Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  Do I just start now? Do the 10 minutes start—

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  Good evening, and thank you for the opportunity to be here this evening. First of all, I'd like to acknowledge the Anishinaabe territory, which we all have the privilege of being on. I would also like to acknowledge the women who cannot be here because they currently are livi

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  Yes. In fact that is what we at the Canadian Women's Foundation, in our work, have expressed strongly. At the end of the day, it's about uncovering the causes and creating the solutions. Whatever mechanism will achieve this, one that involves women, that involves indigenous wom

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  There are multiple roles. Through the work of our national task force on human trafficking.... We in fact have the co-chair of the federal national action plan to combat human trafficking on our task force for that linkage. There are important roles for government to play from a

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  Already from our work in going across the country in our work specifically on trafficking, there are lots.... Almost in every large city in Canada, the women are starting to gather, starting at the grassroots level to come together to identify the solutions. I really think it's a

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  Poverty leaves women very vulnerable in many ways. It leaves them with not enough money to have a safe place to live. That's first and foremost. There's not enough money to provide for their kids. They feel they have no other choice but to get money sometimes in illegal ways. Tha

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  It's entirely along the continuum, from women having an opportunity for education and employment programs.... The Canadian Women's Foundation has made quite an investment in economic development projects for women who are rebuilding their lives from violence. Those are significan

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  Thank you.

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  That's a big question.

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  Trafficking and sexual exploitation is about gender, race, and class, and services need to be guided by a women-centred approach and a gender analysis of violence against women, so there are intersections between trafficking and prostitution. Trafficking, in its legal definitio

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  If I did this presentation in a month from now, I'd be able to answer that question on behalf of the Canadian Women's Foundation, because that is actually where we are currently. We are deciding what our recommendations are as a foundation after we go through everything. What w

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  Yes I can. Particularly for aboriginal women and girls, what we have seen across the country is a common theme of their not meeting the trafficking definition, and that means they have to be in fear for their safety. Aboriginal women oftentimes are not in fear for their safety be

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  That's a big question too. There are clear intersections with trafficking and missing and murdered aboriginal women. Not all missing and murdered women are trafficked or sexually exploited or involved in prostitution. Across Canada we find a clear intersection. There are without

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  I would just like to say that in terms of a profile of who are the young people who are being sexually exploited and trafficked, if you look at a province like Manitoba and at Tracia’s Trust and their statistics, 400 sexually exploited youth are currently on the streets in Winnip

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  The priority would be action. That was clearly the response of the Canadian Women's Foundation back in July. We need action. We need to know what. We need to uncover the causes and create the solutions. We need action items.