Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender in Human Trafficking in Alberta: An Environmental Scan

March 2015

Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender in Human Trafficking in Alberta: An Environmental Scan

Prepared by:

Dr. Julie Kaye

Assistant Professor of Sociology Director of Community Engaged Research The King’s University

Research Advisor, ACT Alberta

Research Assistants:

Alisa Tukkimaki, MSW

Tanya Barber, MA

Meagan Vriend

Sarah James

Prepared for

Government of Alberta Ministry of Human Services

The views expressed herein are those of the authors or study participants and do not necessarily reflect those of the Government of Alberta or Alberta Human Services.

March 2015

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

List of Figures and Boxes

Executive Summary ...... 1

1. Background ...... 6

2. Defining Human Trafficking in Canada ...... 10

2.1 Canadian Legal Definitions of Human Trafficking ...... 12

3. Human Trafficking in Alberta: Contributing Structural and Social Factors ..... 15

4. Environmental Scan ...... 24

5. Findings and Analysis ...... 25

5.1 Human Trafficking Cases Identified by Respondents ...... 25

5.2 Services for Trafficked Persons in Alberta ...... 29

5.3 Missing Services and Barriers for Trafficked Persons in Alberta ...... 42

5.4 Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender ...... 47

6. Future Research and Recommendations ...... 52

References ...... 55

Appendix A: Matrix of human trafficking locations, ACT Alberta Data ...... 63

Appendix B: Type of Trafficker, ACT Alberta Data ...... 64

Appendix C: Research Instrument, Over-the-Phone Interview Guide ...... 65

Appendix D: Documented Human Trafficking Cases in Alberta ...... 67

Acknowledgements

This project is funded by Alberta Human Services. The project owes a debt of gratitude to the 62 respondents who took time to speak with the research team and share from their collective experiences. The research team is also grateful for the support and critical insights provided by Andrea Burkhart, the Executive Director of ACT Alberta and for the efforts of Karen McCrae, Provincial Program Coordinator at ACT Alberta, for documenting the most recent ACT Alberta statistics in an accessible format.

List of Figures and Boxes

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Figure 1: ACT – Alberta Service Provision Protocol Flow Chart Model 9

Figure 2: UN Protocol Definition (source: ACT Alberta) 11

Box 1. Canadian Criminal Code Definition of Trafficking in Persons, Sections 14 279.01-04

Figure 3: Percent of respondents who indicated they had encountered cases of 26 human trafficking or elements of the UN Protocol definition of human trafficking

Figure 4: Age of trafficked persons as cited by participants 27

Figure 5: Ethnicity of victims cited by participants 27

Figure 6: Activity of trafficking cited by participants. 28

Figure 7: Means of trafficking as cited by participants. 29

Figure 8: Purpose of trafficking as cited by participants. 29

Figure 9: What services do you or can you offer a trafficked person? 30

Figure 10: Can you provide services for individuals trafficked for the purpose 33 of sexual exploitation?

Figure 11: Can you provide services to migrant women who have been 33 trafficked?

Figure 12. Number of other services identified for trafficking persons 35

Figure 13: What services do you think are missing for trafficked persons? 35

Figure 14. Is your organization equipped to address the needs of trafficked 37 persons? Why or why not?

Figure 15. What services do you think are missing for trafficked persons? 42

Executive Summary

The National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking suggests that socially and economically marginalized persons – especially Aboriginal, migrant, and new immigrant women and girls – face heightened vulnerabilities associated with trafficking. In Alberta, service providers, law enforcement, and government agencies identify that international trafficking (to Canada) and internal trafficking (within Canada) is occurring in the province. In particular, using the definition of trafficking provided in the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, 50% (31 out of 62) of respondents in this study confirmed that they had encountered trafficking cases in the province. Prior to March 2015, 77% of individuals assisted by the Action Coalition on Human Trafficking (ACT) Alberta with significant elements of trafficking were female and 57% of foreign nationals with significant elements of trafficking assisted by ACT Alberta arrived through a temporary foreign worker (TFW) program.

The goal of this environmental scan is to provide a baseline assessment of what we currently know, what questions have been asked, what answers have been uncovered, what questions remain unanswered, what services exist, what gaps exist, and what recommendations can be made for moving forward. Over-the-phone interviews were conducted in December 2014 and January 2015 with frontline support agencies, social service organizations, law enforcement and government agencies. In total, 62 over-the-phone interviews were completed. The focus was on urban contexts where some awareness and/or response to trafficking had been established through prior education or involvement on the issue, including Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, Brooks, Calgary, and Lethbridge.

The interview questions were open ended and used as a conversational guide to explore the broad goals of this study (See Appendix C for the Research Instrument, Over-the-Phone Interview Guide). The primary focus of the over-the-phone interviews was on questions pertaining to human trafficking in relation to intersections of race, class, and gender. In particular, in keeping with the goals set out by the provincial funder, the interviews centered on questions about identified experiences of sex trafficking as it affects migrant women. However, the interviews were open ended and did not exclude conversations about varying forms of trafficking identified in Alberta, including internal and international labour trafficking, organ trafficking, and combined labour and sex trafficking.

The study points to the need for focused and sustained attention on the root causes that produce and perpetuate vulnerabilities to trafficking and facilitate an environment where exploitative practices can flourish. In particular, this requires a broad approach to trafficking that prioritizes a human rights framework and is rooted in knowledge of the systemic and social factors underpinning trafficking and related forms of violence and exploitation. Trafficking, from this perspective, cannot be addressed apart from other systems of inequality, such as poverty, gender- based violence, discrimination, migrant rights, sex worker rights, and the rights of Aboriginal persons in Canada.

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At the same time, responses to trafficking must be careful not to divert attention and resources away from related social issues that require examination and response in their own right. In particular, although there remains little consensus about the extent, nature, or definition of human trafficking, responses should avoid conflating trafficking with other complex social challenges that might intersect with, but are not parallel to, human trafficking: sexual exploitation, missing and murdered women, labour exploitation, undocumented and precarious status migration, and transnational crime. Each of these areas warrants attention apart from human trafficking, while trafficking (alongside related issues) points attention to structural and systemic inequalities that facilitate varying forms of abuse and exploitation. As Hunt (2008) argues in relation to the experiences of missing and murdered Aboriginal women, “we must look at the big picture to see the less visible factors facing our women, youth, and communities.”

With this in mind, the report identifies the following recommendations that should be considered in formulating responses to trafficking in Alberta:

1) Adopt a broad, rights-based framework that prioritizes the rights and self-determination of women o Collaborations with organizations that address sex worker and migrant sex worker rights are critical to allow for a more clear representation of sex workers and the identification of human trafficking in sex industries o Barrier free access to housing, shelter, and other services are necessary

2) Avoid conflating trafficking with related, complex social issues o Critically examine the effects of anti-trafficking discussions in Alberta and the perspectives of migrant women, sex workers (including Aboriginal sex workers), and migrant and sex worker rights advocates to develop a more nuanced understanding of trafficking in the province o Examine anti-trafficking campaigns and awareness efforts to avoid inadvertently blaming victimized individuals for being “at risk,” while ignoring social and structural barriers facing women

3) Improve collaboration between sectors while remaining attentive to differences of power, resources, and ideology in cross-sector collaborations o Collaborative efforts require sustained funding and support to produce effective outcomes o Organizations participating in collaborations require sustained funding to support their day-to-day activities in addition to the collaborative pursuits o Overt reliance on evidence-based research and analysis to inform partnerships

4) Ensure adequate training of law enforcement and formal social serving agencies on the structural and social barriers facing trafficked women o Training should include culturally sensitive awareness, historical recognition of the legacies of colonization, ongoing awareness of the effects of contemporary development practices, and consideration of the role of law enforcement, criminal justice systems, and formal social services in producing and maintaining

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structural inequalities faced by Aboriginal women and migrant women with precarious status o Training and awareness of systemic inequality produced through intergenerational abuse associated with residential schooling in Canada o Acknowledgment of fear and mistrust of law enforcement and other interveners worsened by instances of abuse and systemic racism, discrimination, and injustice in criminal justice systems o Reduce barriers for marginalized individuals and trafficked persons to access and actualize safety and protection

5) Support community-based research and community-designed response mechanisms that are not dependent on formalized social and enforcement structures o This is particularly important for responding to trafficking in remote and Aboriginal communities o Requires support for community safety plans that do not depend on increased criminalization or blame “at risk” individuals, but rather draw attention to social and structural barriers o Adopt a broader lens than trafficking-specific plans to address the structural and social factors and violence that create vulnerabilities to trafficking and other forms of exploitation o Requires continuous commitment to, and emphasis on, self-determination

This study further identifies that low-skill and precarious status migrants, in particular, face multiple and intersecting challenges in a context of structural, social, and economic constraint. In particular, migrants with precarious status risk stigmatization, deportation, loss of financial livelihood, loss of accommodation, and other forms of insecurity in order to report experiences of trafficking and other forms of exploitation. The risk of job loss and potential deportation is further exacerbated for low-skill migrant workers constrained by the dependency of families and governments relying on their labour in the form of remittance payments. In light of this, the following recommendations and areas for future research require consideration in order to formalize human trafficking responses in the province and reduce barriers faced by migrant women:

6) Advocate and provide greater opportunities for low-skilled migrants to obtain permanent, less precarious status in Canada o The value of work provided by low-skill migrant workers in the service sector economy of Alberta should not be undermined by temporary status that restricts the ability of migrants to actualize their rights in the province

7) Examine ways to reduce the barriers faced by migrants with precarious and undocumented status o Consider implementing a Sanctuary Cities model in municipalities across the province and ideas from No one is Illegal at the provincial level whereby service providers and first responders are restricted from asking about a person’s legal status or refusing service based on status

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8) Examine the role and practice of third party recruitment agencies in recruiting low-skill temporary foreign workers and live-in caregivers

9) Address restricted cross-sector communication regarding definitional discrepancies to reduce barriers faced by precarious status and undocumented migrants and to promote more effective cross-sector collaboration o More open lines of communication are needed between law enforcement and key government agencies (such as Canada Border Service Agency and Citizenship and Immigration Canada) with social support agencies that identify and provide services to trafficked persons

Another significant challenge identified by this environmental scan and previous research on human trafficking in Alberta is the overall lack of capacity to address human trafficking as it overlaps with and extends beyond existing services in the province. As this study highlights, the most common service that respondents indicated they offer trafficked persons is providing referrals. In total, 41 out of 62 respondents (66%) stated that referrals was a service, in many cases the only service, they offer trafficked persons in Alberta (see Figure 9). In light of the significant role played by referrals in responses to human trafficking and the limited capacity of the social service sector, the following recommendations and future research should be addressed in formulating Alberta’s response:

10) Examine the pathways of referrals in service provision for trafficked persons to ensure trafficked individuals are not falling through service gaps or being caught in a cycle of referrals o Are trafficked persons receiving adequate supports in an efficient manner? o Are trafficked persons re-victimized and potentially re-traumatized by repeatedly having to share their experiences to multiple service agencies throughout the referral process? o Are the pathways of referrals hampering criminal justice responses by making the victimized individual’s experience less likely to hold weight in a criminal justice proceeding?

11) Examine the funding structure for social serving agencies in the province o Funding competitions inhibit collaboration o Social agencies require sustainable, predictable funding structures to meet the long term needs of varying complex and overlapping social issues, including human trafficking

12) Increase the capacity of social serving agencies o A need for greater capacity was particularly identified in the areas of long-term shelter and housing, long-term mental health supports, language and translation services, and supports for actualizing migrant rights in the province o Given the varying nature of trafficking experiences, it is not advised that trafficking specific shelters and mental health supports be established; rather, that capacity be increased for service providers already offering supports in these areas

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o Specialized training and protocols for social serving agencies identifying trafficking in the province and practical cross-sector assessment tools that can ensure definitional consistency

13) With the aim of increasing the capacity of existing services and to avoid duplication of services, trafficking responses benefit from a centralized coordinating body o Coordination should be supported by caseworkers available to navigate the existing services and advocate on behalf of victimized persons relying on social systems o Coordinators should provide specialized training to law enforcement, government, and nongovernment partners and establish protocols for responding to cases of human trafficking o A database of social serving agencies, their mandates, and their capacity to respond to trafficking and other intersecting areas of violence and/or exploitation should be developed

14) Include safety protocols for agencies working with trafficked persons in formalized trafficking response mechanisms

Overall, the study points to the need for ongoing and sustained efforts to reduce the barriers faced by migrant women with precarious status and other marginalized and stigmatized women in the province as well as directed attention towards enhancing social services and support systems for women in Alberta. As this report details, trafficking cannot be address in isolation of other social and systemic challenges faced by migrant women, Aboriginal women, and women involved in the low-skill service economy and sex industries in the province.

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1. Background

The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (hereafter, UN Protocol) provided a universal, though contested, framework for understanding human trafficking that underpins national anti-trafficking policies. In Canada, representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), Status of Women Canada (SWC), and Justice Canada were active in the negotiations that led to the adoption of the Trafficking Protocol (Oxman-Martinez, Hanley, and Gomez 2005). Canada signed the Protocol in December 2000. Two years later, Canada ratified the protocol by criminalizing trafficking in persons in Section 118 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) in 2002 and Section 279 of the Criminal Code in 2005.

Since this time, Canada has released the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking. The 2012 plan stresses the importance of working with provinces and territories to deliver effective services that respond to the needs of trafficked persons. While awareness and public discussions about human trafficking in Canada have continuously increased since the adoption of the UN Protocol, there remains insufficient knowledge about how to formulate and where to situate preventative strategies and counter trafficking responses within provincial mandates.

In Alberta, Changing Together a Centre for Immigrant Women conducted an environmental scan in 2007 entitled “Trafficking of Women and Girls to Canada.” The scan, which targeted social services, law enforcement, healthcare, faith-based, and immigration and settlement agencies in Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg, highlighted that 45.5% of respondents were aware of cases of human trafficking in their city (Trompetter 2007). The scan identified a need for specific education and training for service providers who may come into contact with trafficked persons.

As a result, ACT (Action Coalition on Human Trafficking) Alberta was initiated in 2008 to “increase knowledge and awareness on human trafficking; advocate for effective rights based responses; build capacity of all involved stakeholders; and lead and foster collaboration for joint action against human trafficking” (ACT 2012). With the aim of increasing collaboration between nongovernment organizations, social serving agencies, healthcare providers, law enforcement, and government agencies, ACT Alberta is working to establish Alberta protocols on human trafficking in the core areas outlined by the United Nations: prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships.

