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 Page 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. 1 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