Public Safety Minister Ellis Launches Anti-Human Trafficking Initiatives
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Summary
Learn English with Minister of Children's Services, Cyril Turton, Minister of Indigenous Services, Paul Brandt, and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services, Mike Ellis, announce $5.5 million in funding under the Alberta's Combating Trafficking in Persons Grant.
Transcript
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I am Deputy Premier and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services, Mike Ellis.
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I want to first acknowledge that we are gathered today on the traditional territory of Signatories
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I also want to acknowledge the Métis people of Alberta who of course have a deep connection
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I'd also like to acknowledge my colleague Minister of Children's Services, Cyril Turton,
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who is here with us today, and Canadian country music superstar Paul Brandt, who is also here
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also here with us today for this announcement. Paul, of course, is the co-chair of the Alberta
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Center to End Trafficking in Persons. I'd also like to personally thank him, of course, for his
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continued advocacy against human trafficking. And today I'm very proud to announce that up to
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$5.5 million in funding is now available under the Alberta's Combating Trafficking in Persons
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grant. This brand new grant is a critical part of Alberta's ongoing efforts to tackle the serious
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crime of human trafficking and support survivors in our province human traffickers prey on the
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most vulnerable members of our society stripping individual freedoms dignity and safety and
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fighting human trafficking requires a multi-faceted approach involving prevention and protection and
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prosecution alberta's government is committed to ending all forms of human trafficking including
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labor and sex trafficking and in 2022 alberta committed to more than 20 million dollars over
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four years to fight human trafficking and to date this has included funding to create the Alberta
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Center to End Human Trafficking of which Paul has done an incredible job in co-chairing as well as
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the targeted support of more than 20 community organizations which I announced in February.
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These efforts have already supported countless victims and survivors providing them with the
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care and resources that they need to heal and rebuild their lives and the Combating Trafficking
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in persons grant builds on this momentum. With 5.5 million in funding available for 24 and 25,
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this program reflects our commitment to addressing trafficking at all levels,
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prevention, victim protection, and of course survivor empowerment. The goal of this grant
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is to provide specialized trauma-informed supports for victims of survivors of human trafficking,
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increased awareness of the challenges faced by victims, and reduce the risk of re-exploitation
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of survivors funding can be used to support victims and survivors along with the continuum of
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services this can include immediate emergency support to help victims exit trafficking as well
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as supports for survivors as they rebuild their lives and navigate long-term challenges we know
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that indigenous people are disproportionately impacted by human trafficking and that's why
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this grant prioritizes projects that are, of course, Indigenous-led or that we meaningfully
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engage with Indigenous communities and survivors and, of course, elders within the community.
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By ensuring Indigenous voices are essential to the solution, we're fostering culturally
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appropriate responses that are going to build strong and resilient communities to organizations,
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nonprofits and community leaders all around. So please take this opportunity to apply for this
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funding. Your work of course is critical to preventing trafficking, protecting those at risk
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and of course empowering survivors to rebuild their lives. Applications are going to be open
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from now right up until January the 20th and in closing I just want to say thank you. I want to
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say thank you to all those individuals and organizations who continue to dedicate themselves
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as to combating trafficking in our communities. Your tireless efforts inspire us all and of course
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they serve as a reminder as to what is possible of course as we work together. So thank you and
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I'd like to now invite Mr Turton up to the podium to say a few remarks. Thank you.