ACT Alberta receives funding from the Government of Alberta: Justice and Solicitor General, Victims of Crime Fund,1 Human Services, and the Community Initiatives Program. Currently, the Government of Canada supports ACT Alberta via project-based and time-limited operational funding through Department of Justice Victims Fund and Status of Women Canada. Previous projects have received support from the Civil Forfeiture Office and the Human Rights and Multiculturalism Fund at the Government of Alberta. ACT Alberta is a non-profit organization

1 The Alberta Victims of Crime Fund emerged from the Victims of Crime Act. The fund is supported by the surcharges on provincial fines and surcharges imposed by the courts under the Criminal Code of Canada (Alberta Justice and Solicitor General 1995-2012).

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mandated with establishing a coordinated response network in collaboration with agencies throughout the province.

With Chapters in Red Deer, Calgary, and Edmonton, ACT works with law enforcement, government agencies, and nongovernment organizations to identify and respond to human trafficking in Alberta by providing local and interprovincial victim assistance, education and awareness training, protocol development and maintenance, and research on human trafficking in Alberta. ACT Alberta aims to maintain a “human rights based” and “victim centered” approach. This means that the rights, needs, and experiences of trafficked persons should remain at the center of the networked response model (see Figure 1 for the ACT Alberta Service Provision Protocol Flow Chart Model) and should be prioritized in the establishment of a provincial trafficking protocol.

In collaboration with ACT Alberta, Ambrose University, and Mount Royal University, Kaye, Quarterman, and Winterdyk conducted research in Calgary, Alberta in 2011. The study, which represents the first Canadian attempt to document how a major urban centre is addressing human trafficking, surveyed 53 respondents and conducted five focus group discussions during the fall of 2011 with non-government, government, and law enforcement representatives. Consistent with the 2007 environmental scan, the study identifies that 44.4% of respondents indicate their agency had come into contact with trafficked persons. Out of these, 41% were internal cases of trafficking and 25% were international cases.

The study concludes with recommendations for strengthening collaborative cross-sector responses established by the coordinated ACT Alberta network “to ensure continued involvement of a variety of stakeholders from multiple sectors of the response” (Quarterman, Kaye, Winterdyk, 2011: 45). Notwithstanding the importance of cross-sector collaboration, the authors further suggest that such responses recognize and negotiate the constraints posed by specialized mandates, unequal capacity and resources available to partnering agencies and organizations, as well as recognizing and challenging power-dynamics, such as restricted funding sources and competition for scarce resources within and between collaborating sectors.

In addition to Alberta-based research, ACT Alberta also collects data when they provide support for individuals victimized by trafficking. The most recent statistics represent individuals with confirmed or significant elements of human trafficking that have had some form of contact with ACT prior to March 2015. The following percentages are based on 91 cases where significant elements of trafficking were identified. However, it should be noted, these cases do not represent the total number of cases referred to ACT Alberta or where services were provided by ACT. Since its inception, ACT has received a total of 208 referrals. Of these referrals, 91 were instances of trafficking or had significant elements of trafficking. According to ACT figures, 77% of individuals assisted by ACT with significant elements of trafficking were female and the average age was 26 years (slightly higher among males, at 28 years).2

Of the cases identified, the types of trafficking represented include sex trafficking (57%), labour trafficking (34%), labour/sex trafficking (8%), and organ trafficking (1%) (see Appendix A for

2 In terms of gender, there was only information available for 80% of the cases.

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the types of traffickers identified amongst cases with significant elements of trafficking). In addition, 56% of the cases were internal trafficking and 44% international. The place of origin (by continent) for victimized individuals included Canada (47%), Asia (including Middle East) (38%), Africa (7%), North America (4%), and other (3%) (See Appendix B for a matrix of where trafficked persons were trafficked to and from). Of the individuals whose country of origin is Canada, 21% were Aboriginal.

ACT Alberta also documented the immigration status of cases whose origin was not Canada, 57% were Temporary Foreign Workers, 14% Visitor Visas, 14% no status, and 5% student visas, 5% permanent residents, 2% Canadian citizen, 2% refugee claimant, and 2% work permit. Additionally, ACT Alberta identified the locations from which individuals were referred to ACT Alberta: 40% from Edmonton, 20% from Calgary, 13% from British Columbia, 9% from Red Deer, 9% from Alberta other, 7% from Canada other, 2% from other countries. Last, ACT Alberta reports substantial increases in the number of cases referred to them, which doubled in 2014. These increases have been ongoing for the past few years and are attributed to heightened levels of education in the province. In light of this, such increases are anticipated to continue for the coming years.

Building on previous research and data in Alberta and commissioned by Alberta Human Services, this environmental scan aims to inform policymakers in Alberta of the existing responses and services, the limitations of responses in Alberta, and recommendations for more effective prevention and response in the province. By collecting this information, the scan should enable policymakers to consider how trafficking responses relate to other provincial frameworks designed to address significant human rights abuses and complex forms of social marginalization, such as sexual violence, domestic violence, poverty and inequality. With this in mind, the scan relies on a gender-based violence framework that considers intersections of race, class, and gender in perpetuating vulnerabilities to trafficking.

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Figure 1: ACT – Alberta Service Provision Protocol Flow Chart Model

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2. Defining Human Trafficking

“I’m wondering if we share the same definition of human trafficking.” – Frontline Worker (cited in Quarterman, Kaye, Winterdyk, 2011: 2).

Although a number of agencies indicate they have come into contact with trafficking cases in Alberta, there remains a significant lack of consensus about what constitutes human trafficking among individuals in non-government, government, and law enforcement sectors. As Kaye, Winterdyk, and Quarterman (2014: 2) argue, “there is little consensus about the nature, extent, or definition of human trafficking, which at various times has been understood as, and often conflated with, prostitution, labour exploitation, irregular migration, and transnational crime.”3 Lack of consensus regarding the definition of trafficking creates challenges for understanding and documenting trafficking experiences and limits the establishment of coordinated responses.

In addition to varied interpretations of what constitutes human trafficking in Alberta, research identifies an overreliance on criminal justice and legal frameworks of response.4 Both law enforcement and government representatives in Alberta highlight that trafficked persons are falling outside the realm of criminal justice approaches. In particular, to ratify the UN Protocol, Canada established a crime-focused response that emphasizes border security, immigration control, and enforcement-based initiatives, “yet paid limited attention to the development of provisions to address the rights and experiences of trafficked persons” (Kaye, Winterdyk, Quarterman 2014: 3). Along these lines, a significant portion of the dedicated $25 million budget to the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking is directed towards criminal justice based initiatives.5

To maintain focus on the rights of trafficked persons and others affected by anti-trafficking legislation, this environmental scan relies on the UN Protocol definition of human trafficking. Although Canada defines human trafficking through legislation in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA section 118) and the Canadian Criminal Code (section 279.01-04), the UN Protocol definition provides a broader lens for examining the structural and social factors that constitute human trafficking. The UN Protocol definition is as follows:

(a) “Trafficking in persons” shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of

3 Also see, for example, Oxman-Martinez, Martinez, and Hanley 2001; Sanghera 2005; Roots 2013. 4 For examples see Oxman-Martinez, Martinez, and Hanley 2001; Lepp 2002; Jeffrey 2007; Langevin 2007; Lee 2010. 5 The Government of Canada (2012) National Action Plan includes just over $2 million for a dedicated enforcement team (RCMP and CBSA), $1.3 million for a human trafficking national coordination centre (RCMP), $1.6 million for regional coordination and awareness (RCMP), $445,000 for border service officer training and awareness (CBSA), $96,000 for an anti-crime capacity building program (DFAIT). This can be compared to the $500,000 allocated to support victim services.

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abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs; The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article shall be irrelevant where any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) have been used;

(b) The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered “trafficking in persons” even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article;

(c) “Child” shall mean any person under eighteen years of age (UNODC).

For clarity, the definition can be broken into three separate elements: the action (what is done), the means (how it is done), and the purpose (why it is done). Common interpretations of the UN definition assert that at least one of the elements from each of the three criteria has to be met for a case to be considered human trafficking. Specifically, the act can involve the transfer, recruitment, receipt, transportation, and/or harbouring of an individual, while the means can involve the abduction, force, threat/coercion, abuse of power, and/or fraud/deception. Finally, the purpose of the act is for servitude, forced labour, sexual exploitation, removal of organs, and/or slavery or slavery like practices (see Figure 2 for a visual depiction of the UN Protocol definition). It is important to note, in the case of children, the means of trafficking are deemed irrelevant.

Figure 2: UN Protocol Definition (source: ACT Alberta)

The UN Protocol diverges from previous trafficking conventions, such as the 1933 International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and the 1949 Convention for the

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Suppression of Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of Prostitution of Others. Earlier conventions aligned with the morality laws of the day by criminalizing acts that “gratify the passions of another person” and specifically targeting procurement into sex industries where women were deemed to be “enticed or led away even with her consent … for immoral purposes.” Women’s consent, in this context, was considered irrelevant and fallible.

The 2000 UN Protocol broadens the definition by connecting trafficking to multiple labour sites and to the use of threat, force, or coercion (Doezema 2002). In other words, the Protocol upholds the notion of consent for women who are not threatened, forced, or coerced. At the same time, the Protocol includes stipulations about the abuse of “a position of vulnerability,” which refers to “any situation in which the person involved has no real and acceptable alternative but to submit to the abuse involved” (UN Interpretive Footnote in Jordan 2002: 4). This stipulation suggests trafficking can occur in the absence of overt coercion to include persons who have “no culturally acceptable or legal means to refuse and so they ‘submit’ to the situation” (Jordan 2002: 8). With this in mind, the emphasis remains on trafficking to a variety of labour sites, which can include, but is not restricted to hotel and restaurant, caregiving, construction, and sex industries. By criminalizing the “exploitation of the prostitution of others,” rather than all forms of prostitution, the 2000 UN Protocol leaves space for national government autonomy over prostitution legislation and how this legislation will relate to legal definitions of trafficking.

While beyond the scope of this report, it is worth noting the Canadian government adopted legislation in December 2014 that criminalizes the purchase of sexual services and restricts the sale of such services through the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act. Although the precise relationship between this new legislation and trafficking legislations remain untested by the courts, the goal of Harper’s Conservative government was to redefine prostitution as a form of sexual exploitation (Public Safety Canada 2015). At the same time, many have contested the new legislation arguing that it reproduces many of the statutes struck down by the Supreme Court in December 2013. For example, 190 legal experts voiced their concern that the new legislation is in likely violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.6

2. 1 Canadian Legal Definitions of Human Trafficking

Under the Canadian Criminal Code definition of human trafficking (see Box 1 for Sections 279.01-04 of the Criminal Code), the means are not a required consideration in human trafficking cases involving children or adults in Canada. This approach was adopted because Canada already has provisions in the Criminal Code for addressing the offences covered under the “means” section: threat, force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power, or bribes. From this perspective, the overarching focus of the Canadian Criminal Code trafficking in persons offence is on the action and the purpose, specifically on proving the occurrence of exploitation, which suggests a broader definition of the offence than that set by the international standard.

However, the Criminal Code definition includes an implicit form of means that has proven even

6 See Ivison, John (2014).

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more restrictive than the UN Protocol definition. Specifically, as Kaye and Hastie (2015) highlight, the necessity of demonstrating a perceived threat to the “safety” of the trafficked persons legislatively ties trafficking to physical or bodily harm and, in doing so, limits the inclusion of other forms of coercion, such as threats of job loss, deportation, and financial insecurity. As a result, “criminal justice authorities perceive significant difficulty in applying the offence to situations of non-sexual labour trafficking” (Kaye and Hastie 2015: 1). As one law enforcement representative suggests: “[The Criminal Code definition] is so unbelievably onerous, unfortunately, so onerous that we can’t lay charges to actually create the case law that defines the Criminal Code” (cited in Kaye, Winterdyk, Quarterman 2012: 17).

Conversely, in cases involving sex industries, Roots (2013) reveals how the vague nature of the Criminal Code trafficking legislation creates challenges in distinguishing trafficking from other offences, such as procurement. Since the fear of safety standard is well established in procurement cases, the distinction between trafficking and procurement is blurred. This blurring results in placing the “discretionary power of interpretation in the hands of individual law enforcement officials to evaluate the situation based on their own moral compass” (Roots 2013: 23).

On the one hand, Roots (2013) argues, this leads to violations of the rights of sex workers and creates greater insecurity for individuals involved, willingly or not, in sex industries. For example, Clancey, Khushrushahi, and Ham (2014: 7) argue that conflating trafficking with sex work or sexual exploitation “ignores significant structural factors and root causes of human trafficking such as gender inequality, poverty, increasingly stringent immigration policies and, in Canada among Indigenous girls and women, colonialism.” As Benoit et al.’s (2014) detailed examination of sex industries in Canada highlights, “much of the vulnerability experienced by some sex workers has little or nothing to do with sex work.” Thus, examinations of trafficking in sex industries requires recognition of the heterogeneous nature of experiences represented by individuals working in sex industries and a broad lens that considers how a variety of factors intersect and constrain opportunities available to women in general and women in sex industries in particular.

In a rights-based approach towards anti-trafficking efforts, collaborations with organizations that address sex worker and migrant sex worker rights, such as Supporting Women’s Alternatives Network in Vancouver and similar organizations in Alberta that are focused on self- determination in sex work and migrant sex work, are critical because such partnerships allow for a more clear representation of sex workers and the identification of human trafficking in sex industries. Similarly, Roots (2013) argues that conflating trafficking and procurement offences in Canada results in cases of human trafficking going undetected by law enforcement and reinforces a climate of distrust between individuals in sex industries and law enforcement. As will be discussed, this is especially restrictive when considering compound structural and social factors where trafficked persons risk stigmatization, deportation, loss of financial livelihood, and other forms of insecurity when reporting experiences of exploitation.

However, as Timoshkina and McDonald (2011) identify, coordination on trafficking responses requires navigating potentially irreconcilable differences in interests, ideological perspectives,

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and attitudes between and among migrant women, immigration systems, law enforcement, service providers, varying feminist factions, ethnic communities, and the general public.

Box 1. Canadian Criminal Code Definition of Trafficking in Persons, Sections 279.01-04

279.01 (1) Every person who recruits, transports, transfers, receives, holds, conceals or harbours a person, or exercises control, direction or influence over the movements of a person, for the purpose of exploiting them or facilitating their exploitation is guilty of an indictable offence and liable:

(a) to imprisonment for life if they kidnap, commit an aggravated assault or aggravated sexual assault against, or cause death to, the victim during the commission of the offence; (b) to imprisonment for a term of not more than fourteen years in any other case.

(2) No consent to the activity that forms the subject matter of a charge under subsection (1) is valid.

