FIND ORIGINAL LETTER ON ACTION CANADA

November 17, 2023

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2

Subject: Feminist Organizations Joint Appeal for Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau,

We, the undersigned, a coalition of feminist, gender justice, and human rights organizations, come together to add our collective voice, echoing the concerns of Canadians and advocates worldwide. The escalating death toll in the Palestine and Israel region demands immediate attention and action. We implore the Canadian Government to wield its influence forcefully, demanding an immediate ceasefire in the occupied Gaza Strip and Israel. We call on our government to join the international effort to monitor the ceasefire. The time for decisive action is now. Peace, human rights, and gender equality are imperatives that must inform the Canadian response to these current events, consistent with Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy. The path of militarization leads to heightened violence, especially gender-based violence, and obstructs access to critical resources, including healthcare. Women, children, and LGBTQ+ people are disproportionately vulnerable in times of conflict. As unwavering advocates for human rights and gender equality across diverse communities, we call on Canada to prioritize the well-being of affected communities. It’s time to champion peace, equality, and the safeguarding of human rights.

The call for “pauses” does not adequately address the urgent need to save lives and alleviate the immediate and critical humanitarian crisis unfolding in the region.

Reports of civilian casualties, widespread trauma and injuries, individuals left without adequate medical care, and the dire conditions faced by vulnerable populations, including infants in incubators, children, pregnant women, those about to give birth or immediately post-partum, LGBTQ+ people and disabled people, compel us to appeal for immediate and decisive action to bring about a ceasefire. As the world witnesses the widespread suffering, injuries, and loss of lives among civilians, including thousands of children, it is our responsibility as feminist, gender justice, and human rights organizations to call on you to take a clear and decisive stance.

Furthermore, we request that Canada actively makes every possible effort to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the affected areas in Gaza and support the safe return of hostages to their families. The urgency of the situation demands swift and decisive action to ensure that medical facilities receive the necessary support to treat the injured and that essential supplies such as food, water, fuel, medical supplies, reach those in need.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. As advocates committed to the principles of gender equality and to the protection of human rights, we earnestly implore our government, which proudly identifies itself as feminist, to align its actions with these professed values. We trust that you will consider this joint appeal with the gravity it deserves.

Sincerely,

• Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights
• AGIR Outaouais
• AIDS Coalition of Nova Scotia
• Amnesty International Canada English Speaking Section
• Avalon Sexual Assault Centre
• Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic
• Birth Mark
• Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity
• Canadian Council of Muslim Women
• Canadian Women’s Foundation
• Cape Breton Centre for Sexual Health
• Child Care Now (Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada)
• Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice
• DisAbled Women’s Network of Canada||Réseau d’action des femmes handicapées du Canada
• Ending Violence Association of Canada
• Fédération du Québec pour le planning des naissances
• FemDev Consulting
• Grounded Doula Services
• Halifax Sexual Health Centre
• Klinic Community Health
• Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak
• National Right to Housing Network
• New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity
• Niagara Reproductive Justice
• Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI)
• Oxfam Canada
• Planned Parenthood NL Sexual Health Centre
• Planned Parenthood Regina
• Planned Parenthood Toronto
• Sexual Assault Services of Saskatchewan
• Sexual Health Nova Scotia
• South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario
• The Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS)
• The Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women/ L’Institut canadien de recherches sur les femmes (CRIAW-ICREF)
• The Obstetric Justice Project
• Women’s Centre for Social Justice (WomenatthecentrE)
• Women’s Shelters Canada
• YWCA Halifax

CC: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly

Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, Marci Ien

August 18, 2021

YWCA Halifax staff and participants are still reeling from yesterday’s events.  Our team has been supporting people in the encampments.  Our team joined with loved ones outside of the police station to help try to coordinate access to legal counsel for those detained during the confrontations with police.  Our team worked with the many other non-profits in our city to come together and coordinate a plan of response.  Like many of you, we were caught off guard by the lack of coordination with community agencies and the inability to pursue a peaceful path.

