Public Safety Canada Announces Funding for Project to Raise Awareness of Human Trafficking

PETERBOROUGH, Ontario, March 17 -- Public Safety Canada issued the following news release on March 15, 2021:

Human trafficking is a heinous crime that devastates victims, survivors, their families, communities and society as a whole. It also disproportionately affects women and girls, as well as vulnerable and marginalized individuals. The Government of Canada is committed to ending human trafficking in all its forms, including sexual exploitation and forced labour.

Today, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, the Honourable Bill Blair, and the Minister for Women and Gender Equality, the Honourable Maryam Monsef, announced almost $300,000 over four years to Fleming College for their project entitled Sex Trafficking Awareness Visuals and Training Materials Targeting Oppressed Female-Identified Young Persons. This funding is made available under the Contribution Program to Combat Serious and Organized Crime.

The objective of this project is to decrease the number of young people in Eastern Ontario who will fall victim to sex trafficking. Individuals most at risk of being trafficked include female-identified youth who may also be Indigenous, Black, Trans, and/or from care systems.

Fleming College will achieve this objective by developing training materials and powerful visuals informed by survivors of sex trafficking to raise awareness of human trafficking and dismantle common myths, like where victims are from and how they fall victim to this crime. Awareness materials will be made available in English, French, Anishinaabemowin, Ojibway, Chinese, Arabic and Punjabi.

Fleming College will work closely with project partners like the Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre, Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre and Niijkiwendidaa Anishnaabekwewag Services Circle, to ensure all aspects of the project are trauma-sensitive, healing-centred, and culturally relevant.

Quotes

"The Government of Canada is proud to support Fleming College in empowering survivors of sex trafficking and raising awareness of this heinous crime among female-identified youth. Through projects like this one, we are working together to build a safer and more resilient Canada, where all people are protected from human trafficking and its harms."

The Honourable Bill Blair, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

"Human trafficking is an abhorrent form of gender-based violence, and our government is taking strong action to end it. I was pleased to announce this federal funding to Fleming College for their innovative project to raise awareness of human trafficking. Informed by lived experiences, this project will develop valuable resources to help keep at-risk youth safe from human trafficking."

The Honourable Maryam Monsef, Minister for Women and Gender Equality

"This project is deeply important to Fleming, our students and our community. We want to empower survivors, dismantle myths, and prevent sex trafficking of individuals who identify as female and other young persons. With our partners, we will create a powerful and innovative tool to combat this deeply-rooted, and often hidden, crime. The Fleming community is grateful to the federal government for their support on this important issue."

Maureen Adamson, President, Fleming College

Quick facts

* In September 2019, the Government of Canada launched a comprehensive National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking that brings together federal efforts and is supported by an investment of $57.22 million over five years and $10.28 million ongoing.

* This builds on previous investments of $14.51 million over five years, and $2.89 million per year to establish the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline, which launched in May 2019, as well as ongoing work across the Government of Canada to combat human trafficking.

* Testimony from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls has highlighted strong links between human trafficking and the disproportionately high rates of violence against Indigenous women and girls, noting that the extent of human trafficking and victimization of Indigenous women is grossly under-reported.

* In 2020, Public Safety Canada launched a call for proposals for organizations working to prevent and address human trafficking and support at-risk populations and survivors. Through this call, $8.4 million is being made available for 20 projects that work to prevent and address human trafficking and support survivors.