Public Safety Canada 2014 Report on Trafficking of Aboriginal Women and Girls

In the most recent Weekly Checklist of federal government publications,  a research report on the trafficking of aboriginal women and girls is listed.

It was authored in 2014 by Red Willow Consulting Inc. for Public Safety Canada:

"Interviews were conducted between October 2013 and February 2014 with front-line support agencies, service organizations, subject matter experts and police agencies. The research questions focused on how Aboriginal women and girls are being trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation, with a focus on how gangs or kinship relationships contribute to the trafficking situation."

"This research did confirm that the trafficking of Aboriginal women and girls by family members has been reported as occurring in parts of Canada. Subject matter experts are divided on the frequency or, sometimes even the occurrence, of this type of trafficking within their sphere of expertise (be it geographical or with a particular client population). Gangs have also reportedly been involved in the trafficking of Aboriginal women and girls. These gangs are generally less sophisticated street gangs or groups of co-offenders who may constitute a criminal-type organization. Women and girls tend to be recruited by various methods, including coercion through 'love' and domestic violence, which means at times women are not aware they are being trafficked."

"The socio-economic determinants of sexual exploitation and trafficking tend to result from factors such as the legacy of physical and sexual abuse experienced in the residential school system, dispossession of identity and culture via the Indian Act, violence, racism and the marginalization of Aboriginal women resulting in loss of culture, low self-esteem, poverty, and in a heightened vulnerability to being trafficked. Addictions among the victims of trafficking appears to be widespread, and are often the result of either being introduced to drugs as a method of control or are used to escape the harsh realities of being exploited."

"Participants in this study have offered potential ways of reducing the harm of trafficking Aboriginal women and girls that include using coordinated local, regional and national approaches to address not only the root causes of vulnerability to trafficking, but also provide better coordination among police, Aboriginal organizations, NGOs and the government."

The Weekly Checklist includes a listing of titles made available by the Parliament of Canada, federal departments, and Statistics Canada to the Depository Services Program for distribution to a network of Depository Libraries in Canada and abroad.