London Abused Women’s Centre getting $200K to keep trafficking program going

The London Abused Women’s Centre (LAWC) will be able to keep its support program for survivors of human trafficking running with the help of a big funding boost from the federal government.

LAWC is one of 63 organizations across Canada receiving funding from funding through the National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking to prevent and address human trafficking as well as support survivors.

“We are really pleased we were one of so few agencies chosen to receive funding,” Megan Walker, executive director of LAWC said.

In Canada, 97 per cent of police-identified victims are women and girls.

According to a 2018 Statistics Canada report on trafficking in Canada, 28 per cent of all trafficking victims in the country are under 18 with 75 per cent of all victims under 25.

“In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become even more challenging to escape situations of human trafficking and to access supports, making the important work of organizations that provide these services even more essential,” Maryam Monsef, P.C., M.P. Minister for Women and Gender Equality and for Rural Economic Development said.

In total LAWC will receive $200,000 for a two-year period which amounts to $8,000 a month.

The current trafficking program at LAWC costs $12,000 a month and Walker said this new funding will cover the bulk of the cost, but that support from the community will still be needed to offset the difference.

“This city has been identified hub by London police and we competently concur … I can’t get over the number of young women between 16 to 24 who are trafficked,” she said.

In March of this year, LAWC found out its Choices program which provided support for victims of trafficking was losing its feral funding through an old program that was being shut down.

A gap in time between the cancelling of the old program and the implementation of this new one left the agency with little options but to close the program.

When the federal government stepped down Walker said the London community stepped up in a big way.

“The community raised enough money to provide funding until the 15th of January and without the support of the community we never would have been able to provide that service,” Walker said.

The new federal funding will be used to create the Journey for Justice program, which Walker said will include many of the features of the old Choices program like victim support and public outreach but with a focus on the underlying barriers women face when seeking justice.

“All together with the previous funding we provided service to more than 3,000 trafficked and sexually exploited women and girls which is pretty incredible and speaks to the significant need of fully funded services.”

“Those were girls who would often be trafficked along the 401 and 400 series highways … because we have so many exit ramps along the city of London.”

While the funding announcement is good, Walker said it’s still important to highlight the need for more annualized funding.

“If we have to shut a program down with a vulnerable population we generally start to shut the program down six months before it ends,” said.

“We continue to say two and three-year funding does not work for the population we serve, so what we need is core funding that we don’t have to apply for year after year.”

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