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Well thank you very very much Minister Ellis and good morning everyone. I'd like to begin
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by thanking my colleague as well as country music icon Paul Brandt and every organization
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in the prevention of violence and human trafficking space for all of your efforts to raise awareness
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prevent and put an end to human trafficking as well as to help survivors move forward
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in their healing journey i'm so pleased today that we're taking further steps to help address
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this urgent and important issue by investing in the combating trafficking in persons grant
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for so many albertans it is still hard to imagine that human trafficking occurs here in our province
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it happens quietly taking different forms including sexual exploitation it infiltrates our
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communities our places of work our schools and even our homes before we or its victims have a
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chance to recognize it many of us may not know that our next door neighbor a co-worker a classmate
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a spouse or our very children may have been victims of human trafficking we may not want to
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see it because it's so unfathomable to think that someone would commit such a vicious crime that
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violates another human being's basic human rights and strips them of their dignity sadly as minister
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of children family services these are stories that i hear far too frequently for many individuals
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and organizations who work with survivors of sexual violence and abuse including those who
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have been trafficked it is not their fault but trauma isn't easy for survivors to navigate and
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overcome it can have long lasting impacts on survivors well-being affecting their ability
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to trust form healthy relationships and feel safe in fact i've learned that children in government
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care are 60 percent more likely to be trafficked and that's a staggering stat that we cannot afford
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to act on and that's exactly why it's so important that we continue to build a fulsome network of
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supports to help and empower survivors and prevent this in the future the combating trafficking and
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persons grant will do just that survivors deserve peace of mind that access to vital supports they
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need are available that give them peace of mind that justice will be done and the government is
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making every effort to ensure that no one has to experience human trafficking sexual violence or
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exploitation we are proud to support sexual assault centers women's shelters as well as well as child
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youth advocacy centers and organizations like little warriors who are already doing great work
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to support survivors in their healing journey we know that there is still more work to do which is
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why we're working to support alberta's organizations non-profits and community leaders throughout this
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grant working together to learn about the signs of human trafficking where to report it and how
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to support survivors can help us end it together and i encourage in eligible organizations to apply
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by january 20th for this important grant and i thank you again for your critical work together
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we can build a safer better and brighter future for all to anyone who may be currently experiencing
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human trafficking or sexual violence help is available through alberta's one line for sexual
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violence at 1-866-403-8000 or the 24 7 family violence info line at 310-1818 thank you very
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much and i now like to invite my good friend paul brandt up to the podium
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thank you ministers and thank you so much for being here today thanks to the continued commitment
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of the government of alberta frontline agencies and albertans are being empowered to work
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collaboratively to implement a coordinated response to support survivors of human trafficking
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exit their trafficking situations and have rapid exit to specialized human trafficking specific
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supports and to even prevent it from happening in the first place. The Alberta Centre to End
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Trafficking in Persons envisions a future free from human trafficking and its devastating effects
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on Albertans. It works to unite and empower communities in Alberta to disrupt and prevent
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human trafficking and to support those who've been impacted by any form of trafficking to exit
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and build into the lives that they were intended to live. The Alberta Centre is community-led and
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works alongside government to disrupt and prevent human trafficking, ensuring that there's a unified
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province-wide wraparound community response model which works on behalf of human trafficking
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survivors, victims, and those at risk. The average age of first being trafficked in Canada is 13
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years old. Traffickers make over $280,800 per year per victim. 94% of victims in Canada are Canadian
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and 93 percent are women and girls. Many trafficking victims know their traffickers
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and do not realize that they're victims of force, fraud, and coercion. This requires that data
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sharing, awareness, best practice training, and coordinated efforts are implemented in order to
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counter this horrific crime. The Alberta Centre looks forward to working with the Government of
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Alberta to ensure that this $5.5 million in funding is allocated to community-based organizations
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fostering a consistent, coordinated response to human trafficking in Alberta with a focus
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on enhancing services and strengthening interagency collaboration. Through our collective
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efforts, we will ensure that victims and survivors of all forms of trafficking have access to
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essential wraparound support services as we empower partners and the public to recognize the
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signs of trafficking, intervene appropriately, and connect survivors with the services that they need.
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Thank you. This now brings us to the question and answer portion of our announcement. I would ask
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any reporters in the room to take the mic, just state your name and your outlet, and we'll have
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one question and one follow-up. Hi, Minister Ellis. My name is Jen Hodson from the Western Standard.
