The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

3 | Friday, M arch 3, 2017 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www .insideHALT0N.com Human tra ffic k in g a grow ing problem in Canada and H alton continued from p .l "Human trafficking is a growing problem in Canada, a growing problem in Ontario. Agencies are now beginning to recognize and pay attention to what has been happening for years in our region and coun try" said Cindy Stover, SAVIS of Halton and chair of HCAHT. According to the Canadian Women's Foundation, Ontario has become a significant hub for human trafficking and sex ual violence in Canada. Most victims are underage girls and young women. Citing a statistic from the Royal Canadian Mounted Po lice (RCMP), Stover noted 90 per cent of human trafficking in Canada is domestic, with a "disproportionate" number of indigenous women and girls. "Itk really important to be aware of the vulnerabilities, not in a fear-mongering way but ensuring we're making sure our communities are safe for domes tic, as well as international, indi viduals," said Stover. In 2016, the DMU conduct ed 73 investigations, laid 68 criminal charges, made 16 ar rests and rescued nine female youths aged 14-21 years. Also, 76 interventions, with those involved in the industry, were handled by Halton police. In Halton, trafficking for commercial sexual exploita tion frequently occurs in hotels along the Hwy 401 and 403 corridors, according to police. The new group outlined how its service could be used locally and how educational presentations can be shared in the communities. Halton Police Chief Stephen Tanner reaffirmed police com mitment to fully investigating "In our region, there either wasn't enough knowledge around how to provide that service, or it wasn't done in an appropriate way, or they were piggybacking onto other ser vices available..." said Stover. Jane Bottomley, a charge nurse at Nina's Place, a regional sexual assault and domestic violence care centre in Halton, said being a part of the col laboration is an opportunity to deliver much support, educa tion and health care in a "non judgemental, respectful, caring and sensitive way." "It has been important to us to be a member of the col laborative, in order to bring awareness to the public, to help develop a policy that sup ports and protects individuals who are exploited and/or traf ficked, as well as provide ser vices, resources and referrals they require," said Bottomley. Stover said the future of the collaboration extends beyond the creation of the client-cen tred support model and it will address two gaps in Halton services. Housing, staffed and pro gram-specific for survivors, will be pursued, as well as case management, particularly front-line workers. For more information, visit www.savisofhalton.org. For related story, see p.8 Cindy Stover human trafficking and offer ing comprehensive support to victims. He said the catalyst to change is awareness, as it "spurs action." "Our approach is not, and can never be, single-faceted. Human trafficking and the impacts of human trafficking, emotional and otherwise, are complex," said Tanner. "It is why we work closely with our internationally-rec ognized victim services unit to provide the necessary care and resources to help those affected by it, with a path to heal and to move forward with both dig nity and purpose." Skwarka said the unit fo cuses on the "extraction and prevention" of young people being exploited and drawn into human trafficking. "This is not an issue we're immune to. We are one of the biggest corridors heading into the U.S., where there are love hotels, restaurants. It' s accessi ble to both traffickers and con sumers in the sexual industry," said Skwarka. The goal of HCAHT is to lead Det. Sgt. Raf Swarka the development of a support model to support survivors of human trafficking in Halton and surrounding areas, raise awareness of human traffick ing regionally through public education and awareness pre sentations and to share finding of the project to support prov ince- and country-wide efforts to counter human trafficking in Canada. Speakers at the media con ference included Halton police officers, community group rep resentatives and human traf ficking survivors, one of whom shared a story through a dra matic performance. The HCAHT collaboration features more than 25 Haltonbased agencies that support or could support survivors. "We want wrap-around ser vice to be happening for survi vors in the region," said Stover. A group of agencies rec ognized the local need for a "strategic response to provide adequate services to survi vors," Stover said, which is how HCAHT came to fruition in 2015. Join H illfie ld S tra th a lla n College fo r M a rch Break! To learn m ore, call 905-389-1367, o r v is it w w w .hsc.o n.ca today. M in is t r y - A p p r o v e d B D E C o u r s e P r o v id e r WINTER PROMO :$ 8 4 0 S C $ 6 1 9 47 D R IV E W IS E Good d riv e rs a r e n 't bo rn, th e y 'r e built Enrol On Line F o r A n y M a r c h O r A p r il C o u r s e M arch B re a k A p r il W e e k e n d 13, 14, 15,16 1, 2 , 8 , 9 w w w .d riv e w is e o a k v ille .c o m