HELPING WOMEN
Tory MPP takes on traffickers
Citing Ontario as a “hot spot” for human trafficking in Canada, Ontario’s associate minister of children and women’s issues, Jill Dunlop, came to Windsor Thursday to share the province’s new strategy to combat the crime.
Dunlop’s visit comes nearly a week after the announcement of Ontario’s Anti-human Trafficking Strategy, which pledged $307 million over the next five years for supports and services to fight human trafficking. The plan focuses on raising awareness, supporting survivors through community agencies, early intervention and holding offenders accountable.
“With human trafficking, education is one of the key pillars and it’s so important we’re spreading this news among the communities because it’s happening everywhere in Ontario,” said Dunlop (Pc-simcoe North).
According to a release from the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, about twothirds of police-reported human trafficking violations in the country occur in Ontario.
“Unfortunately, Ontario is the hot spot in Canada,” Dunlop said. “So we really need to raise awareness and I’m still sometimes shocked that when I’m talking to people about it they don’t realize it’s an issue in their community.”
Dunlop’s visit to the region also included tours of various social programs in the city. She made stops at Legal Assistance Windsor, Windsor Essex Children’s Aid Society, Women’s Enterprise Skills Training of Windsor and Windsor Women Working with Immigrant Women.
She said it was “heart-touching ” to have the opportunity to speak to new Canadian women and hear their stories.
“They really do build new friends and family here in the support system that will give them that confidence and the work skills to go out into the labour market,” Dunlop said.
While speaking with the staff at Windsor Women Working with Immigrant Women on Thursday morning, Dunlop said she heard some of the “red-tape” challenges programs face.
“They’re going to many different ministries for all different funding streams,” she said.
“And how can we help to make that easier so that they can be spending their time with the clients versus having to do those long tedious applications?
“I think that’s good information for me to take back and to better understand the issues that they face as front-line workers,” Dunlop said. “We want them to have their time being spent with the clients that they’re serving and the good work that they’re doing.”