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so recently the cbsa union head mark weber came out and said that less than one percent of all
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imports coming into canada are searched and zero are searched when they're coming in by rail
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so this also he said includes products or people could be smuggled into the country so how can
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canada hope for secure borders with a record like that including the alberta initiatives for human
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trafficking and what can be done to fix this problem well the statistics you just gave me
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are extremely concerning quite frankly um but this is why we're not sitting idly by this is why we
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made the announcement that we did yesterday this is why we continue to do what we're doing with
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the center to combat human trafficking um look we're we're doing our part to try to secure the
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border um you know we certainly encourage the federal government to uh um let us know what
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your plan is again i have had conversations i indicated the other day with the cbsa
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along with the the rcmp certainly in the conversations i i had with them i certainly
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felt as though that you know the augmenting and supporting and assistance that we'll be able to
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provide them was welcome news to them okay good and the criminal code indicates that uh traffic
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trafficking convicts get between four years to life sentence when they're caught with human
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trafficking so if all of these vessels coming into canada aren't being checked what do you think
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would actually be a deterrent to these criminals who are participating in human trafficking
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well maybe paul might want to supplement that i know he's done a lot of a lot of work on that
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but i'm just going to say this on a very high level look the soft on crime policies that have
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been put forward by this federal government um have not worked um we have seen organized crime
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not only in this province but throughout Canada, be able to thrive in an environment with little
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to no consequences. This is why we're seeing not small gangs, we are seeing large cartels,
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international cartels that are setting up shop not just here in Alberta but right throughout Canada.
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This is why we continue to support our Alberta law enforcement response team and that coordinated
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effort this is why we are doing what we can to secure the border uh but um look i mean there
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has to be consequences for your actions and uh i would argue um and welcome quite frankly any
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changes the criminal code that would add a bit of a deterrent to especially people who are uh
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smuggling uh humans and and taking advantage of of um typically young people or vulnerable people
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uh that there should be consequences for their their actions but maybe i'll have paul
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supplement this. I know he's done a lot of work on this. Thank you. Thank you, Minister. Thank you
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for your thoughtful questions too. One survivor sprang to mind when you were talking. I'm speaking
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to survivors every day now, very regularly, and because of the damage inflicted on her through
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trafficking in her experience in life, she's a recipient of a double lung transplant. It was
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just absolutely devastating and it has lifelong impacts. I had the privilege of joining the Alberta
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law enforcement response team on an undercover operation recently and we had the uh honestly
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the privilege of being able to go and proactively intervene on behalf of a trafficking survivor
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and she decided that she didn't want to go with us because she was such a victim of force fraud
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and coercion this is a relational crime a lot of trafficking victims know their traffickers and i
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I want to explain the dynamics of of her bondage. She had her traffickers picture on her cell phone
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believing it was her boyfriend and he was controlling her from prison with his cell phone.
