Status of Women Committee on Sept. 23rd, 2026

[Kelly Tallon Franklin]

It's excellent work, but it was work that was never intended for them to do. In 2014, the original studies on human trafficking asked all the committees at all levels of government to treat it as a unilateral issue and not dump it in with gender-based violence to cause those who are working in gender-based violence to have fewer resources and be expected to do more. Hiatus House has experienced this.

[Kathy Borrelli, Conservative, Windsor—Tecumseh—Lakeshore, ON]

Gender-based violence is one of the number one crime situations in Windsor. I'm sure it's true in a lot of other—

[Kelly Tallon Franklin]

Absolutely.

[Kathy Borrelli, Conservative, Windsor—Tecumseh—Lakeshore, ON]

—urban areas, so rather than be critical of them—

[Kelly Tallon Franklin]

No, we're not critical.

[Kathy Borrelli, Conservative, Windsor—Tecumseh—Lakeshore, ON]

Okay. Thank you so much. That's great.

Let's just get to the nitty-gritty. This is our last meeting. I want to ask a question that can help us learn what to do. What steps can we take? Across Canada, in remote and urban neighbourhoods, what do you believe is required to ensure access to safe and stable housing for women? If you could make one recommendation to this committee arising from this study, what would you recommend?

[Kelly Tallon Franklin]

My one recommendation would be to make the housing suitable for the needs of the people you're trying to service. Ensure that it's transitional and consistent instead of having gaps and being piecemeal, which doesn't meet needs.

If you look at some of the reasons human trafficking was incorporated through the shelter system, there was already a build-in for them, being vendors of record, so it was easy to do payouts, get the money there and start the training. However, it didn't come with a lot of extra money. It didn't come with a lot of extra means.

The other thing is that if you start listening to what survivors are telling you about this from the perspective of domestic violence, interpersonal violence, gender-based violence and human trafficking, we know what the needs are. We've been making recommendations for a long time. If we take a look at all of the studies and all of the things that we've recommended in the past and start implementing them, it will be very helpful.

I was homeless until my brand new baby was three months old in 1988, and I'm now getting the same phone calls from girls that I used to make myself. That is abhorrent. That should not be happening.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

Thank you for that testimony, Ms. Tallon Franklin.

Ms. Nathan, it's your turn. You have the floor for six minutes.

[Juanita Nathan, Liberal, Pickering—Brooklin, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Through you, hello, Mitzie. How are you? It's great to see you here.

Thank you to both of the witnesses for being here today.

I wanted to ask you this, Mitzie, because of your past experience in the Ontario provincial government. Ontario is the only province that does not do housing. It lets the city or the region take care of housing.

In your new position, can you tell me a bit about what difficulties organizations or cities are facing because of this? What would be the advantage of provinces actually doing housing?

[Mitzie Hunter]

Thank you so much.

Through you, Madam Chair, it's really important that all levels play their part when it comes to housing. We talked about the different types of housing that are needed, such as the housing that is suitable for shelters and transitional housing of all types and in all areas, whether they're in large cities and urban settings or in our rural, remote and northern communities.

I didn't get a chance to say this in my opening statement, but I would very much ask for the committee's support.... Federal budget 2025 committed $1 billion to Build Canada Homes for transitional and supportive housing for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. For women, housing insecurity and gender-based violence are intertwined issues. We see that in the work we do. Not only does gender-based violence force women and their children out of their homes, but women without housing also experience higher rates of violence, with homeless women experiencing some of the highest rates.

It is our understanding, through the Minister of WAGE, Minister Valdez, that she is actively in conversation with the housing minister about applying the Build Canada Homes fund to address issues with women's shelters, as well as to transitional housing for GBV survivors. We encourage the committee to fully support this approach, and we would encourage every level of government to be involved.

When we have our shelters running over capacity—most of them are actually providing more space than they have bed space and they are funded to provide—it really shows you that this is a crisis situation and needs the coordination of all levels.

[Juanita Nathan, Liberal, Pickering—Brooklin, ON]

Thank you for that.

To follow up, are you seeing regional differences in access to shelter and transitional housing, particularly in rural, remote or northern communities? What are the community organizations telling you about that?

[Mitzie Hunter]

We definitely see that.

I was also going to share an example from Muskoka. It's in a rural area where shelters are full and money is given for a tent. That is what is offered.