279.011 (1) Every person who recruits, transports, transfers, receives, holds, conceals or harbours a person under the age of eighteen years, or exercises control, direction or influence over the movements of a person under the age of eighteen years, for the purpose of exploiting them or facilitating their exploitation is guilty of an indictable offence and liable:

(a) to imprisonment for life and to a minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of six years if they kidnap, commit an aggravated assault or aggravated sexual assault against, or cause death to, the victim during the commission of the offence; (b) or to imprisonment for a term of not more than fourteen years and to a minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of five years, in any other case.

(2) No consent to the activity that forms the subject matter of a charge under subsection (1) is valid.

279.02 Every person who receives a financial or other material benefit, knowing that it results from the commission of an offence under subsection

279.01(1) or 279.011(1), is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than ten years.

279.03 Every person who, for the purpose of committing or facilitating an offence under subsection 279.01(1) or 279.011(1), conceals, removes, withholds or destroys any travel document that belongs to another person or any document that establishes or purports to establish another person’s identity or immigration status is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years, whether or not the document is of Canadian origin or is authentic.

279.04 For the purposes of sections 279.01 to 279.03, a person exploits another person if they:

(a) cause them to provide, or offer to provide, labour or a service by engaging in conduct that, in all the circumstances, could reasonably be expected to cause the other person to believe that their safety or the safety of a person known to them would be threatened if they failed to provide, or offer to provide, the labour or service; or (b) cause them, by means of deception or the use or threat of force or of any other form of coercion, to have an organ or tissue removed.

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In addition to the Criminal Code, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) criminalized trafficking in persons under Section 118, which “prohibits deliberately organizing the entry into Canada of one or more persons through the use of force, threats, fraud, deception or any other form of coercion.” Although some law enforcement representatives suggest this legislation is less onerous than the Criminal Code, the IRPA only applies to immigration violations. Yet border controls are demonstrably ineffective mechanisms for protecting the rights of migrants in general and trafficked persons in particular. For example, Hanley, Oxman- Martinez, Lacroix, and Gal (2006) draw attention to the relationship between “precarious status,” legislated under IRPA, and broader experiences labour trafficking. Since IRPA offers no provisions for individuals victimized by human trafficking, trafficked persons are left vulnerable to criminalization, deportation, or enduring the abusive situation (Oxman-Martinez, Hanley, and Gomez 2005). With these limitations in mind, reflecting on human trafficking from a broader human rights perspective, encourages a framework that will not only protect trafficked individuals, but other migrants experiencing exploitation as well.

3. Human Trafficking in Alberta: Contributing Structural and Social Factors

A study by ACT Alberta and collaborates was conducted in 2014 in order to gather a more clear understanding of human trafficking in Edmonton, Alberta. Funded by Status of Women Canada, the study specifically focuses on sex trafficking of women and girls by conducting a needs assessment that implemented an adapted version of Public Safety Canada’s Local Safety Audit Guide: To Prevent Trafficking in Persons and Related Exploitation (Government of Canada 2013). In total, 48 individuals participated in semi-structured interviews or focus groups. Broadly, preliminary results from the study identified the root causes of sex trafficking as colonialism, patriarchy (and paternalism), and capitalism, which jointly provide a context where structural inequalities thrive and vulnerabilities to trafficking are produced and sustained.

According to the study, this systemic infrastructure of inequality sustains the conditions where vulnerabilities to sex trafficking are fostered. Based on responses of the study participants, the research identifies the following vulnerabilities: “inequality, poverty, violence, childhood/previous trauma, discrimination, lack of liveable wages, lack of safe migration options, dehumanization/commodification of females, absentee or neglectful caregivers, entitlement and opportunity to exploit women or girls, lack of access to mental health services, isolation from healthy relationships and supports of friends and family, lack of awareness of sex trafficking and the grooming processes, lack of affordable housing, transient populations, and normalization of abusive relationships” (ACT Alberta 2014). These vulnerabilities “foster the conditions” whereby trafficking can occur and the likelihood of victimization increases if individuals are faced with multiple vulnerabilities. In addition to vulnerabilities, social factors, referred to as compounding factors, include: ethnicity, social status, citizenship status, age, and gender. The study concludes that intersections of structural factors, vulnerabilities, and social factors, increase the risk of human trafficking among women and girls.

The role attributed to broad structural factors are well supported in the existing literature on human trafficking that is attentive to globalization, women’s rights, and migration. Global economic arrangements require vast movements of people, both documented and undocumented,

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for a number of reasons: displacement from rural agricultural communities, poverty, rising unemployment in urban centers, wage decreases, dislocation through armed conflict, and rising awareness of alternate and better options elsewhere. Moreover, global economic restructuring policies – including structural adjustment programs, international trade agreements, the relocation of foreign firms to developing countries, the growing importance of export-oriented industries, and diminutive social welfare and service programs – disproportionately affect women of the Global South. This has been termed the “feminization of poverty.”7 This is because women comprise the primary source of labour for the exporting industries of textile, garment, toy, and shoe production, as well as electronic factories, agribusinesses, and domestic services (Kempadoo 1998). In this context, Sassen (2002) argues that immigrant and migrant women form a new “serving class” in global cities because the pressures of managerial and professional work in these cities entail increasing dependence on domestic assistance alongside a growing service sector economy (Sassen 2002: 94). Sharma (2006) further highlights that programs emphasizing precarious and temporary immigration status legitimize marginalization, exclusion, and the reproduction of inequality.

According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2009) female migrants constitute almost half of all migrants and “most legal migrants in the more developed regions originate from the less developed regions” of the world. Increasingly, households, communities, and states depend on the labour of women, both internally and internationally, what Sassen (2002) describes as the “feminization of survival.”8 A key example of this form of dependency is the growing reliance on remittances, not only to supplement household incomes, but also to help finance public infrastructure, such as roads and schools, and supplement public revenues.

In Canada and especially Alberta, the socio-economic context that framed the demand for low- skill temporary foreign worker (TFW) programs – namely, the perceived need for low cost, flexible, service-oriented labour – creates a situation conducive to the exploitation of low-skilled migrant workers who often depend on the employment to maintain remittance payments and the employer for legal status in the country. Notably, of the foreign national cases identified by ACT Alberta of foreign nationals exhibiting significant elements of trafficking, 57% arrived in Canada through a TFW program.

There are three categories within the low-skilled sector of temporary foreign work that are prone to abuses. These three categories are, low-skill pilot project, Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP), and the Live-in Caregiver (LCP) program (CCR 2014). A law enforcement representative, cited in Kaye (2013), depicts the type of exploitation that can arise in these programs:

[TFWs] come for a job, the job doesn't exist. ‘Okay go here, you know you are now working without a permit, we are going to tell immigration if you stop.’ So what will happen is that the people who have status are paid one wage and the people who

7 The “feminization of poverty” was initially coined by Diane Pearce (1978). Also see Kempadoo (1998); Sassen (2002). 8 See Chant (2006) for a discussion of the feminization of responsibility and obligation.

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don't have status are paid another wage. And that just seems to be common knowledge and accepted practice. People tolerate it and put up with it because they can still get enough money and send money to support their family back home (as cited in Kaye 2013).

The statement “that just seems to be common knowledge and accepted practice” aligns with findings of a study in Alberta examining the working and living conditions of migrant workers in the province. The report concludes: “There is still widespread occurrence of employers abusing foreign workers’ rights at work” (Byl 2009: 1).

As Kaye (2013) further identifies, one of the primary constraints frontline workers and law enforcement representatives – particularly from Alberta and British Columbia – identify when describing their perception of the relationship between low-skilled TFWs and human trafficking, is the ability of TFWs to report their experiences of labour trafficking as well as other forms of labour exploitation. Specifically, the restrictive nature of work permits for low-skill migrant workers and fraudulent recruitment by some employers and third-party recruitment agencies in Canada facilitates exploitation by placing the worker in legal violation of their visa requirements. In the words of a law enforcement representative:

There are so many temporary foreign workers in the province of Alberta and they are exploited quite heavily … In Alberta, in particular, it’s dealing with foreign workers and them being brought into the country under fraudulent pretences and being exploited … in hotel, fast food industry, live-in caregiver industry, construction. … [As soon as they are in violation of the Act] they can be deported and removed, just by working in some place you are not supposed to be working: ‘we’ll tell immigration if you don’t [comply]’ (as cited in Kaye 2013).

TFWs victimized through the use of fraud, threats, or coercion have been criminalized and deported because they are in violation of the TFW work permit requirements. As a result, migrant workers facing exploitation are reluctant to report abuse. As a frontline worker describes:

[Temporary foreign workers] would choose not to file a complaint for fear of being sent home … Even the foreign workers who come to our door and admit that they are being abused … Because they are afraid of losing their job … they would rather endure it (as cited in Kaye 2013).

The risk of job loss and potential deportation is further exacerbated for low-skill TFWs who are constrained by the dependency of families and governments relying on their labour in the form of remittance payments, leading some to persist in exploitative work situations rather than report possible experiences of labour trafficking. For instance, in Kaye (2013) a frontline worker from Alberta details a case where despite explicit abuse – including both sexual assault and labour violations – by an employer, the low-skill TFW refused to report the abuse until it compromised her ability to provide remittances:

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She only came to complain because she was not receiving her salary and so we probed further and came to know that she was being sexually abused by her employer. But then had the employer not been paying, she is a cleaner, so she cleans maybe one office to another, so that’s only when she told us that she was sexually abused, but she told us that pay is more important to her because by that she will be able to send money home (as cited in Kaye 2013).

As the frontline worker suggests, the socio-economic constraints of maintaining remittance payments prevented this TFW from reporting multiple forms of abuse perpetrated by her employer, until the exploitation threatened to compromise her ability to make the remittances. Another issue this excerpt points to is the reality that individuals who are victimized by labour trafficking may face other forms of abuse, such as sexual and physical assault at the hands of their trafficker (Hanley, Oxman-Martinez, Lacroix and Gal 2006). Given the constraints of potential job loss or deportation, situations of sexual or physical abuse alongside other forms of labour exploitation have the potential of going largely undocumented. In the specific case discussed above, when the TFW was unable to recover the pay, she left the employer; however, since her status in Canada was dependent on the labour market opinion obtained by this employer, she was subsequently deported:

[She] was sent home because there was no other labour market opinion for her. So if she doesn’t have any labour market opinion, she can’t have a work permit. If she doesn’t have the work permit, then she doesn’t have the legal status to stay here, so she had to leave the country (frontline worker as cited in Kaye 2013).

In this context, the legal constraints of the TFW program have been seen to create a context of insecurity for migrant workers who are tied to specific employers and are constrained by their need to make remittance payments. In addition to the risk of job loss and the associated risk of being unable to provide remittance payments, frontline workers indicate that TFWs in the Live- in Caregiver Program (LCP) face additional forms of insecurity by combining precarious immigration status with a compulsory requirement to live-in the home of the employer.

The LCP was formed in 1992 with the stated aim of meeting labour demands for private, live-in care for children, persons with disabilities, and the elderly (Macklin 1992). The program is a highly racialized and gendered form of temporary migrant labour with over 90% of the arrivals in the program coming from the Philippines and 95% of the principal applicants comprising women (Kelly et al. 2011). Given the global structural inequalities discussed above that underpin such programs, alongside being highly gendered and racialized, Kaye (2013) argues the program results in the de-skilling of migrant women’s labour, documented experiences of exploitation in de-skilled positions, and socio-economic constraints and dependencies limiting the migrant women’s capacity to leave exploitative employers. The following excerpt from a law enforcement representative cited in Kaye (2013) summarizes these combined insecurities:

The live-in caregiver program that's a little bit different because they have to have some specialized skill sets to qualify for the program … So they come here being promised a job, they get here and the job no longer exists or never existed in the first place. They have paid huge fees to come here to the job placement agency to get

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these jobs. They get here and are told, ‘well this job no longer exists, but we can send you here.’ And they are aware that they are in violation of their status but you know they have just paid X number of dollars to get here and have often left their family behind, send money home to their parents, husbands, children and support everybody back home. So they go in the situation and they are told, ‘oh we will sort out the paperwork.’ And the paperwork never gets sorted out. And if they question it, then it's, ‘oh we will let immigration know that you are in violation.’ And people have complained and then inland enforcement receives anonymous tips that these people are working illegally in the casino, and are in violation of their status or have done this or that. And especially in the live-in caregiver program, Alberta Employment and Immigration and Labour Standards, they have been very involved because people are working more hours in a day than they are supposed to, not being paid what they should be, are working 30 out of 31 days. Not given time off. And there is a lot of cultural pressure as well, with the live-in caregiver program.

While third-party recruiters are no longer legal in Canada, there is little regulation of such recruitment and false job promises or conditions that place live-in caregivers and other low- skilled migrant workers in violation of immigration standards are reported to be used as means to exploit migrant labour in Canada. Understanding the role of third-party recruiters in Alberta is a key area were further research is needed.

It is also worth noting that such exploitation occurs despite legal contracts being reviewed by Employment and Social Development Canada (formerly Human Resources and Skills Development Canada). As a provincial government representative from British Columbia cited in Kaye (2013) points out:

[Live-in caregivers] are brought in quite legitimately with work permits and valid contracts, and then [the contracts] just being thrown out the window. Terrible situations, passports thrown away or locked up, long long hours in horrendous living conditions. So women in particular being exploited.

The LCP also creates additional forms of insecurity for women because the caregivers are not only dependent on the employer for employment and legal status, but also for shelter in a foreign country. Recognizing these contributing structural and social factors is particularly important in the context of understanding human trafficking as it occurs in Alberta, which has a substantial dependence on migrant labour, especially in the areas of low and semi-skilled, temporary labour. Such constraints continue to increase, as fewer live-in caregivers are able to obtain permanent status and are thereby perceived as more “disposable” by employers.

In 2004, 938 live-in caregivers became permanent residents in Canada, yet following policy changes, in 2012, only 43 obtained permanent status and in 2013 this declined further to 35. Conversely, the number of live-in caregivers in Alberta has risen from 2,545 in 2005 to 3,775 in 2012. Similarly, low-skilled TFWs on the whole have risen in Alberta from 140 in 2005 to 665 in 2012 (Citizenship and Immigration Canada 2013). Such increases occur in a context where migrant workers are disproportionally arrested and deported, compared to employers that rely on the labour of undocumented migrants (Barrett 2011). In light of this, responses to trafficking

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should advocate and provide greater opportunities for low-skilled migrants to obtain permanent, less precarious status in Canada.

