Practice with people who’ve experienced human trafficking : The challenges of intersectoral collaboration

1. Practice with people who’veexperiencedhumantrafficking: The challenges of intersectoral collaboration Jill Hanley et Alexandra Ricard-Guay Université McGill, École de service social

2. Responding to humantrafficking in Québec • Development of services for victims of humantrafficking • Coalitions and partnerships in Canada • Differentmodels and strategies • Positive outcomes and best practices • Challenges, dilemmas and debates

3. Research objectives and methodology Pan-Canadian qualitative research project (funded by Justice Canada 2012-2014) Research objectives: • Better understand existing services and the approaches to intervention • Document local responses and experiences of inter-sectoral collaboration • Identify best practices Methodology: • 80 interviews with individuals in 10 provinces: • Frontline workers (community, police, health and social services, judiciary) • Coalition or collaboration coordinators

5. Intersectoral collaboration:what are wetalking about?

6. Anti-traffickingMosaïc Help Us Help The Children Anti-Trafficking Initiative (HUHTC-ATI) Hope For The Sold International Justice Mission Canada MAST - Men Against Sex Trafficking REED - Resist Exploitation Embrace Dignity The Ratanak Foundation Future Group Temple Committee Against Human Trafficking Canada Fights Human Trafficking Ontario Coalition AgainstHumanTrafficking Stop the Trafficking Coalition PACT – Ottawa CATHII CommunityYouth Network (CYN) / Coalition Against the Sexual Exploitation of Youth (CASEY) Rotary Club of Toronto Women’s Initiative Domestic Human Trafficking Project Canadian Women Foundation national task force on human trafficking Anti-trafficking Committee/Network of the Canadian Council for Refugees • Alliance Against Modern Slavery • Beyond Borders (ECPAT Canada)/ Au-delà des frontières • Chab Dai Canada • Canada fights human trafficking • Defend Dignity • End Modern Slavery - Canadian Advocacy • Face It Canada :  Take a stand against human trafficking • FREE-THEM • Half the Sky/Les Affranchies • Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW- Canada) • Hamilton Ends Human trafficking • Stop Child TraffickingNow • HumanTraffickingAwarenessPartnership • Sarnia Lambton CommitteeAgainst the Trafficking of Women and Children

7. National • Provincial • Regional • Municipal and • Local • Gouvernmental • Community • Formal/Informal

8. British Columbia: Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons OCTIP (2007) • Alberta: Action Coalition on HumanTrafficking (2007) • Manitoba: Tracia’s Trust: Manitoba’sSexual Exploitation Strategy (2002) • Ontario: • WeFight: Windsor Essex Fighting the International Growth of Human Trafficking (2004) • Ottawa Coalition to End Human Trafficking (2011) • London Anti-HumanTraffickingCommittee • Toronto Counter Human Trafficking Network (2011) • Coalition Against Human Trafficking (2011) • Québec: Coalition québécoise contre la traite des personnes (2011) • New-Brunswick : New Brunswick HumanTraffickingTask Force (2007) • Nova Scotia: Nova ScotiaCommittee on HumanTrafficking • Prince Edward Island: PEI HumanTraffickingCommittee • Newfoundland: Newfoundland HumanTraffickingCommittee (2007)

9. Mandates and keyactivities • Exchange of information on trafficking trends and related to specific cases. • Mutual referrals and sharing of resources to support victims (more efficient use of existing services within the community) • Coordination of services, including case management • Public education and training of frontline workers and policymakers • Rights advocacy and promotion of policies that support victims of human trafficking

10. Intersectoral collaboration: putting itinto practice

11. Positive outcomes of collaboration • Mobilisation and development of collaboration between organizations who previously worked in silos; • Among frontline workers, better knowledge of existing resources, development of personal relationships that support referrals; • Development of trust between sectors unused to working together (police/community) • Facilitation of referrals along a continuum of services across several sectors • Development of tools adapted to local needs

12. Main challenges facinginter-sectoral collaboration • Lack of resources • Time and human resources • Sustainability of initiatives • Developing trust between different sectors • Understanding the limits and possibility of different groups’ mandates • Respecting confidentiality and the limits of some types of information exchange • Differences related to the definition of human trafficking and the language used around it • Huge diversity of actors; sometimes “too many cooks in the kitchen” • Communication

13. GoingforwardwithIntersectoral collaboration

14. So what are the best practices related to intersectoral collaboration? • Signing clear collaboration agreements? • Having one point of entry for services, or many? • Having the coalition take on case management? • Having a permanent office with dedicated paid staff? • Finding the resources?

15. Conclusion: collaboration iskey but the debates and dilemmas are far from over • Prostitution = trafficking? • Sexual exploitation vs. Forced work • Trafficking-specific services or integration with other issues? • International vs. internal trafficking • Degree of cooperation between community and police? • Have victims of trafficking become the “deserving undocumented”? Immigration hardlines • Does attention on trafficking take attention/resources/public sympathy away from other groups? • To what extent is the term “trafficking” even useful?!?

16. Merci!/Thankyou! Jill Hanley: jill.hanley@mcgill.ca Alexandra Ricard-guay: alexandra.ricard-guay@mail.mcgill.ca; aricard@cathii.org