It's a stark illustration that shelters are needed that are designed to meet the needs of certain populations, like older women who are leaving abusive situations and women who are precariously housed. Women and their children who experience disability are also some of the most vulnerable groups.

There is definitely a unique need for rural and remote communities, as well as northern communities, to have accessible shelter alternatives, particularly when women are experiencing gender-based violence or intimate partner violence.

[Juanita Nathan, Liberal, Pickering—Brooklin, ON]

This past summer, Minister Valdez announced the renewal of the national action plan to end gender-based violence, which is backed by an additional investment of $607.5 million over four years.

Do you support this renewal? How can the NAP be enhanced to address the needs of women, girls and 2LGBTQI+ individuals in need of shelter supports?

[Mitzie Hunter]

The Canadian Women's Foundation very much supports the national action plan to end gender-based violence, as well as the funding that is flowing to the provincial and territorial governments to implement the action plan.

It's very important that we see accountability for those resources within local communities and that we see those investments being made directly in programs and initiatives that are addressing the intimate partner violence, gender-based violence and sexual violence that we see. We know that sexual violence is the only violent crime in Canada that is on the rise, and that's something—

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

Thank you for the clarifications, Ms. Hunter. You will certainly have an opportunity to come back to it.

Ms. Larouche, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Ms. Hunter, thank you for being with us today. I was just taking notes as I was listening to you. However, for my first turn, I'll turn to Ms. Tallon Franklin.

Ms. Tallon Franklin, we have crossed paths in the past. One of the things we both champion is the fight against human trafficking. This is a cause that concerns us greatly.

You talked about your experience on the street with your child. For a while now, I've been talking about the fact that the issue of homelessness is still very much in the news. In Quebec, in September, we learned that a one-year-old child had been left alone, homeless, in an encampment in Montreal. The mother needed help. Your experience was in 1988, and it is still happening today, in 2026. This is deeply inhumane and unacceptable. It affects me a lot as a mother.

Obviously, there is a strong connection between escaping violence and the issue of poverty. We could also link it to the issue of trafficking victims. They become very vulnerable. There's a lot of talk about the need for women to leave an abusive situation. However, to do so, it isn't enough to walk through the door of a shelter; they also have to be able to recover and rebuild their lives afterwards. This is even more true for victims of trafficking.

Anyway, I'll let you finish what you were saying, because I'm not sure I grasped everything. I may have missed something in your answers. At the very end of your opening remarks, you talked about five proposals, but I noted four. I'll let you finish your remarks on the fifth proposal. Then I'll ask you my question.

[Kelly Tallon Franklin]

My fifth point is to strengthen coordination between child welfare, shelters, housing, and health and justice organizations and specialized human trafficking, sexual exploitation and IPV organizations, so that survivors are not repeatedly transferred between disconnected systems and do not experience a lack of best practices.

Thank you.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

The solution really has to be systemic and we have to work on a number of upstream and downstream aspects. Based on your experience, the issue of financial insecurity can also apply to women who are victims of violence, such as trafficking victims.

How can this financial insecurity and the inability to find housing push a woman to stay around her abusive spouse or the person who uses her for trafficking? To what extent does financial vulnerability have an impact?

What can be done to prevent that or help a woman rebuild her life? Do we need to offer more services? Where do we start?

[Kelly Tallon Franklin]

The study is on harms, risks and gaps, so the answer to your question is yes. It's all three: harms, risks and gaps. It's not just a matter of a living wage for women and support for them with their children. It has another twist in it when it comes to human trafficking.

I would say that one of the responses that we need to look at is the infrastructure. It's what housing actually looks like, what is available to women and the disparity in equity of access between men and women.

I continue to assist women. Courage for Freedom has assisted over 3,800 minor-age survivors, and the first thing we do is housing, but most of the things we've done around housing have not been within the system. Co-operation within the system takes four to six weeks. At that time, people are re-risking themselves by returning into their house, their home.

For those who are in human trafficking, there's also an additional measure. A lot of those who are in human trafficking suffer at the hands of a perpetrator and are forced to commit coerced crimes. That criminalization and victimization then put a woman at risk to be able to even apply.

The other thing is their coerced credit. A lot of times, a trafficker uses a victim survivor's credit, and they burn it. Even when somebody gets on their feet and they're ready to transition into a shelter, stage two housing or RGI—rent-geared-to-income housing—they do not qualify, because their credit is upside down. The Province of Ontario has done something remarkable about that, and it would be recommended for every province. It is to reduce coerced debt, especially of women.