Migrant sex workers, in particular, face multiple and intersecting challenges, including criminalization, stigmatization, precarious immigration status, language and cultural barriers, isolation, lack of information and/or education, and limited opportunities to exit the sex industry (Timoshkina and McDonald 2009). In the context of structural, social, and economic constraint, McDonald and Timoshkina (2007) reveal the implications of criminal justice centered responses:

The arrests, detention, and deportation of trafficked sex workers are usually wrapped in the language of protection and benevolence, as the law enforcement and immigration authorities believe to be ‘rescuing’ women from their captors and ‘safely’ returning them home (Lepp 2003). In so doing, they completely disregard the socioeconomic conditions found in the women’s countries of origin that led to their migration in the first place, and ignore the fact that women do not necessarily want to go back, thus patronizing and objectifying them as passive victims … Returned trafficked women and girls are confronted with ostracism, domestic violence, lack of economic opportunities, and social discrimination, and many simply fall back into the trafficking cycle as a result.

Nonetheless, service provision to migrant sex workers remains fragmented and sporadic with poor cooperation between service providers, law enforcement, and sex workers and sex worker rights advocates.

Despite these broad structural and social realities, in the name of anti-trafficking, a number of Western countries, including Canada, have adopted policies that dissuade legal migratory routes, fail to protect the rights of migrant workers, and construct situations of vulnerability to exploitation. In particular, anti-trafficking efforts have been used to inhibit the migration of women based on the assumption that women who are migrating are at risk of becoming victims of trafficking.9 In such situations, anti-trafficking efforts remove the autonomy of migrating women. As Sanghera (2007: ix) notes, “so long as we persist in denying migrant and trafficked women agency, intelligence and decision-making abilities, they will be routinely imaged and used as mute victims … through which others can assert their moral and political agendas.” At the same time, as Oxman-Martinez, Martinez, and Hanley (2001: 300) highlight, when individuals choose to remain in an exploitative situation as a result of political, economic, family, or structural (e.g. fear of deportation) pressures, “this does not negate the fact that their human rights are being violated.”

Another uniquely challenging trafficking situation that some include under the definition of trafficking involves the facilitation of forced marriages or mail order brides. When trafficking

9 For example, the Immigration Minister and Human Resources Minister of Canada restricted exotic dancers working under the TFW program from having their visas renewed. Framed as a measure of protecting vulnerable women from exploitation, the restrictions neglect the racialized and gendered nature of the TFW program and the structural inequalities underpinning such programs (see, Satzewich 1991; Sharma 2006; Hanley, Shragge, Rivard, and Koo 2012).

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occurs in relation to marriage, there are significant barriers to identify such cases because it occurs in the context of a domestic setting. In particular, from a criminal justice standpoint, this can create difficulties in proving fear of safety and can leave victimized individuals in a situation of having their consent, and character, attacked in criminal justice proceedings. In particular, the man seeking a bride may take actions to prove his interest in the bride and her family through potential visits to the country of origin as well as by paying for certain expenses that the bride may have (Hanley, Oxman-Martinez, Lacroix and Gal 2006). Such expenses can, in turn, be used to later suggest implied consent and to undermine suggestions that her safety was perceived to be in jeopardy. Thus, Hanley, Oxman-Martinez, Lacroix and Gal (2006: 90-91) note:

In these cases the notion of transaction is at the core of the definition … It is important to include forced marriage and mail-order brides as a form of labour trafficking as they may, in some cases, be transported and exploited in private homes for their reproductive labour as wives, mothers and maids.

By including a broadened understanding of labour, which includes reproductive labour, these authors argue that authorities can emphasize the coercive nature of the acts, rather than the specific labour site where the exploitation occurs. Although Hanley, Oxman-Martinez, Lacroix and Gal (2006) suggest forced marriage within Canada particularly affects Eastern European and Filipina women, there are presently no documented cases that have undergone criminal justice proceedings.

In addition to the vulnerabilities and constraints experienced by migrant women, Indigenous women in Canada are also specifically noted as having greater risk of trafficking than non- Aboriginal women (Boyer and Kampouris 2014). In a study commissioned by the Department of Justice, Oxman-Martinez, Lacroix, and Hanley (2005: iv) identify that marginalized socio- economic circumstances underpin “the fact that a majority of people trafficked within Canada are Aboriginal women and children.” In 2012, both an RCMP report and the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking specifically label Aboriginal women and girls as having heightened risk of internal trafficking, highlighting that 90% of cases in the criminal justice system in Canada are internal versus international.

As discussed by the ACT Alberta needs assessment, noted above, colonialism also plays a significant contributing role in the vulnerabilities that underpin human trafficking. As Boyer and Kampouris (2014: 2) explain, “the effects of colonialism are seen through physical and sexual abuse experienced in the residential school system, dispossession of identity and culture via the Indian Act, violence, racism and the marginalization of Aboriginal women.” Hunt (2008: 1-2) further highlights the longstanding relationship between human trafficking and colonialism in Canada:

Aboriginal people’s relationship to trafficking is as long as our history of colonial contact. First Nations have been forcibly moved from our traditional lands on to government-created reserves, our children forcibly removed from our communities to attend residential school … forced relocation, migration and labour are not unknown to us.

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Similarly, as a frontline worker from an Indigenous-led organization, cited in Kaye (2013), states:

When you have very vulnerable populations that have been so profoundly impacted by the intersections of class, race, gender and sometimes other forms of sexuality, you create conditions for the commodification of humans … it’s an old story, not a new one. Like I think indigenous women have been trafficked right from the beginning of colonization.

Although Aboriginal women traditionally enjoyed more “respect, power and autonomy” than their European counterparts, contemporary Aboriginal women are specifically targeted for acts of violence and sexual exploitation based on their race, class, and gender within settler society (Green 2007: 22; Amnesty International 2004). Structural inequalities, alongside racism and sexism faced by Indigenous women, foster “cultural attitudes” that incite physical, sexual, verbal, and psychological violence against Aboriginal women (Acoose 1995: 55).

In Canada, Aboriginal women are three times more likely to experience violent victimization than non-Aboriginal women (Statistics Canada 2011), whether by strangers, acquaintances, or within a domestic context. The majority – over three-quarters (76%) of non-spousal violence – of incidents against Aboriginal women were not reported to police and even more 79% went unreported to a formal victim service. This points to a significant limitation of the data collected in this study and other research into human trafficking in Alberta, which relies on data collected from respondents in social services, law enforcement, and others. It also highlights the importance of community-based research and community-designed response mechanisms that are not dependent on formalized social and enforcement structures.

Boyer and Kampouris’ (2014: 3) examination of trafficking of Aboriginal women and girls in Canada further identifies the “generalized and specific mistrust of the police by many vulnerable Aboriginal women and girls as a problem that complicated the law enforcement response to the human trafficking of Aboriginal people.” Frontline support organizations similarly indicate that “the police were generally perceived as being racist, reporting negative experiences, which resulted in a strong general mistrust of the justice system” (Boyer and Kampouris 2014: 17). As the report highlights, Indigenous women and girls involved in sex industries, in particular, report experiencing derogatory or degrading interactions with police and the criminal justice system. The following excerpt from Boyer and Kampouris (2014: 17-18) details such abuse:

Many from this group [individuals with experiential involvement in sex industries] provided personal anecdotes illustrating the reason for their distrust, with one recalling, “Yes. I complained because I was raped by a trick and beat up. The police officer said: ‘Whores are meant to be fucking raped.’ I have never had any dealing with [police] since then.” Another subject matter expert shared: “I was raped, beaten and thrown out of a car by a bad date. I went home, changed clothes and was back on the street within an hour. I didn't report it to police because I thought "I chose this life, so I deserved it.” When I was asked by a police officer what happened, I said I was raped, and he replied: “Oh, well, you chose this life. And if I ever see you again, I'll arrest you.” Sometimes girls think it comes with the territory. They don’t realize

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that any rape is rape; whether you have a briefcase, going into a law office, or if you're standing on the street corner.”

There are other study participants that cited stories of police officers using their position of authority to coerce sex workers into providing them with unpaid sexual services and police officers acting as frequent customers for sexual services. A significant number of study participants reporting that it was a common experience to have had police officers make inappropriate comments, often consisting of sexual innuendos, that the study participants considered derogatory or degrading when the officer was interacting with Aboriginal women and girls who were involved with sex work; sex work that the officer may, or may not, have known might constitute a case of human trafficking.

The language used when citing specific police responses in the report evokes cultural attitudes that permit and excuse ongoing sexual, physical, and verbal violence against Indigenous women. Notwithstanding significant mistrust of police and formal social agencies, Boyer and Kampouris (2014: 18) note that some frontline support agencies report positive interactions with police, especially specific officers who “undertook sensitive outreach with the community of sex workers.” This points to the importance of incorporating culturally sensitive awareness and historical recognition of the role of law enforcement in a settler-colonial context when formulating responses to human trafficking and other types of exploitation disproportionately affecting Aboriginal women and girls.

Overall, the experiences of exploitation and abuse faced by Indigenous women have been met with indifference by the state and society alike in Canada (Sikka 2009). Such indifference is clearly demonstrated by, but not restricted to, the British Columbia case of serial killer Robert Pickton. The case accounts for 16 of the over 1,200 missing and murdered Aboriginal women in the country (Pearce 2013). While the families of the victimized women, such as those of Maggie de Vries or Janet Henry, have indicated that individual police officers were helpful and worked diligently to find the women, the police and the city as a whole were slow to acknowledge the larger pattern of missing women and mobilize a coordinated investigation (De Vries 2003; Amnesty International 2004; Oppal 2012).

According to Sikka (2009: 1), in the area of human trafficking, such indifference has resulted in “a lack of services available to address the trafficking of Aboriginal women and girls and a general apathy from the criminal justice system towards the types of trafficking they face.” Sikka (2009) further argues that historical representations of Aboriginal women as “sexually available” alongside their current overrepresentation in the visible sex trade industry contributes to their experiences falling outside the realm of an “ideal” trafficking “victim” (also see Sethi 2007).

Notwithstanding the disproportionate levels of violence experienced by Aboriginal women and the reality that such violence can potentially be linked to trafficking, Hunt (2008) warns that advocates should be careful not to conflate missing and murdered women and girls with sexual exploitation or trafficking. As Hunt (2008: 6) highlights, “it is not enough to look at the sexual exploitation issues in relation to violence and trafficking, but we must look at the big picture to

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see the less visible factors facing our women, youth, and communities.” Aboriginal women in Northern, remote, and rural communities, for instance, face different social and structural factors than Aboriginal women and girls in urban contexts.

Further, such conflations also have the potential to criminalize Aboriginal women’s experiences, especially inter-generational forms of exploitation, in a context where Aboriginal women are severely overrepresented in the corrections system. Specifically, in 2010, Aboriginal women comprised one out of every three women in federal incarceration (Public Safety Canada 2012). Aboriginal women are currently the fastest growing population of incarcerated persons in Canada, with no sign of decline. All this reinforces the importance of developing community- based and community-specific plans that take into account the broader structural and social factors facing Aboriginal women.

In light of recurring gendered, racial, national, and class-based hierarchies that perpetuate social inequalities and vulnerabilities, Popova (2006: 71) argues for a rights based approach that involves focusing on policies “aimed at strengthening women’s rights and combating gender discrimination.” This approach, she suggests, would be far more effective than focusing on policies that pertain to illegal immigration, transnational crime, and sex work. Specifically, Popova (2006: 71-72) argues, “the main objective is to highlight the need for different research on trafficking as a social, gender, and collective identity problem.” To focus prevention on our collective role in fostering vulnerabilities, responses to trafficking require coordinated efforts that intersect with a variety of areas of social marginalization.

4. Environmental Scan

The goal of this environmental scan is to identify what we currently know about human trafficking in Alberta, particularly as it intersects with broader notions of gender-based violence informed by intersections of race, class, and gender. The study aims to uncover what questions have been asked, what answers have been uncovered, what questions remain unanswered, what services exist, what gaps exist, and what recommendations we can make for moving forward.

In addition to existing understandings of human trafficking in Alberta and the contributing structural and social factors discussed in the previous section, this scan engaged frontline support agencies, service organizations, law enforcement, and government agencies in over-the-phone interviews from December 2014 to January 2015. In total, 62 over-the-phone interviews were completed with respondents from Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Grand Prairie, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, Brooks, Calgary, and Lethbridge.

Respondents were informed at the outset of the over-the-phone interviews that their participation in the interview was anonymous and they have the right to withdraw at any time without consequence.10 To ensure confidentiality, respondents are not directly identified in the report. In

10 This study received ethics approval from the research ethics board at The King’s University on December 1, 2014. Any questions, comments, or concerns about the study can be directed to

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addition, respondents are identified by provincial region rather than city to minimize the chance of being recognized based on the information they provide in the interview and/or their affiliation with an organizational type (e.g., law enforcement, frontline workers, etc.). Accuracy of quotes was ensured by detailed note taking as well as repeating some responses back to the participant for clarity and confirmation.

Given the mandate of the study, the focus of the over-the-phone interviews was on questions pertaining to human trafficking in Alberta as it intersects with race, class, and gender. In particular, the interviews centered on questions about identified experiences of sex trafficking and labour trafficking as it affects migrant women. However, the interviews were open ended and did not exclude conversations about varying forms of trafficking identified in Alberta, including internal and international forms of labour trafficking, organ trafficking, sex trafficking, and combined labour and sex trafficking. For instance, when respondents identified cases of human trafficking, the researchers posed follow-up questions about the gender, race and ethnicity, and age as well as other demographic factors, such as whether the identified cases of trafficking represented individuals from rural, remote and/or isolated communities or urban centers. The interviews also aimed to uncover whether migration and/or a temporary migrant work program was referenced. Other questions pertained to the existing services available and missing services for trafficked persons in Alberta (see Appendix C for the complete Research Instrument, Over-the-Phone Interview Guide).

5. Findings and Analysis

5.1 Human Trafficking Cases Identified by Respondents

The over-the-phone interviews aimed to assess whether respondents had come into contact with cases of human trafficking under the UN Protocol definition. To this end, the interviews questioned whether respondents had encountered any cases involving human trafficking. Similar to previous research in Alberta, 50% (31 out of 62) of respondents confirmed that they had encountered trafficking cases under this definition. When asked if they had encountered any cases that fall under certain elements of this definition, this raised the number of “yes” responses to 69.4% (43 of 62). In line with previous findings, this suggests that the definition of human trafficking is imperative in formulating an understanding of and response to trafficking in persons. This is especially important when considering discrepancies in how trafficking is being defined across sectors. For instance, differences in definitions between immigration and border security compared to non-government agencies has led to deportations of victimized individuals in the name of anti-trafficking interventions.

When examining the city centers separately, as seen in Figure 3, the number of cases defined as having all or certain elements of human trafficking increased from cases defined solely as human trafficking in all centers except Edmonton, which remained at just about 50% when asked if cases met some or all of the elements of human trafficking presented in the definition. The exact

Henry Schuurman, chair of the Research Ethics Board, at 780-465-3500 Ext. 8045 or email at [email protected].

