BACKGROUND: Sexual human trafficking is a complex and often hidden crime and human rights violation that results in serious and long-term trauma for survivors. In Canada, 32% (1 in 3) children will experience physical or sexual abuse, or witness domestic violence before they reach adulthood (Victim Justice Network, 2017). The vast majority of women who experience this level of violent exploitation are Indigenous women and girls (Ontario Native Women’s Association, 2016).
BACKGROUND: Sexual human trafficking is a complex and often hidden crime and human rights violation thatresults in serious and long-term trauma for survivors. In Canada, 32% (1 in 3) children will experience physical or sexual abuse, or witness domestic violence before they reach adulthood (Victim Justice Network, 2017). The vast majority of women who experience this level of violent exploitation are Indigenous women and girls (Ontario Native Women’s Association, 2016). Ontario is a major centre for human trafficking accounting for more than two thirds of cases nationally (Minister of Community and Social Services, 2017). Trafficking for sexual exploitation is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world and 96% of victims are women and girls (Equality Now, 2017). Given that the average age for girls to be recruited in to sexual human trafficking is 13 to 14, and that trauma from this type of crime can lead to increased negative life outcomes, including a 6.1 times increased likelihood of attempting suicide (Victim Justice Network, 2017), it is vitally important to prevent and safeguard Canadians through prevention and education programs. These prevention strategies seek to avert injury, abuse or exploitation before it occurs and are part of what researchers refer to as a Primary Stage of Intervention (The Protect Coalition, n.d.). The Child Advocacy Centre Simcoe Muskoka [CACSM] is a non-profit organization whose mission involves a multi-disciplinary and child friendly approach to cases of child abuse and neglect. The model of service is designed to reduce stress and further trauma that is often associated with traditional child abuse investigations and prosecution proceedings, and to improve the effectiveness of response to children and youth who have experienced abuse, including sexual exploitation (CACSM, n.d.). Since opening in 2014, the CACSM has facilitated over 600 interviews to investigate child abuse and human trafficking cases in Simcoe County and Muskoka. According to the CACSM, their Abuse Prevention Coordinator has developed and implemented a program to educate students, parents, police officers, educators, and frontline workers in recognizing and preventing child sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and human trafficking that has helped to safeguard over 25,000 children (Divinski, 2017; CACSM, n.d.). There are eight Child Advocacy Centres with similar mandates currently operating across Ontario, but only two have Abuse Prevention Coordinators and strategies in place to combat abuse, including sexual human trafficking. Provincial funding for the Ontario Child Advocacy Centres is not guaranteed from year to year, and threatens the ongoing stability of these important resources (Child and Youth Advocacy Centres, 2018).
