It is my pleasure to speak on the third reading of Bill 41, An Act to amend the Consumer Reporting Act and the Prevention of and Remedies for Human Trafficking Act, 2017 with respect to certain debts incurred in relation to human trafficking, along with my fellow co-sponsors, the MPP from Ottawa–Vanier, the MPP from Spadina–Fort York and the MPP from Guelph.

Human trafficking is a horrific crime that shatters the lives of victims and has rippling consequences for survivors and their loved ones. Sex trafficking is not a foreign crime; it is here in our neighbourhoods, cities and rural communities. From what we can glean in Canada, 93% were Canadian and 60% of Canada’s human sex trafficking occurs in the province of Ontario, with the majority happening along Highway 401. However, unfortunately, victims are all across the province: in rural communities and northern communities as well as big cities.

It is a crime that targets the most vulnerable among us. In statistics from a few years ago, 95% of the sex-trafficked persons are women, teenagers and marginalized groups; 45% are between the ages of 18 to 24; 24% of the victims police reported were aged 17 and younger; and, Mr. Speaker, sadly to say, some as young as 10 and 11 years old. And they are getting younger.

They are often lured and groomed by people posing as boyfriends and are forced to hand over money associated with their exploitation. Various tactics and strategies are used to lure the victims, sometimes within five minutes or less from a park, a university campus or even a grocery store, and some from our elementary schoolyards—a horrific scenario to envision, yet a dark reality that needs to be addressed. Violence, threats of violence and debt bondage are often used as a means of control to force victims to perform sexual services.

Mr. Speaker, this government has not been idle in its commitment to protect Ontarians from this heinous crime. The Attorney General; Solicitor General; and ministers for labour; finance; health; children, community and social services; tourism, culture and sport; colleges and universities; and education have been active partners in advocacy and procuring vital funding and resources for survivors. And the work continues.

As many of my colleagues in the Legislature know, I have been working on raising awareness and prevention of human trafficking—human sex trafficking, especially—for a very long time. That’s why I’m happy to see such a large interest by members in the Legislature across all political aisles, and especially the new members who have joined the Legislature.

We are here today to take another step towards helping victims who have gone through traumatic experiences and horrible crimes to become survivors and to rebuild their lives. Bill 41 seeks to make sure that once a survivor escapes their abuser, they are not revictimized and obstacles in reclaiming their lives are overcome—which is what this bill aims to do.

Financial burdens associated with escaping their abusers affect every aspect of a survivor’s healing journey. The debts incurred by the abuser in the survivor’s name prevent them from getting an apartment, being approved for a loan, or even procuring a vehicle or an education. In some instances, victims feel safer to return to their trafficker rather than navigate the financial bureaucracy in erasing their fraudulent debt and beginning their new lives. This is a horrible thing to say.

I want to tell you a story told by Carly Kalish, executive director of Victim Services Toronto, who is a specialist in human trafficking and trauma-informed care. They had a young woman call their crisis line in the middle of the night. She told them that she was being forcibly confined in an apartment by her boyfriend. She wasn’t allowed to go out on her own or be in contact with any friends or family, and she was forced and exploited in the sex trade. Finally, one night, when he was sleeping, she gathered the courage to break the door and ran barefoot to the nearest Tim Hortons. Once she was there, she googled “Help 24 hours a day” and called for help. Victim Services Toronto sent her a cab that minute to Tims and Ubered her to the office. They set her up with safe accommodation, but she was so emotionally exhausted that she simply slept on their couch.

In the morning, she was confused. She had trouble remembering her own name and disclosed that she was pregnant. She could not decide whether to go back to her trafficker or start to rebuild her own life. This is the question all survivors ask themselves. One of the big concerns for this person was obviously her lack of resources. She had no home, no money, and every time she had considered leaving her trafficker in the past, he threatened her and told her that she would be in extreme debt without him. It turns out that he had used her name to open a credit card and to also apply for a car loan, such that she would be responsible for all the debt if she ever tried to leave him. This is a common story Victim Services Toronto hears daily. We know her name is Jessica, and she is a proud mother to a healthy baby girl now.

But the question of whether a victim of human trafficking is well-resourced enough to leave their trafficker is never one that a victim should ever have to face.

In November 2022, Victim Services Toronto acquired an organization called Project Recover, created by Richard Dunwoody—and we thank him for that. It is dedicated to supporting survivors of human trafficking by working with Canadian creditors, banks, telecom companies, car rental companies and property managers to remove fraudulent and coercive debt in the victim’s name. The program aims to ensure that survivors are not revictimized in the process of rebuilding their lives. The current challenge is that not all creditors and property managers are equally inclined to take the action necessary to cancel the debt owing in the name of the victim. Even if they are willing—and many are willing once they are made aware of the situation—it takes a long time and a lot of effort to ensure that credit bureaus remove the fraudulent debt that drags down the creditworthiness of the survivors. The process of cancelling fraudulent debt must be streamlined so that it’s easy for creditors while also collaborating with advocacy agencies who are well-versed in the trauma effects of human trafficking and financial advocacy in banks, which is why this bill is so important and we are here today.

It is a continuation of the work we have already done to protect survivors of human trafficking in Ontario. Through this legislation, we are committing our focus on the fight against human trafficking by creating a path forward where coerced debts for survivors can be relieved. As the multi-party co-sponsors for this bill already know, this legislation spans multiple ministries; and we have consulted experts, hearing testimonies from advocates and, of course, the brave survivors themselves who came forward to share their stories. This is not a partisan piece of legislation. We all agree that survivors should not have to finance the debt incurred while they were trafficked.

I want to thank several people and bodies for their assistance and devotion in seeing this bill come to life. I want to give a special thank you to the member from Ottawa–Vanier for her introduction of this bill, for working across all party lines to make this bill a reality. I want to thank the Ministry of Finance; the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services; the Ministry of the Attorney General; and the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery. I’ve said the bill was complicated, and it was complicated. But I also want to thank the Canadian Bankers Association; Nick Colosimo was in many times to help us. I also want to thank: from Equifax, Julie Kuzmic; Clarke Cross from TransUnion; and the support of the Canadian Credit Union Association—their support, their guidance, their dedication and their passion. Collectively we all want to try to make this path better for survivors to move on with their lives. And, as I said, a special thank you to all the parties that were involved and the dedication of the many ministries.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It’s been a pleasure to be here for third reading of this bill, and I now hand it over to the other co-sponsors to speak.