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number of cases reported by participants ranged greatly; some reported a general estimate of cases, some reported only 1 or 2 cases, while some estimated they had worked on over 100 cases. In some of the identified cases, respondents also included multiple individuals victimized by trafficking, and so an accurate number of cases in each city center cannot be estimated.

Figure 3: Percent of respondents who indicated they had encountered cases of human trafficking or elements of the UN Protocol definition of human trafficking.

100.0 90.0 80.0 70.0 60.0 50.0

Percent 40.0 Human Traficking 30.0 20.0 All or Certain Elements 10.0 0.0

The over-the-phone interviews also addressed key demographic measures of the cases identified by respondents, including gender, age, ethnicity, and whether cases were rural or urban. Not all participants provided answers to all parts of this question, so accurate generalizations are difficult to achieve. However, of those who reported, it is clear that more cases involved females than males. Participants identify 36 of the cases (87.8%) involved females; men victimized by trafficking were only mentioned 5 times. However, since the aim of the interviews was to collect information about trafficking as it intersects with race, class, and gender, and especially migrant women’s experiences of trafficking, it is not surprising that male cases are underreported in this study. Nonetheless, the overrepresentation of women also aligns with data collected by ACT Alberta. As previously identified, according to ACT Figures, 80% of cases identified by ACT with significant element of trafficking are female.

The cases presented in this study were also primarily urban, with a total of 16 citations (72.7%), while rural cases were only mentioned 6 times. This is also not surprising, since the interviews scanned urban areas; thus, it is noteworthy that the respondents identified rural and remote cases. Age and ethnicity also proved to be important. Almost 63% of the participants who claimed to have encountered a human trafficking case – or a case that presented certain elements of human trafficking – cited the ages of the victimized individual to be between 18 and early 30s (a total of 19 of the 62 respondents cited the ages 18 to early 20s and 20 out of 62 cited the ages mid 20s to early 30s) (Figure 4). 13% cited ages under 18. In terms of ethnicity, Aboriginal individuals victimized by trafficking accumulated 24.2% of the citations and Caucasian individuals, 25.8%

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(Figure 5). Respondents reported individuals victimized by trafficking from the continent of Africa to included persons from Sudan, Congo, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

Figure 4: Age of trafficked persons as cited by participants

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10 Certain Elements 5 Number of Citations Human Traficking

0

Figure 5: Ethnicity of victims cited by participants11

18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 Certain Elements 0 Number of Citations Human Traficking Thai Asian Roma Indian Somali Filipino Mexican Sudanese Ethiopian Carribean Caucasian Congolese Aboriginal Sri Lankan Belarusian African/Of African Descent

11 It is important to note, the categories used in this table were those referenced by respondents in the over-the-phone interviews.

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The interviews also asked respondents about the elements of trafficking involved in the cases they identified, including the action, means, and purpose. Both cases defined as human trafficking and those that included certain elements of human trafficking were taken into consideration. The “action” in trafficking was identified in a variety of terms used by the respondents, but most commonly in terms of recruiting (36.8%), as depicted in Figure 6. This recruitment was mentioned in interviews as involving TFW programs and LCP 33.3% of the time.

The means presented by respondents varied greatly, but a majority presented both threats (23.9%) and abuse of power (17.9%) as means of human trafficking (Figure 7). It is important to note, we maintained the terminology used by respondents, such as “fear of deportation,” “documentation,” or “drug addition” that are not specifically listed in the UN Protocol, but depending on the circumstances, could fall under one of the broader means elements of the protocol. For example, drug addiction can be employed as a potential means of abuse of power.

Purposes of trafficking did not vary greatly, with an overwhelming majority identifying trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation (76.1%), as seen in Figure 8. Other purposes included labour and marriage (e.g. trafficking of mail-order brides, child brides, etc.). It is also worth highlighting that drug trafficking and sales were specifically identified as a form of coerced, criminalized labour. Since sex trafficking was a central focus of the over-the-phone interviews, these figures should not be interpreted as representative of actual incidents of trafficking. Rather, they provide a picture of the elements of the trafficking definition identified by respondents as trafficking intersects with race, class, and gender.

Figure 6: Action elements of human trafficking as cited by participants

25

20

15

10 Certain Elements Human Traficking

Number of Citations 5

0

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Figure 7: Means element of human trafficking as cited by participants

30

25

20

15

10 Certain Elements

Number of Citations 5 Human Traficking 0

Figure 8: Purpose element of trafficking as cited by participants

40 35 30 25 20 15 10 Certain Elements 5 Number of Citations 0 Human Traficking

5.2 Services for Trafficked Persons and Existing Capacities of Service Providing Agencies

When asked, “what services do you or can you offer a trafficked person?” the majority of respondents (82%) confirmed that although they do not have tailored services for trafficked individuals they would offer their pre-existing services to fill the gap (Figure 9). The focus of many of the respondents’ organizations and agencies are on supporting a particular population, such as immigration and settlement services for immigrants, emergency shelter and basic needs for homeless individuals, Aboriginal based programing for urban Aboriginal youth, services for

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TFWs, shelter and counselling for individuals victimized by domestic violence, support for victims of crime, and others. From their specialized mandates, respondents confirmed a willingness to offer their services to support trafficked persons:

[We] mostly assist with domestic and intimate partner violence – so not specific to trafficking – but these services are available to women in need (Frontline worker, Northern Alberta).

As long as there is an element of family violence and abuse [within the human trafficking case] then we can offer community outreach, which has short and long term counselling (Research/Evaluation Manager, Southern Alberta).

If it is an individual who has a registered paid job then we can help them. (Executive Director, Social Service Agency, Southern Alberta).

As these excerpts suggest, most participants stated their agencies will offer support to trafficked individuals, but frequently only if the victimized individual fits into the population they are mandated to serve, such as being homeless or fleeing a domestic violence situation.

Figure 9: What services do you or can you offer a trafficked person?

A significant challenge identified by respondents in providing supported to trafficked persons in Alberta is the overall lack of capacity to address human trafficking as it overlaps with and extends beyond existing services in the province. Respondents discuss how their agencies stretch their existing mandate to support trafficked persons, even when they may not be fully equipped to provide the necessary support. Related to this, 10% of participants reported not having the

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staff capacity to take on more clients, let alone having the ability to assist trafficked persons (Figure 13). One respondent affirmed this notion when asked about organizational capacity:

No, a staff of 7 (program manager, admin assistant, and 5 staff). We do not have the manpower to deal with complicated cases of trafficking (Frontline worker, Social Service Agency, Northern Alberta)

Given limited capacities, it is not surprising the primary service respondents indicate they can provide trafficked persons is referrals. Next to this, 38% identified they can offer counselling, mental health, and emotional supports and 24% can offer basic needs, food, clothing, and emergency shelter.

As will be discussed further in Section 5.3 on missing services and barriers for trafficked persons, Figure 9 also highlights that key supports trafficked person potentially rely upon were not included in a significant way among the services respondents could provide trafficked individuals, particularly long term supports that exceed the capacity of existing services.

The capacity to have services that are “specific” to human trafficking, rather than services that are designed for other populations but used to assist trafficked persons, was a concern for some respondents, but not for others. This somewhat blurred approach of addressing “specific” needs may have had an effect on the responses specified by respondents when asked about the services they could provide, and the services they felt were lacking, as some indicated that the services they listed were not specific to human trafficking, but believed that they may still be able to help trafficked persons in some capacity. For example, as one service provider explained, their agency does not provide services that specifically address human trafficking, but does “have services that can be manipulated to support human trafficking victims, such as immigration services, counselling, and housing relocation.” (Southern Alberta) Other respondents only named services that were specific to human trafficking.

The language and definition of human trafficking also proved challenging for developing an accurate assessment of the services available to and required for trafficked persons. For example, as one service provider commented, the issue around language may be more of a concern to service workers than to victimized individuals as trafficked individuals likely access a broad range of services without necessarily identifying themselves as “trafficked”:

Most agencies are not designed to support trafficked individuals. I feel that most victims do not use the language of human trafficking, so they access resources that cater to domestic violence victims and homeless individuals instead. This language seems less important to victims (Research/Evaluation Manager, Southern Alberta).

But there could be times when we are assisting trafficked victims and just don’t know because the individuals have not identified as that. Women we serve often don’t identify as abused let alone trafficked (Frontline worker, Social Service Agency, Northern Alberta)

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In this way, respondents highlight that a wide-range of existing social serving agencies provide services that intersect with the service supports required by trafficked persons. Concerns were also raised that a lack of education and/or awareness on how to identify human trafficking would result in an inability for individuals themselves to distinguish they were victimized by trafficking:

[We need] understanding and awareness of what trafficking looks like and how people are actually experiencing it. I feel that many women do not have a word to put to their experiences. Program Coordinator, Social Service Agency, Southern Alberta (Calgary)

More information and education around what trafficking really is. Many people don’t even realize they are victims of trafficking (Executive Director, Social Service Agency, Central Alberta)

As these respondents highlight, the discrepancy of language used by policymakers and service providers, compared to potentially victimized individuals begs the question of whether individuals falling under varying definitions of trafficking are being identified as such. Moreover, the responses raise important considerations about self-determination and the question of whether individuals merely “don’t realize” they are trafficked, or, whether some individuals are choosing to not identify with the label of trafficking.

At the same time, others identify that although they offer services that trafficked persons can benefit from, they lack capacity to address the, at times, unique, complex, and long-term supports necessary for trafficked individuals. For instance, some respondents questioned if existing social agencies were equipped to assist trafficked persons, given limitations in their mandates:

In Grande Prairie, no I don’t know of services for trafficked persons specifically. There are organizations that will assist women – HIV North, Rising Above, Oddysey House, but not specific to human trafficking and so those women may not meet their mandate – and they may not be able to help (Frontline worker, Social Service Agency, Northern Alberta).

In this context, although 63% of respondents indicate not having specific services for individuals trafficked particularly for sexual exploitation; only 3% stated having no services for this population (Figure 10). Whereas 54% of respondents stated not having specific services for migrant women who have been trafficked (Figure 11) and 16% indicated they had no services for this population.

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Figure 10: Can you provide services for individuals trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation?

3% 8% Yes: Has speciic 26% services No: Has no speciic services No: Has no services at all for this population Did not respond

63%

Figure 11: Can you provide services to migrant women who have been trafficked?

Yes: Has speciic services 8% 16% Access to traslation

16% 6% No: Has no speciic services

No: Has no services at all for this population

Did not respond

54%

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As mentioned, the most common service that respondents indicated they offer trafficked persons is providing referrals. In total, 41 out of 62 respondents (66%) stated that this was a service, in many cases the only service, they offer trafficked persons in Alberta (Figure 9). As one Outreach Worker indicates:

Yes, we support them with the emotional pieces and can hear their stories and then, upon need, would have to reach out to a more authoritative body and to professions in this field for additional support (Frontline Worker, Social Service Agency, Southern Alberta).

As the respondent suggests, when the need for support goes beyond their mandate, the service provider will “reach out” to others working in the field.

Although a large portion of respondents suggest they rely on referrals to other organizations, when asked what other services for trafficked persons they were aware of, 40% of respondents only noted 2-3 other organizations and 31% listed one or none (Figure 12). Further, 16% of respondents listed 4 to 5 organizations and 13% more than 6 organizations or services. This further raises the question of whether such referrals are resulting in adequate service supports for trafficked persons. However, it is worth noting again that the responses here may have been influenced by language and if service providers were listing any service or organization they thought might help, or those they knew to be “specific” to human trafficking. In fact, a number of respondents commented that besides a few other organizations, they did not know of other services that were specific to human trafficking. For example one service provider from Southern Alberta explained:

We have a local women’s shelter, a crisis line and the Police but no specific services for victims of trafficking.

Nevertheless, the data collected suggests that respondents perceive they do have the ability to make appropriate referrals and effectively work with other community organizations and agencies in support of trafficked persons. However, from a rights-based perspective, it is notable that the majority of “other services” listed by respondents comprise law enforcement or victim services (Figure 13). Given the social and structural barriers faced by trafficked persons, the social supports and services available to trafficked individuals appear to be underrepresented by respondents. It is particularly important to examine the availability harm reduction services, which were underrepresented in discussions of referrals and are less likely to refer to agencies that might create harm for their clients, such as formal social services and law enforcement.

While it is beyond the scope of this project, a more detailed examination of the pathways of referrals is needed to adequately assess this aspect of responses to trafficking in the province. For instance, are individuals being harmed through a perpetual cycle of referrals? How do individuals navigate social and structural inequalities within this system of referrals? Are coordinated responses effective means of navigating these barriers?

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Figure 12. Number of other services identified for trafficking persons

13%

31% Number of organizaons/ services listed by respondents: 16% 0 to 1

2 to 3

4 to 5

6 +

40%

Figure 13. What other services are you aware of for trafficked persons?

16% 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% Percent of Participant Responses

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Similar to the high number of referrals, when asked, Is your organization equipped to address the needs of trafficked persons? 26% of respondents affirmed that their ability to support trafficked individuals is based on making referrals and knowing community resources (Figure 14). With this in mind, a number of respondents indicate they can effectively respond to the service supports required by trafficked persons by collaborating with other agencies. In the words of two frontline workers:

I feel that our organization is equipped, yes, because we are very clear on what we can and cannot do to support women and have partnerships with other organizations who can support a victim’s needs (Program Coordinator, Social Service Agency, Southern Alberta)

Yes, because we know the resources available in the community (Service Manager, Social Service Agency, Southern Alberta).

However, some service providers also felt the quantity of referrals to multiple services required in trafficking cases was beyond the existing capacity of their organizations. The following law enforcement provider identifies this concern while also suggesting the need for more “centralized” services that would encompass the varying services and agencies that currently exist:

And when I do have a victim I have so many organizations to chase down, I may have to call 3 before I get in touch with someone who will help. [They] need to be more centralized – one line to call that will trigger a process of identifying the needs of victims – clothing, shelter, bus ticket home – and be connected with organizations that will assist with that (Northern Alberta).

The importance of a centralized coordinating body and caseworkers available to navigate the existing services was also identified in the Calgary-based research, Informing a Localized Response. In particular, the study highlights the importance of having a caseworker available to navigate areas of service provision that move beyond the existing capacities of service agencies. As Quarterman, Kaye, and Winterdyk (2012: 44) indicate, “agencies require additional capacity or funds in order to expand their mandates” as well as “the need for effective case management to navigate these services to meet the diverse needs of individual cases and to act as an advocate for trafficked persons whose needs might fall outside the existing mandates of agencies.” At the level of effective response, this points to a need for greater social serving infrastructure throughout the province, particularly by enhancing the capacities of existing organizations.

