Saturday, July 30th, marks the United Nations’ World Day against Trafficking in Persons. Migrants and immigrants, and newcomer women in particular, are among the populations most susceptible to human trafficking.

In 2017, the Association for New Canadians noticed a significant increase in the number of newcomers in Newfoundland and Labrador who had been directly or indirectly impacted by human trafficking pre-, during and post- migration. According to Statistics Canada, the number of human trafficking incidents reported in 2019 marked a 44% increase from the previous year.

The ANC’s Support Empower Access (SEA) project was conceived as an instrument to mitigate this issue, with a project commitment to Net Zero Human Trafficking in NL. A Peer Leadership Group (PLG) of newcomer women informs the project through a survivor-led, newcomer-focused and culturally competent lens.

On July 30, the World Day against Trafficking in Persons, the SEA project is:
• Gathering recommendations from the PLG to inform a province-wide anti-human trafficking (including sex and labor exploitation) agenda concerning newcomer migrants and immigrants. These recommendations will be workshopped with our SEA Council stakeholders including service providers, police, and other partners.
• Celebrating the PLG’s submission of an artwork to the MUN Botanical Garden’s Doorways to the Garden exhibit. Contributing to the city’s cultural scene empowered the women; they hope to raise awareness of the issue via the artwork, which shows a trafficked migrant woman walking from a place of anguish toward a door of hope and freedom.

The SEA project is funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada.