Expanding Safe Spaces in our Communities and Neighbourhoods

Expanding Safe Spaces in our Communities and Neighbourhoods

Thunder Bay, ON – On Tuesday, July 30th, 2024, the United Nations commemorates the 10th World Day Against Trafficking in Persons with the theme of No Child Left Behind. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, one in three victims of human trafficking globally is a child. In Canada, Ontario is known to be a hub for human trafficking, with Indigenous girls being disproportionately impacted and targeted for human trafficking and sexual exploitation in cities, communities, neighbourhoods, rural and remote areas across the province.

The impacts of colonization and its lasting intergenerational legacies have created the conditions for Indigenous girls to be targeted by human traffickers, including overrepresentation in child welfare and youth justice systems and experiences with mental health and/or addictions issues. The resource extraction industry exacerbates this issue by perpetuating the circumstances through which Indigenous women and girls experience heightened vulnerability to human trafficking and other forms of violence.

The Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA) has been and will continue to advocate at various international forums, including at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples for strong action to be taken to better ensure Indigenous women and girl’s safety and to uphold Indigenous women’s inherent rights. This includes the right to be safe from the threat of violence from human trafficking.

Through our years of supporting Indigenous women and communities in combating sexual exploitation, including our Courage for Change program, which is the largest Indigenous led anti-human trafficking program in Ontario and through the largest ever engagement with over 250 self-identified Indigenous survivors of human trafficking, which is detailed in our Journey to Safe Spaces report,  we have come to understand that one of the most effective preventative methods is to empower Indigenous survivors. When program and services adopt strengths-based approaches that affirm the inherent gifts and sacredness of Indigenous women and girls, we are better able walk alongside survivors on their healing journeys.

Indigenous women and their organizations continue to lead the way in addressing the violence against them, implementing their own solutions and programs with minimal resources, raising awareness and holding governments and communities to account. The violence against Indigenous women is more than a statistic. Indigenous women are the heart of our families, communities, and nations, and deserve to have futures where their sacred gifts are celebrated rather than exploited.

The first step to improving responses to human trafficking/sexual exploitation is to learn more about the conditions that cause it, the signs to look out for, and how to better understand and support survivors.

Together, let’s commit to upholding Indigenous women and girls’ human rights, safety, and dignity as we work alongside one another to end human trafficking.

On this World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, ONWA is calling on all levels of government, as well as law enforcement and service agencies to increase their efforts to strengthen prevention-based initiatives and ensure culturally grounded supports are available for Indigenous women and girl survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Indigenous women know what they need to be safe. It is time for Canadians and governments at all levels to listen and act. Indigenous women and girls’ lives depend on it.

For more information and media inquiries, contact: 
Andre Morriseau, Communications Manager
Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA)
Email: amorriseau@onwa.ca
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