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We got to do better. We got to do better for victims of this crime who are bearing the
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consequences of lifelong trauma as a result of people using force fraud and coercion for profit
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in Canada. And I think that through working together and working together with law enforcement
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frontline agencies across jurisdictions and across provincial borders and also the border in the
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south is very important. That's one of the reasons, you know, as mentioned by Minister Ellis, that
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we're fostering our relationships with law enforcement across Canada, with our American
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governmental and law enforcement and border security partners, in order to foster coordination
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and collaboration. Human trafficking doesn't always happen across borders, but the most recent
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recent statistics show that 25% of trafficking inflows in North America are cross-border
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trafficking situations. So it's important for us to focus on this. When we started this work
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with Not In My City seven years ago, we were often met from different agencies across the province
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with the idea that human trafficking doesn't happen here. And we're seeing an awakening
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happening in this province now and you know the the the dismal statistics that you brought um
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i think what it actually does is provide an opportunity for education and awareness
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and that's a part of what the alberta center uh intends to be doing so thank you for that thank you
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hi my name is jenny and i'm with the calgary herald um my question i think is probably suited
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for paul um you know i just wanted to ask you about where the government is in terms of tracking
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routes uh for human trafficking um can you talk about some of the measures taken by the government
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agencies this year to uh shed light on that and maybe even fill gaps through which a lot of these
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people are entering uh the province yeah the so the acronym they use is at ngo so anti-trafficking
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ngos and and i i think that um aside from the work of of the government the the frontline agencies and
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anti-trafficking um uh not-for-profits are are starting to get to the point where we're doing
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better work at collecting the data and actually telling the full data story of what's happening
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with human trafficking, specifically with human trafficking inflows and the direction that
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traffickers are moving victims. The Alberta or sorry, the Canadian Centre to End Trafficking
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has done some excellent work in their corridors report that came out a couple of years ago that
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shows the routes that are often taken and the modes of transportation that are taken
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when victims are being moved by traffickers. It's also important to state that human smuggling and
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human trafficking are two different things. Trafficking specifically, which we're talking
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about today, is force, fraud, and coercion facilitated by a third party. And the reason
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that we know that traffickers are moving victims, in part it's to elude law enforcement, but it's
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also to find different areas that they can go to to actually make more money so you know traffic
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traffickers are often moved from eastern canada into alberta because often they can make more
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money with victims in alberta and and there are predictable routes and we're doing some great work
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i think primarily um recently here in alberta through our partners in um at the alberta sorry
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at the yyc at calgary international airport just in this last few months we've been able to intervene
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and work with and support human trafficking victims and get them back connected with their
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families again and transport them back because of this rapid community wraparound that's happening
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but but the the important part i guess to address your question is knowing that victims are being
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moved by traffickers we're aware of that and we know the routes now it's about creating that
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rapid community response and i think that the sector is doing a really good job of that and
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The most recent yesterday that came out, a UN report on the issue of trafficking shows that 25% of trafficking in North America is actually cross-border trafficking that's happening.
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And we know of incidences that are going south and coming north into Alberta.
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I have a follow-up, but before that, you mentioned that in the last month you had intercepted or at least helped victims.
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Do you have a number of how many victims did you actually support?
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There is, in the last few months, I would say the last two and a half months, there have been four individuals.
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One of the things that is missed in terms of talking about trafficking is labor trafficking.
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I'm curious, you know, what the government is doing in terms of addressing this big issue.
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Well, addressing it, I would say, is very important to us.
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we know that the majority of human trafficking victims in Canada are victims of sex trafficking.
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The international statistic is at 69%. There is obviously a concern for labour trafficking as
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well and that's something that the Alberta Centre is also addressing. I think that when it comes to
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the issue of sex trafficking, labour trafficking, organ trafficking, there are over 21 different
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types of trafficking that have been identified. And there are new forms of trafficking being
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invented almost every day. The important thing to focus on is that this is a degradation of human
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dignity. It's forcing people to do what they normally wouldn't do. And I think that it's
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incredibly important for society to address this issue because what we're doing is we're putting
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of value on human life and so from a labour standpoint this is something that we're also
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engaging with our operational advisory council within the Alberta Centre, engaging all the
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different frontline agencies that are specifically focusing on the issue of labour trafficking to
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ensure that that doesn't fall through the cracks either. Thank you.
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question from mike ellis i'm todd from ctv i thought the uh current chair of the edmonton
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police commission is retiring to portugal john mcdougall's term expires december 31st 2026
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is it okay that he will continue to serve on the commission while living overseas
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uh i think i vaguely had heard that he was moving overseas i know his partner had moved overseas i
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was not aware that he would be forming performing his duties while overseas so it's the first time
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hearing of this my uh my information that's been provided to me i'm happy to get some corrections
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if that is not the case but my understanding is that he will be in edmonton uh while performing
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the duties and that only when he is done and retired will he be moving to Portugal where his
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partner lives. Thank you. Do we have any more questions from the room? Operator, do we have any
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questions on the line? No question at this time. Okay, thank you everyone. This concludes today's