The Salvation Army Advocates for Victims of Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking

With greater resources, more conversation, and increased knowledge, The Salvation Army is raising awareness of modern slavery and human trafficking (MSHT) in Canada.

Divisional, Provincial and Regional MSHT Response Advocates are being set up in every corner of the country, and The Salvation Army is a leading agency in guiding and supporting individuals in exiting a situation that they were forced or tricked into.

By identifying the warning signs that can lead into someone being trafficked, MSHT program staff bring personal lived experience, compassion and understanding to help support women, girls, men and boys from a situation that can be difficult to exit.

The Salvation Army first began working with people with lived experience during the organization’s earliest days in the time of William Booth. As time went on, it was difficult to even identify victims, as the term and concept of modern slavery and human trafficking did not exist as a part of the language. In 1985, The Salvation Army started operating facilities to assist women charged with prostitution-related offences, but staff realized that more was going on in these women’s lives.

“We were recognizing at that point that women and girls were being exploited. People with lived experience were only 16 or 17 years old, but as the story unfolded, it became clear that this was never a choice in what was happening to them,” said Julia Parker, executive director of The Salvation Army Corrections and Justice Services in London.

In 2002, an anti-human trafficking committee was established in London that finally put a name and bring action to a situation and where women were being exploited by others through modern slavery and human trafficking.

The issue of human trafficking is very common in Canada and occurs from coast to coast. The Salvation Army response advocates assist survivors by helping them come to terms with their experiences and move forward positively with dignity and self-respect intact.

In 2022, the Territorial MSHT Response and frontline MSHT Response teams helped 160 survivors leave their human trafficking situation, provided crisis support to 859 victims and survivors, provided 6,329 nights of housing and taught life skills to 446 survivors.

Through education and awareness, the Territorial and frontline MSHT response teams bring awareness to the red flags and warning signs that can lead to women, children and men becoming a modern slavery and human trafficking victim. In Ontario, Toronto Harbour Light Immigrant and Refugee Services incorporates MSHT response into programing for immigrants, refugees, newcomers, and participants of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program, which could lead to exploitation.

London and Surrounding Area Corrections and Justice Services (CJS) operates seven direct MSHT response services and initiatives in Canada for both victims and survivors of MSHT. These include the Phoenix Peer Support Program, Cornerstone Outreach and Prevention Program, the Dignity Drop-In Group, Journey to Justice, Prevention Awareness and Education Supports and the Sex Buyers Accountability Program.

Major Ray Lamont, the Salvation Army’s Territorial MSHT Response Coordinator, shared that in Canada, Indigenous women and girls are overrepresented in domestic sex trafficking. They make up over 50 per cent of those experiencing sexual exploitation despite only making up 4.3 per cent of the population. As well, we see too many migrant workers being exploited for their labour through our country’s Temporary Foreign Workers Program.

“It is never the fault of the individual who is being trafficked and exploited. This is the narrative that The Salvation Army MSHT Response teams are emphasizing and working to change by educating and bring awareness on how to identify the warning signs.”

The Salvation Army’s MSHT response teams also work closely with the LGBTQ2S+ community at risk of being trafficked and to promote access to justice for people in the sex industry who have been sexually assaulted.

To learn more about The Salvation Army’s programs and services to assist, support and protect anyone with a lived experience, or anyone at risk of modern slavery or human trafficking, please visit www.salvationist.ca/human-trafficking. If you suspect someone is a victim of human trafficking, call the Canadian National Human Trafficking Hotline at 833-900-1010.