Women in Focus: Human Trafficking in Canada Targeting Marginalized Women

Gender 305 Gender and International Human Rights

In this episode students focus on human trafficking in Canada, exploring how women are suppressed emotionally, spiritually, and physically which can inhibit them from reaching out for help, and from speaking up on their issues and experiences. Students explore how Indigenous women don't feel comfortable coming forward due to authority and distrust within prosecution and feel fearful or ashamed due to it being taboo. The main goal is to give publicity to this issue, and bring awareness to how colonial institutions within Canada neglect Indigenous women and girls leading them into unsafe situations. Unstable unaffordable housing, child welfare system, racism with the justice/penal system.

References:
Meaningful and Personal Reports: Sierra and Heidi Marshall

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/human-
trafficking-ontario-indigenous-akwesasne-survivor-2023-1.6760973

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/indigenous-women-trafficking-sexual-exploitatio
n-1.6373597
Reports identified that sex labor trafficking are the most common forms of human trafficking in
Canada
https://www.canadiancentretoendhumantrafficking.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/ENG-Hu
man-Trafficking-Trends-in-Canada-%E2%80%93-2019-20-Report-Final-1.pdf
Indigenous women and girls; migrants and new immigrants; 2SLGBTQI+ persons; children and
youth in the child welfare system; those who are socially or economically disadvantaged: and
factors such as
language barriers, working in isolated/remote areas, lack of access to services and support
Indigenous women are disproportionately affected by racialized violence in Canada through
exposure to both historic and ongoing gender discrimination
https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/421/JUST/Brief/BR10002955/br-external/
NativeWomensAssociationOfCanada-e.pdf
Quote: “Trafficking in person, also known as human trafficking, is often described as a
modern-day form
of slavery that is thought to affect every country worldwide either as a point or origin or
destination”
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2022001/article/00010-eng.htm

https://bright.uvic.ca/d2l/le/content/308201/viewContent/2428290/View
https://bright.uvic.ca/d2l/le/content/308201/topics/files/download/2428289/DirectFileTopicDo
wnload
Page 264 (paragraph 2) and page 267 (paragraph 1)
https://bright.uvic.ca/d2l/le/content/308201/viewContent/2428291/View