. What was the question?
Conservative
Anna Roberts Conservative King—Vaughan, ON
What do we need to do as parliamentarians to ensure that we provide sufficient funds for housing and sufficient educational funds to ensure that these perpetrators don't continue to violate others?
Team Lead, Safe House and Service Hub for Survivors of Sex Trafficking in York Region
As I mentioned when I was speaking, I just had conversations with Build Canada Homes, and several years ago I had a conversation with CMHC. Of course, there are always these things you have to have “in addition to”.
First of all, when it comes to some of these things, we need to take those caveats away. If we're really serious about doing this work, we need to make sure that it isn't that difficult to do it. I've actually been doing this for more than six years, but it has been six years with the group of people I just spoke to you about.
Second, we need to educate, and we need to do a really good job of educating. One group of people who need to be educated, if you're worried about the law and how it's applied, are judges, because you can be sure.... Imagine being raped, as a woman or a man, and they find who raped you, they go into court and you have to testify as the victim. You can imagine that you are clearly the victim in that setting, usually, when they finally press charges. However, in the instance of a sex-trafficking survivor, or a wife or an intimate partner—Jacqueline would be better able to speak to this—they use language in front of the judge such as “daddy”, “boyfriend” or whatever. To the judge, that sounds like, “Hey, you actually wanted to have that relationship”, when in fact, no, it was coercion. There were different things going on there.
Then, in regard to children.... When someone first came to me with this issue, victims services said, “We need to build safe houses.” I said, “Well, we can build safe houses till the cows come home, but if we are not educating our children...” They need to know. I'm really old. When I went to school, there was Elmer the Safety Elephant. You knew never to get into a car with anybody. We didn't couch that in...the proper way to speak to somebody in intimate—
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dominique Vien
I'm sorry to interrupt your absolutely incredible oratory. You've given us a lot of information, and I commend you for that. It pains me, but I have to interrupt you, madam.
Ms. Nguyen, the floor is yours for six minutes.