Our Story

Position Statement

GAATW Canada’s work is rooted in several guiding principles. This is our platform for a more just Canadian society to prevent, reduce, and address human trafficking and promote the rights of individuals who are trafficked and at-risk groups.

‘Trafficking’ and the labour exploitation of individuals must be understood in the context of neoliberal capitalism, patriarchal social attitudes, gender inequity in labour markets, increasingly restrictive immigration policies, weakening of labour rights, systemic racism, and impacts of climate change-related conditions that drive migration.

Currently, anti-trafficking rhetoric largely ignores these macro socio-economic realities and instead focuses on individuals (e.g., traffickers, victims). This focus often results in disempowering, short-sighted services for individuals who are at risk or trafficked in Canada.

We acknowledge the limitations and harms of Canada’s law and order trafficking framework and aim to shift protectionist and criminalization approaches to approaches that respect individual agency and labour rights.

GAATW Canada commits to action and advocacy to make concrete political and social change in the anti-trafficking landscape across Canada.

We embed an intersectional non-discrimination lens in all our work. This means we do not discriminate on any grounds, including race, ethnicity, descent, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, immigration status, birth or other status, or occupation (including work in the informal sectors such as domestic work and sex work, among others).

We employ the highest degree of accountability in our work to encourage a more transparent and effective use of anti-trafficking funding, resources, and statistics among all anti-trafficking stakeholders in Canada.

This statement does not address specific issues of child or youth exploitation or trafficking. It is not our intention to exclude these serious issues; rather, GAATW Canada acknowledges that child and youth exploitation and adult exploitation are different issues, and we specifically focus on adult labour exploitation and trafficking.

Board of Directors

Since 1997, she has been involved in various collaborative research projects that examine Canadian state policies and practices as they relate to trafficking in persons and irregular cross-border movements as well as the impact of anti-trafficking policies on sex workers’ rights in Canada.

I joined GAATW Canada’s Board to continue my decades-long work with the organization.

 

I hope that I can continue to shape the direction of GAATW Canada’s work that is in line with the principles that drive the work of GAATW’s International Secretariat and the global alliance.

Leigh has also conducted community-based research on sex work, housing, gender-based violence and violence prevention.

I joined GAATW Canada’s Board because I believe there needs to be a national voice that speaks from an evidence-based framework on the topic of human trafficking.

 

I hope the impact of GAATW Canada will be to help propel a movement to change the conversation around human trafficking, to end the conflation between sex work and human trafficking, and to advocate for labour rights in all sectors.

Dr. Kaye’s work also examines settler-colonialism and colonial gendered violence and racialized policing as well as harm reduction, consent, and body sovereignty.

I joined GAATW Canada’s Board because I was honoured early in my education to benefit from learning from the critical anti-trafficking work of GAATW. This foundational education has been essential to my relations with community and I look forward to supporting future generations of community leaders through GAATW Canada.

Jenny has held numerous executive level and academic positions. Currently, she is living between St. John’s, Newfoundland and Halifax, Nova Scotia and working primarily through her private practice, the Landing Services, a counselling and training agency she co-founded in 2021.

I joined GAATW because we need a national voice in Canada to counter the harms of the human trafficking narrative, with evidence-based research, advocacy and dialogue. I believe this will be the impetus for new policy and practices rooted in labour rights for women in sex work, migrant labour, and other industries.

 

It is my hope that my passion for innovative governance and decades of work fighting gender-based violence will advance GAATW Canada’s mission.

Her research is grounded in academic-community collaborations that speak to priorities identified by migrant and minority communities, such as the dehumanization of domestic workers, harms produced by the anti-trafficking industry, the impact of social difference in sex work, the trajectory of migrant remittances, cultural production and dynamics that support or hinder social change for migrant communities.

I joined GAATW Canada’s Board to support the rights and well-being of sex workers, migrant workers, migrants and other communities that have been borne the brunt of repressive anti-trafficking measures.

Much of her reporting focuses on labour, equity and human rights, and her academic work has focused on equity policy, gender representation and labour rights. She also has an extensive background in community media (print and radio), labour organizing and queer/trans activism.

I joined GAATW Canada’s Board because of its strong reputation for countering harmful anti-sex worker, anti-migrant trafficking narratives and its important evidence-based research and advocacy work in expanding the rights of precaritized workers and equity-denied groups.

Jonny is an uninvited queer settler living in Winnipeg.

They have consulted on and advised research projects related to sex work, exploitation, and harm reduction. With over 25 years of experience in harm reduction work, Jonny currently serves as the Winnipeg Coordinator for the Manitoba Harm Reduction Network. They are also a member of the Sex Workers of Winnipeg Action Coalition and ACT UP (Winnipeg), and chair the Winnipeg Regional Team for Tricia’s Trust. Jonny holds a degree in Criminal Justice with a concentration in activism.

I joined GAATW Canada’s Board because I am passionate about transformative work within systems and fully believe being a shit disturber is an act of love.