What needs to happen now:

• All summary offence tickets should be erased.  Fining people with no resources is outrageous.
• All charges against those who were arrested and held in police custody should be dropped.  
• A review of actions of police, particularly the indiscriminate use of pepper spray, must be conducted.
• A review of the unconstitutional refusal by police to allow those detained to have access to legal counsel must be conducted.  
• Resources must be leveraged to allow for a full enumeration of all those who have been scattered, assessing their current housing and needs.
• Resources must be leveraged to support all those in need of housing to access safe, self-determined shelter.
• A lived experience advisory committee resourced and convened by city council to inform council and administration.
• A full and public accounting of the decision-making process that lead to yesterday’s events.

If you are in need of legal or housing support as a result as a result of yesterday’s events, please reach out to us. We are working with our partners and are here for you.

YWCA Halifax recognizes that trans, Two Spirit and gender diverse communities are impacted severely by gender-based violence, and face significant barriers to safety, health, rights, and well-being. We recognize that we, as a service providing organization, have a responsibility to provide inclusive and affirming services to trans, Two Spirit and gender diverse communities, and that this responsibility extends to both each and every one of our team members, as well as our organization as a whole.

We acknowledge that we are imperfect, and that we will make mistakes throughout this work. We commit to learning from our mistakes and putting in the necessary time and energy to learn and change practices, procedures, and policies to further our commitment to trans inclusion.

We recognize that trans, Two Spirit and gender diverse liberation is fundamentally connected to, and inseparable from, the liberation of women (cis or trans), anti-racism, dismantling colonialism and supporting those most impacted by violence. We are committed to an intersectional approach in all aspects of our work.

YWCA Halifax is committed to:

• Embedding trans, Two Spirit and gender diverse inclusion in every aspect of our work, as a core value and practice of our organization.
• Working in solidarity with trans, Two Spirit and gender diverse communities to advocate for our mutual and collective liberation, and towards a world in which our safety, rights, and health are fully protected.
• Continuing our own learning, unlearning and growth, across our staff team, volunteers, board members and with our partner organizations.
• Continuously reviewing our policies, practices and procedures to ensure they align with our values and our commitment to trans inclusion.
• Continuing to build relationships of trust and reciprocity with 2SLGBTQ+, trans, Two Spirit and gender diverse communities, community leaders and organizations.

Our expectations, for ourselves, our staff and our volunteers:

• Create space for trans, Two Spirit and gender diverse communities to access gendered and non-gendered programming that best meets their needs, at their discretion, wherever and whenever possible.
• Model best practices with regards to pronouns, including by disclosing their own pronouns, and providing opportunities for program participants and others interacting with the YWCA Halifax team to disclose their own pronouns. YWCA Halifax staff are expected to respect the chosen names and pronouns of all people.
• Review and adjust practices and procedures across their respective programs and departments, to ensure proactive inclusion of trans people, and to ensure that trans experiences are factored into program design and delivery.
• Identify and respond to situations of transphobia, transmisogyny and cissexism as they arise, with any and all audiences they encounter in their official capacity as employees or members of YWCA Halifax.

Our Vision for Trans Inclusion at YWCA Halifax

• Trans, Two Spirit and gender diverse people are well-represented within our staff, board of directors and volunteer teams.
• Trans, Two Spirit and gender diverse people are guaranteed a fully inclusive and affirming experience, to the greatest extent possible, whenever interacting with YWCA Halifax team members, and when accessing services or programs through YWCA Halifax.
• Our programs and services are reflective of the unique needs of trans, Two Spirit and gender diverse communities.
• YWCA Halifax is recognized as trans inclusive by members of our local trans, Two Spirit and gender diverse communities.

How our work began

• YWCA Halifax formed a Trans Inclusion Committee (TIC) in January 2020 to coordinate and strengthen our efforts on trans inclusion. The TIC has worked internally to build capacity, amend policies, and otherwise improve YWCA Halifax’s inclusion of trans, Two Spirit and gender diverse communities.
• In 2020, YWCA Halifax, through the Trans Inclusion Committee, retained a consulting firm with expertise in trans, Two Spirit and gender diverse inclusion to support YWCA Halifax’s efforts on trans inclusion. In 2020 and 2021, a series of capacity building sessions were hosted with all members of the YWCA Halifax staff team. These sessions were followed by multiple in-depth conversations across different YWCA teams to build capacity, increase confidence, and develop concrete skills to more effectively support trans, Two Spirit and gender diverse communities.
• YWCA Halifax has also developed a new onboarding process that emphasizes our commitment to trans inclusion, through a trans inclusion training video, and a series of resources made available to both incoming and current staff members, to facilitate their continued growth and skill development on trans inclusion.
• We have also begun a process to review eligibility criteria for gender-based programs, to ensure inclusivity of trans, non-binary, Two Spirit and gender diverse participants, alongside a review of our policies and procedures, and our website, to ensure our commitment to trans inclusion is woven through all aspects of our work.

