Fund Workshops to End Trafficking in Canada

Last year, we had so much to celebrate. 

Aura Freedom held our first virtual Anti-Human Trafficking Symposium called EmpowerU, published Media Guidelines for reporting on Gender-Based Violence (including a section on Sex Trafficking), continued conducting anti-human trafficking advocacy through various written submissions, briefs, consultations and more, and brought our Anti-Human Trafficking Frontline Training and Prevention Education to thousands more frontline workers and others who support survivors of human trafficking and those at risk. 

However, despite the many steps forward, the wonderful impacts we have seen take hold, and the strides made so far, we know that there is still so much work to be done in order for women, girls, and gender-diverse people to finally be free from sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

And yet, together, we are still here. Thank you for continuing to be here, continuing to show up, and continuing to support us and this crucial work. 

As we embark on this next chapter together, we are hopeful and eager to continue to work alongside you in 2025.

SINCE OUR LAST REPORT:

Aura Freedom has been continuing to disseminate crucial online and physical GBV/HT educational materials, reaching tens of thousands more community members, frontline workers, youth, and more since our last report. We saw the impressions of our online educational resources (Aura Freedom online posts, newsletters, webpages, and more) reaching almost 50,000 impressions in the last 5 months alone. We disseminated hundreds of Aura Freedom’s GBV & HT Educational Toolkit and 50 educational brochures to various local organizations, service providers, and other stakeholders. These educational toolkits offer safety planning tips, relevant resources, and more - while also serving as an ongoing outreach tool for this project.

Importantly, we are continuing our efforts to educate and train frontline workers, parents, youth, educators, healthcare workers, government officials, police, community members, and more on anti-sex trafficking and gender-based violence, having conducted 10 human trafficking and gender-based violence education and awareness-raising trainings and community events in the last 5 months - reaching over 600 additional community participants. 

Of course, Aura Freedom continued our human trafficking and gender-based violence advocacy efforts, ongoingly preventing this violence at the systemic level. Aura Freedom consulted for Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking’s roundtable hosted alongside the Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime, who is conducting a systemic investigation for survivors of sexual assault. We consulted on this roundtable to bring in a human trafficking lens, and additionally consulted on the Federal Ombudsperson’s roundtable for those representing Women’s Advocacy and NGO’s. Aura Freedom continued to advocate for gender-based violence and human trafficking organizations to meet with the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) to End Modern Slavery and attend joint meetings.

Finally, Aura Freedom has been working fervently to develop, curate, and organize our first in-person Human Trafficking Knowledge-Sharing Symposium, entitled Disrupting the Tides which will be held on February 20th to commemorate Canada’s National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. 

Disrupting the Tides is a full-day event focusing on Sex Trafficking that will serve as a collaborative space for frontline workers, advocates, survivors, academics, medical professionals, government leaders, and other community members and stakeholders to come together and engage in meaningful learning, unlearning, dialogue, and networking. We are excited for the opportunity to foster a collaborative network of anti-human trafficking stakeholders, and empower those in attendance with skills, knowledge, and connections to identify, prevent, and eradicate human trafficking and sexual exploitation in their communities. 

Together, we can create meaningful, systemic change and build safer, more resilient communities for those at risk. Thank you for continuing to be on this journey with us.

In solidarity,

Danielle Warren
Manager of Programs and Development
Aura Freedom International