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Figure 14. Is your organization equipped to address the needs of trafficked persons? Why or why not?

Unknown

Did not respond

Yes & No: Safety concerns

No: Limited staff capacity

No: Not within mandate No: Require more training, knowledge & expertise No: Only offer basic needs

Yes: Has no speciic services

Yes: Has the training, knowledge & expertise

Yes: Within our mandate Yes: Access to community resources & give referrals 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% Percent of Participant Reponses

The large number of agencies offering referrals and the need to have dedicated persons available to navigate the social support system also evidences the importance of caseworkers. As mentioned, the high level of referrals also raises important questions about whether trafficked persons are receiving the services they need, whether the agencies they are referred to have the capacity to provide the supports they require, and how many times they are referred before obtaining the necessary services. All this begs the question of whether trafficked persons are receiving adequate supports in a manner that is efficient. Further, it raise the question of whether trafficked individuals are being re-victimized and potentially re-traumatized by having to repeatedly share their experiences to multiple service agencies. From a criminal justice standpoint, the more the victimized individual has to re-tell their experience, the less likely it will hold up in criminal justice proceedings.

On the other hand, the high number of referrals potentially points to effective partnerships and coordination in providing a network of supports for trafficked individuals in the province. The above questions and the pathways of referrals are areas requiring more detailed examination in future research.

In addition to referrals, respondents also addressed the question “is your organization equipped to address the needs of trafficked persons?” by discussing training to support victimized

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individuals and education and programing as well as experience working in related areas, such as with women victimized by sexual violence.

With regards to training one respondent stressed having in-house training around trauma, but specified the agency did not provide specific training on human trafficking:

Yes, we have training to specifically deal with trauma and so I feel team’s expertise could address impact of trauma on trafficked persons. But we do not have trafficking specific training (Frontline Worker, Social Service Agency, Northern Alberta).

Other respondents mentioned having training provided by ACT Alberta:

Yes. Our workers are trained by ACT Alberta on Human Trafficking and what to look for/what questions to ask (Social Service Provider, Northern Alberta).

When participants spoke of education and their expertise, most highlighted their knowledge of trauma and their history of working in the area of sexual violence. Here again, participants highlighted their relationship to community and referrals to other organizations as being key factors in being equipped to address human trafficking. In the words of respondents:

Yes, our harm reduction stance allows us to work with clients in a way that fosters a relationship of care. We work from a place of honesty, allowing women to be honest about their situation without judgement. We have knowledge around trauma and addictions. We offer on-going services; clients can keep accessing our services as long as they need. We also have strong community relationships (Case Manager, Social Service Agency, Southern Alberta).

Absolutely because we have such a wealth of knowledge and programming that we run in-house and know where to refer people out to in the community. Our staff have lots of experience and expertise in sexual violence (Supervisor, Social Service Agency, Southern Alberta).

Yes, we have been working in settlement for 15 years and are recognized by people in the community as the place to go to support newcomers. We have qualified staff who can work with clients who are dealing with trauma and we can also refer clients to therapeutic counselling. We are experts in multi-cultural programing and have a very diverse staff (Program Director, Social Service Agency, Southern Alberta)

Despite many feeling equipped to respond to the experiences of trafficked persons, 6% of respondents were explicit about their organizations’ limitations in being able to provide adequate supports for trafficked persons, particularly due to their mandate to serve other populations (Figure 13). As one respondent highlights:

[It is] not part of our mandate so [we are] not targeting them as clients, and do not have space to work on that issue (Coordinator, Social Service Agency, Northern Alberta).

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In a context where human trafficking is outside the mandate of many agencies and many rely on referrals as a key service provided to trafficked persons, it is not surprising that many respondents stress that relying on collaborations and pre-existing coordination bodies and relationships with other service providers is the best way to respond to trafficking in persons. Respondents point to the importance of their partnerships in relation to the provincial coordinating body, ACT Alberta, and emphasize that such collaboration facilitates response to the varying nature of supports required to respond to human trafficking. As one law enforcement respondent from Sothern Alberta suggests:

We would look at the victim’s specific needs. This is on a case-by-case basis and we would most likely call ACT Alberta.

Further to collaboration, it was also pointed out that knowing the mandates of other agencies would assist in effectively supporting trafficked persons and potentially decrease the chances of victimized individuals falling into a cycle of referrals where they are potentially re-victimized by having to repeatedly share their experience or not receiving supports at all. As a law enforcement respondent from Central Alberta noted:

[We] also need collaboration and a diverse approach to working with other agencies, and understand what those agencies can and can’t do – know their limitations. Otherwise we may send a victim to one agency for help, the victim gets there and finds out the agency can’t help them, so again [they] fall through the cracks.

The development of service provision protocols for trafficked persons can take this into account by including training about existing services available to trafficked persons as well as a database of agencies and their mandates.

In the area of collaborative service provision, law enforcement respondents describe a high degree of community support and good working relationships with available service providers, as well as their appreciation that such agencies exist:

All the NGOs I work with are great at what they do and I like working with all of them (Law Enforcement, Central Alberta).

We are lucky that we have a shelter in the city that will accept women with children and that we have PSECA legislation to help with youth (Law Enforcement, Southern Alberta).

For many, such cross-sector relationships become a way to support trafficked individuals without straying from their scope and mandate:

None of this is in our mandate so it relies on how well we are connected to the community, which relies on individual connections (Law Enforcement, Southern Alberta).

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Another law enforcement respondent added to this notion by stating that they could refer a victimized individual to any service in the city due to their relationship with other organizations:

Any service that is available in the community: shelter, employment services, financial supports, safety risk assessments, and so on. We have strong community supports (Southern Alberta).

Although the level of collaboration expressed by law enforcement respondents is noteworthy, it is also important to issue a word of caution given the highly politicized nature of human trafficking and the identified limited supports available of social agencies working in the areas related to trafficking. For example, agencies that work for migrant or sex worker rights potentially reject anti-trafficking responses given the negative effects some anti-trafficking campaigns have had on migrant and sex worker rights (Clancey, Khushrushahi, and Ham 2014). In a context where trafficking responses have justified exclusionary border controls and criminalization of sex industries, it is important to consider whether these voices are opting out of trafficking responses and research on trafficking experiences. As mentioned in the literature review, connecting with such agencies is essential for a rights-based approach that can emphasize the agency and self-determination of women. A critical engagement with the effects of anti-trafficking discussions in Alberta and the perspectives of migrant women, sex workers (including Aboriginal sex workers), and migrant and sex worker rights advocates would develop a more nuanced understanding of trafficking in the province.

Additionally, as previous research in Alberta suggests, divisions between responses to trafficking that adopt an “abolitionist” framework (that consolidates trafficking and prostitution) versus a “sex workers rights” framework (that separates adult consensual sex work from sex trafficking) might not result in referrals going between agencies that specialize in different areas, such as harm reduction versus exit-based strategies. However, as one frontline worker from a harm reduction agency cited in Kaye (2013) identifies, they do refer to abolition-centered organizations:

Well the [abolitionist organization] is a very structured program, they have different levels of participation as opposed to us, where we do one-on-one, we see people as they come. With the [abolitionist organization] they generally have clients live in that environment and then they will do school and that’s a requirement. So we have a relationship with them to the extent that I would do a referral and have done referrals in the past given that the client has identified that they need some serious structure in their lives. The [abolitionist organization] is strictly exit-based so they have to be in that mindset and be ready and wanting to exit and change their lifestyle basically.

Although the harm reduction mandate of this organization would require offering a referral to the more structured, abolitionist organization, Kaye (2013: 132) highlights that it remains unclear whether the abolitionist agency would consider a referral in the other direction (i.e. for harm reduction services): “Given the abolitionist standpoint that all forms of prostitution constitute sexual exploitation/assault, it would be unlikely the relationship could flow in this direction.” As discussed in the literature, repairing the harms inflicted by anti-trafficking policies that have

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emphasized criminalization and border control is necessary to improve relationships with sex workers and sex worker and migrant rights advocates and enhance the prevention, identification, and support available to trafficked individuals.

Yet, as Clancey, Khushrushahi, and Ham (2014) identify, agencies supporting sex worker and migrant sex worker rights have been largely alienated from anti-trafficking responses. Although such agencies provide essential services, such as direct support, outreach, and peer support they are restricted from key anti-trafficking funds because they do “not wish to take an anti- prostitution stance.” Clancey, Khushrushahi, and Ham (2014) identify two key dilemmas:

First, should we, as a grassroots organization that supports sex workers’ rights, apply for and accept any funding that is framed around a problematic and harmful discourse that promotes an anti-prostitution and anti-migrant agenda? Second, given our limited resources, should we actively participate in trying to change these anti- prostitution and anti-trafficking frames when we can instead use that effort to provide direct services to the women we serve?

Although agencies working from this standpoint continue their work in the absence of access to larger funding bodies, they express the limitation that “we cannot fully support immigrant, migrant and trafficked women without this money” (Clancey, Khushrushahi, and Ham 2014).

Although funding was not identified in this environmental scan as a significant missing service (only 5% indicated funding as missing, see Figure 14 in section 5.3), as will be discussed, the need for services for migrant women and migrant women in sex industries was clearly identified and is dependent on access to funding supports in these areas. One law enforcement respondent from Southern Alberta stated there is a need for “more political will to enforce funding opportunities, resources and public awareness.” Significantly, service providers also suggested that organizations should not be made to compete for or be limited to the same funding pools when all organizations are working for, and to support, victimized individuals.

In particular, Kaye (2013) identifies that problems arise when agencies move away from their mandates to draw on limited resources designed to address human trafficking and, conversely, when funders move away from supporting existing social services to re-direct resources towards human trafficking. A service provider cited in Kaye (2013) summarizes the challenges associated with competition over funding:

The funding priorities have dictated in some ways who is involved in human trafficking and how they define trafficking. So that’s a problem … you end up with a one size fits all approach and you end up re-exploiting the women.

This further points to the importance of developing responses to human trafficking that increase the capacity of the diversity of services required by trafficked individuals.

Overall, this examination of services available to trafficked persons in Alberta and existing capacities of service providing agencies points to a significant dependence on referrals when responding to case of human trafficking in the province. Additional research is needed to

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examine the pathways of these referrals and whether trafficked persons are receiving the services they require and, if so, whether they receive such services in an efficient manner. Human trafficking response protocols should further incorporate specialized training for social supporting agencies as well as a database of existing services and their mandates in the province. This should also include research and relationship building with essential partners currently under-represented in trafficking responses, including migrant and sex worker rights organizations and advocates.

5.3 Missing Services and Barriers for Trafficked Persons in Alberta

When asked “what services do you think are missing for trafficked persons?” respondents identified awareness and education (26%), safe shelter (19%), and long-term counselling (18%) as the primary areas where services are missing (Figure 15).

Figure 15. What services do you think are missing for trafficked persons?

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

Percent of Citations 5%

0%

The central barrier to providing services for trafficked persons was identified as the need for further awareness and education about human trafficking. In particular, respondents suggest, more awareness and education is needed to understand the definitions and occurrence of human trafficking in Alberta as well as services available for trafficked persons and how to work with victimized individuals. The following respondent echoes a common concern expressed in the interviews:

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We need to be better educated. There is very little awareness of human trafficking and as a result identifying cases is difficult and rare (Frontline Worker, Social Service Agency, Southern Alberta).

Some respondents report that a priority should be educating the public, or creating public awareness, to acknowledge that human trafficking is occurring in Alberta. For example, one respondent indicates:

I think everything is there and available for victims we just need more public awareness and education (Frontline Worker, Social Social Service Agency, Southern Alberta).

However, the majority of responses describe the need for knowledge and training for vulnerable populations, service providers and the public to gain insight about how to identify human trafficking, respond appropriately, and access services. For example, respondents indicated that without the means to identify human trafficking, recognizing what services were missing or what trafficked persons require in terms of support remains challenging:

Firstly, the means for organizations and staff to identify trafficked persons … How can we know what is missing or what there is if we don’t know how to identify it in first place? Need to start there first (Frontline worker, Social Service Agency, Northern Alberta).

[We’re] not identifying human trafficking either, so maybe seeing human trafficking but not identifying it as such. So then we may miss key issues or needs that won’t then be addressed. [We] have people falling through the cracks (Law Enforcement, Central Alberta).

Additionally, some service providers stated never having worked with a trafficked person before and therefore limited capacity to respond to trafficking cases. Along these lines, the following respondents expressed a reluctance to work with trafficked persons until they develop a better understanding of how to offer supports to this population:

No, probably because we haven’t had to deal with a case yet (Frontline Worker, Social Service Agency, Southern Alberta).

We haven’t had the experience of working with a trafficked victim so we are not prepared. We need to do some research first on how to best assist them (Manager Victim Service Agency, Southern Alberta).

Further to this, it was evident that providers felt education and training was required in the areas of trauma associated with trafficking, the complex nature of trafficking, and how to inform trafficked individuals and the other service providers about accessing supports. For example, one provider stated:

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Women need to know where to turn, who they can trust, what services are available. More information and awareness is needed around this and the complexities of trafficking. Training for police and partnering community agencies to talk with women so [they] can recognize potential cues that may indicate the woman may be a victim of trafficking. What are the right questions to ask? (Manager, Social Service Agency, Central Alberta).

Respondents also suggested that awareness and education was needed to promote the already existing and not “missing” services. As one law enforcement respondent suggests:

I don’t think anything is missing. The barrier is having victims recognize what services are available (Southern Alberta).

Previous research in Alberta aligns with these findings that additional, targeted awareness, education, and training on how to identify and support trafficked persons are key aspects of formulating effective responses to human trafficking. Additional educational needs described by respondents included knowledge of human rights and services and how to make this information accessible. The necessity of delivering such information in various manners was pointed out, as the Internet is not always accessible to victimized individuals or is closely monitored when used. Moreover, respondents highlight the importance of providing such information and services in multiple languages.

In addition to awareness and education, the finding that safe shelter (19%) and long-term counselling (18%) (Figure 15) were also among the most highly cited services missing for trafficked persons is interesting since counselling and shelter were among the most frequently listed services offered by respondents (Figure 9). This finding suggests that although shelters offer services available to trafficked persons, these services may not provide the level of safety and security necessary for some trafficked individuals. Similarly, although basic counselling is more widely available, longer-term counselling and more complex forms of mental health supports required by some trafficked persons are not as readily available. In terms of safe shelter and long-term housing, respondents highlight:

We do not have a shelter for a trafficked victim’s specific needs, so how do we secure their safety? (Manager, Victim Service Agency, Southern Alberta).

Housing: emergency, second stage, and long-term supportive housing (Healthcare Specialist, Social Service Agency, Southern Alberta).

