February 22 is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, a day to bring awareness to this horrific crime in Canada and around the world. The Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking commends those who are recognizing this day, advocating on behalf of victims and survivors and taking actions necessary to end this human rights abuse.
We are marking this day by providing an update on the progress that is being made in implementing Canada’s first National Human Trafficking Hotline.
This past fall, The Centre officially established a partnership with the global hotline experts at Polaris, who have been operating the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline for over 10 years. Learning from Polaris’ experience in successfully partnering with helplines in the UK and Mexico, The Centre is on target to officially launch the hotline in early 2019.
The Canadian hotline will adapt Polaris’ successful eradication-orientated approach to the human trafficking circumstances in Canada by:
- Responding to victims of trafficking effectively and immediately and providing resources to survivors of trafficking and the public;
- Equipping partners and civil society with the resources, data and knowledge needed to address and prevent human trafficking; and
- Disrupting human trafficking networks through widespread, targeted campaigns.
The Centre’s vision includes fostering collaboration and knowledge transfer among experts on human trafficking at the national, provincial and municipal levels, furthering public education and awareness efforts, and advancing a national policy and research agenda spurred by hotline data and supporting analytics.
The Centre’s Partnership Specialists are currently focused on establishing connections with front-line service providers and the law enforcement community. This outreach process will establish the referral protocols and partnerships necessary to ensure that the hotline has a robust, immediate response for callers.
Our work has not gone unrecognized. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Toronto Police Service have supported our work in establishing the hotline and we continue to have conversations with these and other important stakeholders across the country.
Ralph Goodale, Canada’s Public Safety Minster, says: “Human trafficking is an abhorrent attack on human dignity and basic human rights. The Government of Canada is proud to work with the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking and other partners to bring those who commit this crime to justice and to help survivors go on to lead healthy and productive lives.”
Human trafficking doesn’t stop at jurisdictional boundaries and that is why a national hotline is crucial for our country. The Centre is committed to helping to restore freedom to all persons who find themselves victims of this human rights abuse. We recognize that all persons across Canada, no matter where they are, should have the ability to access this critical pathway to support if needed.
written by: Barbara Gosse, CEO, Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking