Advocates call for action to protect Indigenous women from sexual exploitation, trafficking

Heidi Marshall says it's no coincidence that Indigenous women and girls are 10 times more likely to be victims of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation than non-Indigenous women and girls.

Marshall is the human trafficking consultant for the Nova Scotia Native Women's Association and a co-founder of the Jane Paul Indigenous Resource Centre in Sydney, N.S. It's the only centre east of Montreal specifically for Indigenous women in high-risk situations, living off-reserve. 

"Indigenous women are already devalued by settler societies and further dehumanized if they work in the sex trade," Marshall said in a presentation last week to Halifax's women's advisory committee.

Brutal legacy of colonialism

Marshall told the committee this dehumanizing of Indigenous women and girls started before Canada even existed, and that for two centuries, Indigenous women and girls were seen as property and bought and sold as slaves.

"Europeans have portrayed Indigenous people as inferior, subhuman and backwards," Marshall said. "Indigenous women were historically framed as sexually available and placed in the lowest class of society."

This colonial hierarchy persists today, she said.

Indigenous women who find themselves in trouble, battling substance abuse or involved in sex work, are often abandoned by their own community, Marshall said, and barred from participating in sweats or other traditional ceremonies.

Nova Scotia has the highest rate of human trafficking in the country. Factors like poverty, involvement with the child welfare system and a history of abuse — all of which increase a person's risk of being trafficked — disproportionately affect Indigenous women and girls, making them even more vulnerable to traffickers.

In fact, a national study released last October by the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking showed 51 per cent of women and 50 per cent of girls trafficked in Canada are Indigenous.

That's why Marshall said she is so worried about Marley Alicia Morris, a 24-year-old Indigenous woman currently missing in the Halifax region. She was last seen in downtown Dartmouth on Feb 18.

Halifax Regional Police have said there's no evidence to suggest foul play in Morris's disappearance, but they are concerned for her well-being. 

Morris's father, Fabian Francis, has said he doesn't want his daughter to become "another statistic."

'Military-grade manipulation'

Charlene Gagnon from the YWCA and Trafficking and Exploitation Service System also presented to the women's advisory committee about human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation.

Gagnon explained that traffickers and pimps use "military-grade psychological manipulation," and often sit outside group homes and homeless shelters where there are high concentrations of vulnerable people.

"They are the most manipulable," she said, "because you can offer them a way out." 

Cheryl Copage-Gehue was also a founding member of the Jane Paul Centre and now works as an Indigenous adviser to the Halifax Regional Municipality. She said in the meeting that she sees evidence of this predation constantly. 

"We deal with it all the time at the [Mi'kmaw Native] Friendship Centre," Copage-Gehue said.

"When we're hosting our youth groups, our grandmothers literally have to go out and shoo these men away that are trying to traffic our young women as they're coming out."

She said some women are trafficked to Halifax from other areas and show up at the centre's door "not even knowing how they got there."

Combating trafficking locally

Addressing the underlying factors that make Indigenous women and girls so much more vulnerable takes time, and issues like housing and child welfare are often handled at the provincial level.

When asked by members of the women's advisory committee what can be done at the municipal level, Copage-Gehue suggested they start looking at the 231 recommendations from the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls report and choose a few that specifically apply to the municipality's jurisdiction.

Marshall agreed.

"Even if you concentrate on one call to action," she said, "it makes a difference."

Marshall advised the inclusion of more Mi'kmaw women in their work, for instance as a member of the women's advisory committee, which would help build bridges and establish trust.

Gagnon's advice was to focus on areas within the municipality where the most vulnerable people gather. It's important, she said, that staff in those areas are well trained to identify the signs of trafficking and that safeguards are in place for people's protection.

Marshall is currently working on a strategy for combating human trafficking in Indigenous communities across Nova Scotia for the committee and said it should be released in the coming year.