Our work has just begun, and we acknowledge that we must take the necessary time to build trusting relationships with trans, Two Spirit and gender diverse communities. We are committed to continuing to build our capacity on trans inclusion, within our collective understanding that we cannot purport to support those impacted by gender-based violence, if we are not intentionally and comprehensively inclusive of trans, Two Spirit and gender diverse communities.

By Charlene Gagnon and Miia Suokonautio, YWCA Halifax

The 2021 Statistics Canada report on police-reported rates of Trafficking in Persons charges found the rate for Nova Scotia increased by more than 400% from 2018 to 2019 (from 1.0 incidents for every 100,000 to 5.3) and is more than three times the national average (1.4 in 2019).

An increase in reported crime rates is typically seen as a bad thing.  But what if we know that underreporting of a crime is pervasive? 

A reliance on crime rate reporting as an indicator of safe communities misses how systemic misogyny, racism, and trauma actually work.  Victims fear for their safety and often cite a process that is overwhelming and re-traumatizing.  Sexual violence, intimate partner violence, and slavery in particular are chronically underreported because victims must also serve as witnesses in an adversarial criminal justice system where their credibility is fair game.  For this reason, for example, it is difficult to prosecute the rape of a sex worker or the violence enacted on a woman who has herself been charged of child abuse.

While at first glance alarming, is the increase in police-reported rates of human trafficking in Nova Scotia actually an indication of improvements in our system as a whole?  In other words, are we maybe on the right track?

For context, since 2016, communities across Nova Scotia have been mobilizing to address human trafficking and other forms of commercial sexual exploitation including child pornography and the exchange of sex for basic needs including rent and transportation.  YWCA Halifax convenes the Trafficking and Exploitation Services System (TESS), currently made up of 184 individuals from 81 agencies across the province.  The YWCA is also co-chair with the Province of Nova Scotia of a provincial Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Youth Committee, with representation from multiple departments and community agencies.

Over the past five years, the YWCA has trained over 2,000 people to be detectors of sexual exploitation, to identify warning signs, to support disclosures, and to report to officials when appropriate or required.  We’ve deployed a provincial team of peer outreach workers to work alongside victims, survivors, and families, including when they are pressing charges or participating in investigations and trials.

In Nova Scotia, positions specific to human trafficking have been created within law enforcement and the justice system; we now have a dedicated provincial investigation team, a dedicated Crown prosecutor, and dedicated provincial victim services navigators. There has also been an investment in research which has led to the creation of specialized social services within child welfare and the community sector.  Wrap-around case management and a survivor peer network are currently in development.

In short, over the past five years, a foundation of support for victims of human trafficking in Nova Scotia has been laid and the rising rates of police-reported incidents lead us to cautiously hope that it is solid.

To add mortar to this same foundation, we were thrilled to learn that starting this fall, learning outcomes related to the commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth will be delivered as part of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development’s Healthy Living 7 core program for grades 7 to 9 and compulsory for all students.  This gap in youth education and awareness was one of the first issues identified by TESS partners in 2017 and there have been many people working for such a change to take place.  We are looking forward to collaborating with the Department of Education on supporting the development of lesson materials and training for educators across our province.  Prevention through education remains key as youth are on average only 13 years old when first trafficked.

Lastly, it behooves us all to remember that police-reported human trafficking rates do not reflect the true prevalence of these crimes.  Rather, these numbers serve as a testament to the courage of victims who come forward and their trust in a system to support them as they seek remedy and exit. 

While still shocking, Nova Scotia’s numbers are evidence that we are no longer blind to the problem of human trafficking.  We see.  We believe. We support.