I just had a call a day ago from a woman who's fleeing violence. I know from her story that she has not identified as a human trafficking survivor. She doesn't even know that she is, and if she goes to a shelter, chances are they will not be able to flag it right away, get her appropriate care and keep her child safe. One of the things that traffickers do is use children. Making sure not only that women are safe in the shelters but that the children are safe too is very important.

I know you're hard on human trafficking, so thank you for your question.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

Thank you for those insights, Ms. Tallon Franklin.

Mrs. DeRidder, the floor is yours for five minutes.

[Kelly DeRidder, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and through you, thank you, Kelly, for being here today. Thank you for sharing your story and being so open about your own story. I as well shared mine and my path to recovery as an addict. In that world, we know that addiction also leads to human trafficking and vulnerability and everything surrounding it.

There are a couple of things that you talked about today that I would like to focus on. Moving forward, hopefully we'll see some change with the funding models with the current government.

The first is transitional housing, which you spoke about. I have a motion right now in the human resources, skills and development committee, and a piece of that motion is asking for transitional housing for exactly this. It's for people who need the help but would not be going directly to a shelter. It's so they can go into a safe home where they can start rebuilding their lives and getting back on their feet with their children and be in a safe space.

My question to you is this: In your experience, how do you think the lack of safe housing increases the risk and vulnerability to human trafficking and sexual exploitation?

[Kelly Tallon Franklin]

First, thank you for your question and your candidness about your own experiences. I think they're not our “stories”; they're actually lived experiences. I just champion everybody to use that phrase. They're not “fairy tales”. They actually happen to us, as women and girls. What I would say is that, for those who are involved in human trafficking, some of them believe they're there by choice, yet they're not.

You have a window. I just finished training across the province in multiple children's aid societies and communities. The thing is, we have to be cognizant about what's happening to know what the responses are. We have to understand the language that human trafficking survivors speak, what their needs are and that the needs are different for gender-based violence victim survivors.

It is different. When we lump it all together, we make them survivors of either-or, not one or the other. Again, to the shelter executive directors who are on my speed-dial, this is not a criticism. Rather, we are weighing in to support you because you can't possibly meet all those needs. A human trafficking survivor responds differently to programming. They respond differently to therapies. They respond differently to all kinds of things, and if we are not immediately getting them into the places they need to be safe.... “Emergent response” does not mean you tell somebody, “You have to apply,” and two weeks later, “We'll consider you,” and, “Where's your money coming from to pay the base needs? Are you on OW or another form of a different provincial payment?” We have to stop that nonsense.

Then, also, really look at the flexibility. One of the great studies that came out from our recommendations was from the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking. They have five mark points that say, “You need to remove some of the barriers to human trafficking survivors even in applying to get into the shelter.” There is a bias against human trafficking survivors, or women who were involved in domestic violence and perpetrated it against another woman through their partner. Those kinds of things are biases against women and girls, that they are forced to suffer in criminal acts. Then we actually are shopping...for whether we'll take them into the shelter. Shame on us.

We have to put the lines down. We have to build the infrastructure. We have to have the transitional pathways in place. We shouldn't take somebody off the street and say, “In two years we're going to be able to transition you out,” where we have no pathway. Then, when they apply for rent geared to income, they don't qualify.

For those in the municipality, they won't observe the priority protocols and the letters that we.... I know a young girl who is 23 and has two children, who is fighting for her life right now. We're going to have to move her out of province because there's nothing available to help her, even with a priority letter and with her being at school full-time. This is what I deal with every day.

[Kelly DeRidder, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Thank you so much for such an in-depth.... This is everything that we need to hear, discuss and talk about to make change.

Thank you for that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

Thank you both, Mrs. DeRidder and Ms. Tallon Franklin, for your testimony and your trust.

Ms. Gladu, the floor is yours for five minutes.

[Marilyn Gladu, Liberal, Sarnia—Lambton—Bkejwanong, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Welcome to our witnesses.

Let's start with Kelly Tallon Franklin. I just want to thank you for your courage. You've helped human trafficking victims and survivors across the country and definitely in my riding, so thank you for that. You talked about the recommendations for the government, that they should recognize the specialized need for housing, establish the standards of practice for human trafficking survivors, provide funding for training in wraparound services, address the housing continuum and strengthen the coordination. Could you talk for a minute about this specialized need? What are the elements that housing appropriate for people who are coming out of human trafficking would have?