The Ontario government has announced a call for applications for funding from a new program to help protect indigenous victims of human trafficking.
The Indigenous-Led Initiatives Fund will increase supports and protection for indigenous survivors, as well as those at risk of human trafficking.
In a recent announcement, the government said the invitation for participants comes on the heels of consultations with more than 50 indigenous organizations around the province, which were asked for advice on how the fund could support survivors, their families and their communities.
Just under $10 million will be provided over three years.
The application deadline is June 8.
Services expected to be enhanced under the program include improved access to help for trafficking victims in urban, remote, fly-in and northern indigenous communities; innovative community initiatives to prevent at-risk individuals from being trafficked; engagement with survivors of trafficking to plan and implement supports.
Ontario accounts for nearly 70 per cent of police-reported human trafficking cases across Canada. Within Ontario, indigenous females are among the most targeted populations for trafficking.
The province's overall strategy to end human trafficking province-wide includes up to $72 million to increase awareness and coordination, enhance initiatives in the justice sector, and improve survivors' access to services.
Indira Naidoo-Harris, Minister of the Status of Women, last month identified Thunder Bay as one of six human trafficking hubs in the province.
She said "these hubs are linked to form a corridor where people are recruited and moved around...Far from home, without money or transportation or familiar surroundings, they lose their sense of place and identity" and have nowhere to turn, no future, except a future possibly with their trafficker.
In a related development, the Ontario Native Women's Association is now in the process of hiring a full-time Indigenous Anti-Human Trafficking Liaison in Thunder Bay.
The posting for the position states that the individual who is hired will work with the community to provide targeted service-planning and deliver supports to indigenous agencies, as well as assist non-indigenous agencies to provide culturally appropriate services to survivors of human trafficking.
In February, the government announced that ONWA had been selected to deliver the Indigenous Anti-Human Trafficking Liaisons Program in areas known for trafficking, including Thunder Bay, Toronto, Windsor, Ottawa and remote areas identified through consultations with ONWA and other indigenous partners.