Respondents explain that part of the need for safe, secure housing is to keep traffickers and their associates away from victimized individuals. They expressed concern that traffickers might try to track down victimized individuals or may be known and accepted within the community. In the absence of safe, long-term housing support, respondents suggest re-victimization can occur. In the words of respondents:

Safety. We can only keep women 21 days – what happens after – we can’t guarantee full safety. We try to refer to other services but women report they can’t trust this

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place because they may see someone there that knows them – and that person may report back to the abuser, the abuser may have people on the lookout for them. Where can they go where they are safe and can trust everyone? (Program Manager for social serving agency, Northern Alberta).

Longer-term housing needed. Can go to a shelter for 21 days but then what? Women get assistance, but then what do they do? Especially if at high risk of being trafficked again (Frontline Worker, Social Service Agency, Northern Alberta).

We need more housing resources so women do not need to be in homeless shelters. General emergency shelter situations can lead to leaving victims susceptible to being re-victimized (Manager Health Services, Social Service Agency, Southern Alberta).

Other barriers to safe shelter reported by participants include organizational policies that refuse to allow people with active addictions to stay at the shelter. Respondents raise concern that creating such barriers to housing without fully understanding the complex and broad needs of trafficked persons might place them in unsafe situations that may increase risks of re- victimization.

Also need services with more understanding around mental health and addiction issues that trafficked persons have – for example many shelters will not allow individuals with active addictions – so only option these women have is to stop using or go back to street (Frontline Worker, Social Service Agency, Northern Alberta).

Harm reduction housing: easy-to-access housing that has no barriers to admission where clients do not need to be sober/ drug-free and no expectation of abstinence from sex work (Program Manager, Social Service Agency, Southern Alberta).

In addition to shelter-specific needs, respondents point generally to the importance of better understanding and addressing the role of addictions, which can further complicate experiences of trafficked individuals. In terms of shelter, it was evident from the over-the-phone interviews that respondents perceive a need for both immediate and long-term shelter that is equipped to address the complex needs of some experiences of trafficking, and that such shelter would increase the safety and wellbeing of trafficked individuals. The need for shelter or housing that accounts for safety and security in trafficking cases also addresses some respondents concern for their own safety. Along these lines, a few respondents expressed reluctance to support trafficked persons due to safety and security concerns (Figure 14) and their ability to protect their staff and other clients using their services. As one respondent stated:

We have had our own safety concerns when getting involved in helping [human trafficking] victims (Manager, Health Services Agency, Southern Alberta).

These concerns stress the perceived risk associated with providing supports for trafficked persons and highlights the importance of detailing safety and security protocols when formulating responses to human trafficking.

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In terms of mental health supports, many of the responses specifically identified trauma counselling as a missing service required for trafficked persons. Respondents highlight the need to understand the emotional trauma and the potential of posttraumatic stress disorder that some trafficking situations can induce. This led some respondents to call for specifically trained therapists and counsellors:

We also need counsellors who are appropriately trained in counselling these victims (Manager Health Services, Social Service Agency, Southern Alberta).

We need to better understand PTSD and the true impact of trauma on individuals. (Frontline Worker, Social Service Agency, Southern Alberta).

“Psychological support [is needed], systems for accessing mental health supports. [There is] a lack of counsellors who specialize in human trafficking. Victims are vulnerable people, do we have specialists on this issue in the community? (Coordinator, Social Service Agency, Northern Alberta).

Respondents explain how long wait-lists prevent victimized individuals from accessing the mental health services they required and that many organizations could only offer short-term supports in this area. Some also expressed doubts that the current health system could meet this gap and called for further funding support to address the issue:

[I]ntensive supports such as therapists that begin to help create a sense of safety and deal with the emotional trauma that comes with being trafficked. Our medical services are poorly equipped; long wait times, unwelcoming environment, and most likely victims will not get the treatment they need (Supervisor, Health Service Agency, Southern Alberta).

There is a need for more counselling especially Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy for those who have gone through sexual trauma. We also need more money to afford high quality counselling services and qualified counsellors/therapists. We have to start putting recourses into supporting victims’ long term (Manager, Southern Alberta).

It was also suggested that human trafficking-specific counselling include, when appropriate, the families of victimized persons in an effort to provide more holistic support and to also support families as they, in turn, offer support. Similarly, respondents discussed the importance of fostering long-term resiliency and skill building that increases the potential for successful healing from a trafficking experience. As one respondent highlights:

[We] need long-term “wrap-around” services and programs so individuals can build skills, get employment, build resiliency so they don’t end up back in the cycle. Need counselling [there is a] lack of long-term counselling and [there are] long waiting lists. Support for family as a whole (if there is a family). How do they cope with the loss of a family member to trafficking? How can they support a family member who has been trafficked? (Director, Social Service Agency, Northern Alberta).

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The connection made by this respondent, between a lack of long-term services and the potential for people to be re-victimized, was also made by other participants as stated earlier in this section. Although many organizations can provide basic needs, such as emergency shelter, food, clothing, and/or on-site counselling, the inability to fully support a trafficked person through long-term and safe options can place individuals at risk of re-trafficking. Nonetheless, as Figure 15 depicts, very few respondents perceived other services to be missing in the province. For example, 4% identified legal support, 3% financial support, 3% employment support services, and 2% community support. Overall, the primary areas where increased service supports are needed are in the areas of targeted education and training and long-term supports for both the physical and mental health of trafficked persons.

5.4 Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender in Responses to Human Trafficking in Alberta

Respondents expressed concern over the limited service supports available to migrant women who have been trafficked. As mentioned in the discussion of structural and social factors, migrant workers face significant barriers when they are threatened with deportation, job loss, or threats against their person or their families. At times, in the lives of migrant women, exploitative labour practices also intersect with other forms of abuse, such as sexual assault. For instance, one respondent discusses the experience of a group of migrant women working under the TFW program who came forward about their employer sexually assaulting them:

[A]s we have a Spanish speaking counsellor, they told the counsellor what was going on: [they] were too afraid to report it to police, although we encouraged them to do so. In the end, they continued to receive counselling from us in order to get tips on how to avoid the employer, and for support in how to deal with the situation they were in (Executive Director, Social Service Agency, Northern Alberta).

As noted, a key support for reporting the abuse to the service agency was the presence and availability of a Spanish-speaking counsellor. However, providing language sensitive services remains limited in Alberta. For instance, while 16% of respondents can offer specific services to migrant women only 6% indicated they have access to on-site translation services (Figure 11). However, when asked to identify missing services for trafficked persons, only 5% of citations included language as a missing service (Figure 15).

Service workers also identified the increased complexity of experience for migrant women victimized by sex trafficking. They pointed out that beyond language, migrant women faced barriers around their status and knowing trusted places to turn to for support. These barriers were also identified as issues service agencies needed to work around and address when they approached human trafficking cases. For example, as a few service providers explained:

[It’s] hard to navigate programs and information that do exist, [there is] so much to think about. Immigration law, status, vulnerability – are they safe getting help or if they leave the situation they’re in will they no longer be sponsored, will they have to leave the country? How do they fit into existing legal categories or definitions, or

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even supportive (i.e. victims accessing support) categories and programs? (Information Specialist, Legal Support Agency, Northern Alberta).

… how can they even begin to tell their story when they have language barriers, plus fear of retribution, fear of being sent home – may not have anything to go back to, not know their rights, [they may] feel the treatment here, even if bad, is not as bad as where they were (Frontline worker, Social Service Agency, Northern Alberta).

And we know it doesn’t always work out for women – [they] may be deported, their children may be ordered to stay here, but they are deported. Things, situations happen and rightfully cause fear in women to come forward (Program Manager, Social Service Agency, Northern Alberta).

These respondents echo the many structural and social factors that restrict migrant women’s ability to report experiences of exploitation, abuse, and trafficking in the province, including fears of deportation, job loss, family separation, being sent back to a place the women wished to migrate away from, and limited ability to actualize their human rights. Such responses also point to the challenges associated with formulating coordinated responses. As the first respondent identifies, there is “so much to think about,” including whether victimized individuals fit into legal or other categories where they can access support. If not, there is restricted ability to partner with law enforcement or other formal organizations that work under the mandates of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).

Some service providers also discussed the role of precarious status in increasing the complexity of cases of human trafficking and assisting trafficked persons:

In terms of human trafficking, it’s more complicated. For example, status may prevent them from accessing services such as health care or other services that other victims can access. Or language barriers, not just whether they understand the language spoken, but also do they understand the systems they’re dealing with? Do they understand what policing is here? They need system understanding too and if [their] not fully getting this then it’s problematic. [They] may not really understand the supports or processes (Law Enforcement, Southern Alberta).

Limited capacity – mission/objective/agenda set out by funder – [we] serve refugees, landed immigrants, Canadian citizens - if a person does not have status [we] cannot offer as many services – we try to help as much as we can but again limited (Director Community Programs, Social Service Agency, Northern Alberta).

[We] can provide legal information, but believe it may be a challenge – [we] would have to dig for information and legal information around immigration, trafficking … is not clear. Would be hard to refer too. We would have to think whether they or their situation “fits” with existing categories and definitions (Information Specialist, Legal Support Agency, Northern Alberta).

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As identified in the review of structural and social factors, precarious status compounds fears of deportation and restricts access to services. Given the high numbers of temporary migrant labourers with potentially precarious status in Alberta and limited legal supports for assessing whether experiences of exploitation meet the standard of trafficking and corresponding implications for immigration status, this is a central area for further research and consideration in formulating responses to human trafficking. In particular, research should examine whether initiatives to reduce the barriers of precarious status can be implemented in the province. In particular, the province should consider accessibility models such as sanctuary cities whereby service providers and first responders are restricted from asking a persons legal status or refusing service based on status. Other models to consider and to draw lessons from include No one is Illegal as well as efforts to provide healthcare and other essential services regardless of immigration status.

In line with considering efforts to reduce barriers faced by individuals with precarious status, another respondent also suggested the Temporary Resident Permit (TRP) program requires improvement. The TRP was adopted by CIC in May 2006 to enable trafficked individuals to access temporary immigration status to in order to obtain access to health care and other services (such as trauma counseling and work permits) and to consider criminal justice options. Yet, as one Southern Alberta service provider in this study indicates, the current program can cause challenges in human trafficking cases: “We need a better TRP process; challenges at the time in way of victim assistance was the TRP process.” Similarly, Kaye, Winterdyk, and Quarterman (2014) highlight that service providers perceive the TRP to be particularly challenging for trafficked persons to access.

Given the varying definitions of trafficking employed by government and non-government agencies and limited understanding about how to interpret and apply the legal definition of trafficking in Canada’s Criminal Code or the IRPA, there is little clarity about whether specific cases will meet the undefined threshold of CIC who issues TRPs. Moreover, “although social serving agencies may be best situated to identify the broad ranging experiences of human trafficking, it is law enforcement and government agencies that have been mandated with key aspects of victim assistance and support” (Kaye, Winterdyk, and Quarterman 2014:19). In particular, since the interview for accessing a TRP includes both CIC representatives and law enforcement, trafficked persons are, in essence (albeit not in policy),12 required to report their experiences to law enforcement. This implicit reporting requirement is especially problematic for individuals who do not have legal status within the country.

However, from May 2006 to December 2012, CIC issued TRPs to 89 foreign nationals, 64 (72%) of which were identified as ‘victims of trafficking for labour exploitation’ (Public Safety Canada, 2013). Therefore, as Kaye and Hastie (2015: 91) identify, “a significant majority of potentially trafficked persons, as determined by CIC, were subjected to labour trafficking, not sex trafficking, which is identified separately.” At the same time, there has only been one successful

12 Although CIC considers whether the person can assist law enforcement in criminal proceedings, the policy clearly states: “Victims of trafficking are not required to assist in any criminal investigation or testify against their trafficker in order to receive immigration status” (Department of Justice 2012)

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prosecution of labour trafficking involving the victimization of foreign nationals in Canada.13 This suggests a separation between criminal investigations and the issuing of TRPs (Hastie 2012; Kaye and Hastie 2015). Nonetheless, the perceived inaccessibility of the TRP alongside varying definitions, and presence of law enforcement, remain problematic for individuals providing a rights-based response to trafficking. As one frontline worker cited in Kaye (2013) indicates:

We don’t see [the TRP] as a very useful tool. One specific attorney we work with doesn’t recommend using them … you have to come to the attention of law enforcement and immigration to get one. And you just go, there’s no dedicated person or anything, you just show up at the office and say, ‘hey, I have a trafficking case.’ So it can be up to anyone’s discretion on how they evaluate that case. And there is an immediate consultation if you go with law enforcement … yeah, that [temporary support] would be great to have, but then what is going to happen next? They can be deported … but we do have several women who have been trafficked and do have a legitimate refugee claim. And so that’s how they end up staying, they make a refugee claim.

As this frontline worker suggests, the TRP remains an ineffective mechanism to support trafficked persons and will go under-utilized so long as it is perceived to create insecurity for trafficked persons. With this in mind, effective cross-sector partnerships require clear communication about the process, definition, and screening tools used to issue TRPs and other mechanisms of support for trafficked persons. Moreover, such partnerships require funding in order to facilitate sustainable collaborative outcomes.

Given the complexity of experiences facing migrant women who experience human trafficking and other forms of exploitation, a key recommendation of this study is to examine and develop mechanisms for reducing the barriers facing precarious status migrants. With this in mind, rights- based support structures, such as the adoption of sanctuary cities warrants consideration in the province of Alberta. In addition, greater communication about definitional discrepancies is also needed to reduce barriers faced by precarious status and undocumented migrants and to promote more effective cross-sector collaboration.

A recurring theme throughout this report is the reluctance of trafficked individuals to report experiences of trafficking. Respondents in this study stressed the myriad of barriers that may prevent trafficked persons from reporting victimization with fear remaining the predominant theme:

Barriers exist for trafficked persons accessing services beyond what I mentioned above: 1) Fear (what will happen to them? Sent back home? Victimization: fear of police – mostly male, uniforms, authoritative, they’re intimidating; basic needs not being met); 2) addictions; 3) lack of knowledge about human trafficking and about services available; 4) language; 5) not knowing Canadian culture and norms (Director Community Programs, Social Service Agency, Northern Alberta).

13 R v Domotor et al.

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Some women are told they will not be able to get services, or will be deported. So the fear is still there (Program Manager, Social Service Agency, Northern Alberta).

Many are not coming out or disclosing if they just escaped because too traumatic and too fearful (Executive Director, Northern Alberta).

These responses reflect many of the structural and social barriers identified at the outset of this report, including fears surrounding deportation as well as a lack of trust in law enforcement and service providers.

Distrust of law enforcement and service providers was mentioned especially in relation to individuals living on First Nations. As one Aboriginal Service Coordinator from Southern Alberta stated:

People living on Reserves will not access Victim Services that are located in a Police office on the Reserve. There is a distrust of police and some are afraid of being arrested for outstanding warrants … Many people living on Reserves are not comfortable receiving counselling in their community due to confidentiality, and when they seek counselling outside the community then transportation is an issue.

As this respondent suggests, reporting experiences of trafficking and other forms of abuse can prove restrictive in terms of confidentiality and safety. Further, as Boyer and Kampouris (2014) reveal, frontline support organizations similarly point to mistrust of the criminal justice system that is fuelled by experiences of discrimination and racism faced by Aboriginal women in relation to law enforcement.

In addition to mistrust, respondents also highlight a number of structural and social constraints as well as intergenerational trauma and abuse that can restrict access to supports and produce and maintain vulnerabilities to trafficking and other forms of exploitation. While the movement of Aboriginal women to and from Reservation communities has been identified as an “at risk” behaviour of Aboriginal women, “… the women move back and forth from reserve to city” (Program Manager from Southern Alberta), the restricted supports available to women and community-based plans to address the unique experiences of women in remote areas of the province warrant further attention.

As discussed above in Section 5.1, many respondents indicated they have identified cases of human trafficking involving Aboriginal women. Some specifically point to the form of control as drug use and the purpose of the trafficking as being both sex and drug trafficking. As one Program Manager from Southern Alberta states:

We have had cases of Aboriginal women being traded for sex in order to received drugs.

Respondents also identify the role of domestic and intergenerational violence, trauma, and abuse in trafficking of Aboriginal women. In the words of one Program Manager from Southern Alberta:

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Aboriginal women seem to be recruited … it appears the women also recruit their female friends. Trafficking is tied up into familial relationships; women bring their friends and family into the picture and all live in the same house … The traffickers will threaten to kick the woman out of the home if they don't do what they are told and thus sever ties with the woman’s friends and family that also live in the home. Generations of families often live in the same home with the traffickers and are being sex trafficked. Many women get pregnant making it harder to leave (Program Manager from Southern Alberta).

[I]n domestic violence where you see abuse of power. Domestic violence/ family violence is a root cause for why our Aboriginal women leave their communities and this action puts them at risk (Service Coordinator, Southern Alberta).

As these excerpts suggest, trafficking is part of broader social and structural barriers faced by Aboriginal women and cannot be addressed in isolation to varying forms of violence perpetuated against Aboriginal women. As Kaye (2013) identifies, in context of inter-generational human trafficking, criminalizing those who “profit” from the prostitution of women and girls potentially means criminalizing the families of the victimized individual. As a frontline worker cited in Kaye (2013) indicates:

The bulk of the survival sex workers are Aboriginal. I don’t have specific numbers, but I had over 1000 client contacts and quite a few of those, the street level workers, are Aboriginal … when I hear about trafficking with Aboriginal groups, I hear about family members trafficking, taking them out of the reserve and into the city. So like Grandma pimping (Frontline Worker).

In such cases of inter-generational trafficking, criminalizing those who profit from the sale of sexual services perpetuates an ongoing cycle of state apprehension, as NWAC (2012) notes, including “residential schools, foster homes, group homes, and prisons” (emphasis added).

Overall, this study suggests that effective prevention and response to human trafficking are unlikely in the absence of addressing the structural and systemic barriers faced by trafficked individuals, particularly when these barriers are compounded by intersections of race, class, and gender. In particular, a key area that requires attention is safe contexts for victimized individuals to access services and supports irrespective of their status in the country.

6. Future Research and Policy Recommendations

This study reveals there remains widespread disagreement in the province about what constitutes human trafficking. However, human trafficking, as defined by the UN Protocol and as it intersects with race, class, and gender is being identified. In relation to migration and trafficking, it was noted that 57% of the foreign national cases identified by ACT with significant elements of trafficking arrived to Canada through the TFW program. Moreover, this study highlights that recruitment to the LCP and low-skill TFW programs were seen as key means used in trafficking

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cases in the province. Further research is needed to examine the role of third-party recruitment and the precarious status of migrants arriving under TFW programs. Along these lines, given the severe constraints precarious status migrants face in reporting experiences of abuse, the report identifies the importance of considering strategies for reducing the barriers posed by migrant status. For instance, future research should examine the possibility of adopting sanctuary city policies across the province whereby service providers and first responders are restricted from asking a persons legal status or refusing service based on status.

In terms of services available to trafficked persons, the report identifies that broad increases in capacity in the area of social service provision is necessary for existing services to expand their mandates to adequately address experiences of human trafficking. Alongside increased capacity, it was also identified that shelters equipped to address the, at times, complex safety and security needs of trafficked persons and long-term supports for trafficked individuals are under- represented among existing services. In addition to long-term shelter and housing support, respondents also highlight the need for long-term mental health supports in the province. Given the varying nature of trafficking experiences, it is not advised that trafficking specific shelters and mental health supports be established. However, increasing the availability of generalized supports in these areas and including training and protocols for responding to cases of human trafficking is recommended.

Alongside increased capacity and establishing long-term supports, service providers also require specialized training about human trafficking and awareness of other social agencies able to provide support to trafficked persons. One way to achieve this would be to include the development of a database of existing services in the formalization of response protocols. The finding that the primary service being offered to trafficked persons in the province is referrals to other organizations and agencies particularly evidences the necessity of awareness of existing services. Moreover, this finding points to the need for more research into the pathways of referrals occurring in the province in relation to human trafficking cases and whether trafficked persons are receiving appropriate supports in the referral process.

Overall, the study suggests that a broad rights-based framework is necessary for protecting the rights of trafficked persons and others affected by responses to trafficking, including migrant rights and the rights of individuals in sex industries. This means that trafficking cannot be addressed in isolation of other social and systemic challenges faced by migrant women, Aboriginal women, and women involved in the low-skill service economy and sex industries. In particular, given the broad structural and social factors perpetuating vulnerabilities to trafficking, responses should not be disconnected from broader efforts of decolonization and reconciliation, addressing policies that enable patriarchy, and overcoming capitalist systems that devalue labour and labouring women. In turn, this means trafficking responses should not be developed in isolation of a variety of other social issues, include poverty reduction, housing, and gender-based violence and rights-based initiatives, such as labour rights, migrant rights, sex worker rights and women’s rights. Along these lines, future research should examine the perceptions of migrant women and individuals involved in sex industries of human trafficking responses in the province and how to better protect the rights of migrants and sex workers in responses to trafficking. Moreover, given the current emphasize of criminal justice oriented responses to trafficking,

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and Applied Criminal Justice, 31(2), 211-243.

Timoshkina, N., & McDoanld, L. (2007). Defining trafficking in women. Online

Proceedings of the 9th 6ational Metropolis Conference “Exploring Canada’s Diversity,

Today and Tomorrow,” Toronto (March 1-4). http://ceris.metropolis.net/frameset_e.html

Timoshkina, Natalya and Lynn McDonald. 2009. Building Partnerships for Service

Provision to Migrant Sex Workers. Toronto, ON: The Wellesley Institute.

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Timoshkina, Natalya and Lynn McDonald. 2011. Sex Trafficking of Women to Canada: Results

from a Qualitative Metashynthesis of Empirical Research. Toronto, ON: Prepared for

CERIS-The Ontario Metropolis Centre.

Timoshkina, Natalya, and Lynn McDonald. 2011.

http://ccrweb.ca/files/sex_trafficking_timoshkina_2011.pdf

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Human Trafficking Case Law Database.

http://www.unodc.org/cld/search.jspx?match=canada

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Human Trafficking. https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html

United Nations Human Rights. Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in

Persons.

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/ProtocolTraffickingInPersons.aspx

Zhang, S. 2012. Measuring Labor Trafficking: a research note. Crime, Law & Social

Change, 58(4), 469-482.

To add:

Quarterman, Kaye, Winterdyk, 2011 Trompetter, 2007 Oxman,-Martinez, Martinez, Hanley, 2001 Jeffrey, 2007 Kaye and Hastie, 2015 Benoit et al, 2014 Government of Canada, 2013 Sharma, 2006 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2009 Kaye, 2013 Byl, 2009 Kelly et al, 2011 Citizen and Immigration Canada, 2013

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Appendix A: Matrix of human trafficking locations, ACT Alberta Data

Matrix of where cases assisted by ACT Alberta (up to March 2015) with significant elements of trafficking were trafficked from and to:

Trafficked To Total of Canada UK USA Trafficked Trafficked From AB BC MB ON QC SK UnKn. From: Canada 36% 8% 2% 6% 1% 1% 1% 1% 2% 60% AB 24% 1% 1% 1% 2% 29% BC 1% 6% 1% 8% MB 2% 2% NB 1% 1% NS 1% 1% ON 6% 5% 11% QC 2% 1% 4% Unknown 1% 1% 1% 4% North America 2% 1% 1% 5% USA 1% 1% 1% 4% Saint Vincent 1% 1% Africa 1% 1% 1% 4% DRC 1% 1% Ghana 1% 1% Tanzania 1% 1% Asia 19% 4% 7% 29% China 1% 1% 2% Hong Kong 1% 1% India 4% 4% Israel 2% 2% Kuwait 1% 1% Pakistan 1% 1% Philippines 9% 7% 16% Sri Lanka 1% 1% Oceania Fiji 2% 2% Total of Trafficked To: 61% 13% 2% 13% 2% 1% 1% 1% 5%

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Appendix B: Type of Trafficker, ACT Alberta Data

Type of Trafficker, amongst cases assisted by ACT Alberta (up to March 2015) with significant elements of trafficking:

TOTAL Breakdown by Type of Trafficking SHARE Labour Labour/Sex Organ Sex Employer 46% 79% 3% 18% Partner 22% 11% 89% Pimp 11% 11% 89% Gang 6% 20% 20% 20% 40% Stranger 6% 100% Family 5% 25% 75% Friend 5% 25% 75%

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Appendix C: Research Instrument

Over-the-Phone Interview Guide, 2014

Definition of human trafficking - Interviewer provides a brief overview of the core elements of the United Nation protocol definition of human trafficking - Interviewer emphasizes specific interest in human trafficking as it intersects with race, class, and gender

______

Questionnaire

Date: ______Interviewee Name: ______Position: ______Organization: ______Phone: ______Email: ______Interviewer: ______

1. Have you worked on any cases that you think fall under this definition of human trafficking? How many?

- Follow-up question if response is “no”: Have you worked on cases that meet certain elements of the trafficking definition?

§ Follow-up questions if cases are presented:

• Gender, ethnicity, age

• Migration involved? Live-in Caregiver Program? Temporary Foreign Worker Program? Third party involvement?

• Urban or rural and/or isolated community?

• Activity (transfer, recruitment, receipt, etc), means (abduction, force, threat/coercion, etc), purpose of trafficked individual (forced labour, servitude, sexual exploitation, etc.)

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• Specific: Discuss details of cases that involved international trafficking of women and/or sex trafficking

2. What services do you or can you offer a trafficked person?

3. Is your organization equipped to address the needs of trafficked persons? Why or why not?

4. What services do you think are missing for trafficked persons?

5. What other services are you aware of for trafficked persons?

6. Can you provide services for individual trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation?

7. Do you have services for migrant women who have been trafficked?

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Appendix D: Publicly Documented Human Trafficking Cases in Alberta

Edmonton, Alberta (2013) Two male temporary foreign workers from Israel came to work at a local coffee shop in Edmonton but were instead allegedly told upon arrival that the job that had been arranged was no longer available. Three men, Yassin Hamdom, Wendy Sawa, and Ahmed Baalbaki, were charged for allegedly exploiting the workers to work at a Marble Slab Creamery store for less money than was originally agreed upon. The foreign workers were threatened with deportation if they complained about the change in work that had occurred. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/01/24/marble-slab-creamery-edmonton-foreign-workers- exploited-allegedly_n_2545204.html?just_reloaded=1

Calgary, Alberta (2013) Two men, Abdallah Amer, 18, and Balal Jeha, 19, have been charged with human trafficking. The two are facing allegations regarding the confinement of two teens, 17 and 19. The teens were beaten, threatened daily, and forced into prostitution. http://beaconnews.ca/calgary/2013/04/human-trafficking-charges-laid-against-two-calgary-men- 2/

Mohamed, 27, has been charged with trafficking in persons, receiving material benefit from trafficking in persons, living off the avails of prostitution, procuring, extortion, forcible confinement, assault and possession of a controlled substance. Kassim was allegedly prostituting a woman through online ads. http://globalnews.ca/news/642485/calgary-man-faces-human-trafficking-charges/

Arjanit Nick (Sammy) Simnica, 29, and Avni (Antonio) Gashi, 22, are facing multiple charges including trafficking in persons. The two men kept a 15 and 17-year-old girl in hotels a couple of days at a time and one of the girls was forced to provide sexual services. http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/02/05/calgary-cops-bust-human-trafficking-ring-after-young- women-held-against-their-will

Charges have been laid against three people involved in human trafficking. Daniel Erhabor, 26, has been charged with several offences including human trafficking. A 37-year-old woman told police that she had been forced to have sex with her pimp as well as other clients. Ricardo Joseph, 30, and Cynthia Kindoko, 25, are also charged with several offences, those of which include human trafficking.

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http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/human-trafficking-charges-laid-against-3-calgarians- 1.2663472

Amanda Kathleen McGee, 31, is facing human trafficking charges for allegedly extorting her female roommate into working in the sex trade. The alleged victim, 18, became McGee’s roommate. McGee allegedly began to drug the alcoholic drinks that the two would consume. As well, McGee allegedly took inappropriate photos of the victim without her consent or knowledge and used the photos to extort her into participating in sex acts for money. The victim was told that the photos would be shown to family and friends if she did not cooperate. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/sex-trafficking-extortion-charges-laid-against-woman- 1.2607144

St. Paul, Alberta (2011) An Alberta company, Kihew Energy Services Ltd. has been charged with the alleged human smuggling and trafficking of 60 foreign nationals. The Alberta company used the fake enrollment at Lakeland College to bring in the men, which resulted in earning the firm over a million dollars. Rather than having the men go to Lakeland College, they were hired out to various companies for high wages, however the workers themselves received much lower pay. Kihew allegedly charged the Alberta businesses $24 per hour while only paying the workers between $10 and $12 per hour. Kihew Energy was fined a sentence of $215, 000. While three individuals were charged with human trafficking, the company pled guilty to lesser charges of human smuggling. The human trafficking charges were dropped. http://www.allianceagainstmodernslavery.org/sites/default/files/October%209%202012%20press %20release.pdf

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