End Trafficking TO

The City of Toronto is not responsible for the content of the external websites listed on this page. The City of Toronto does not endorse, approve, or guarantee the accuracy of the information available on these websites. The views expressed on external websites are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the City of Toronto.

The City’s work related to human trafficking falls into the four main categories of the anti-human trafficking lens, where the person being trafficked, or at risk of being trafficked, is put at the centre, and their safety, well-being and human rights are prioritized:

Identifying People Being or At-Risk of Being Trafficked

• Furthering Our Communities Uniting Services (FOCUS)Toronto situation tables coordinate services to meet urgent and specific needs.
• City staff are trained on signs of human trafficking and how to support survivors of trafficking. The following divisions participated in the training:
  • Toronto Public Health,
  • Municipal Licensing and Standards,
  • Toronto Shelter and Support Services, and
  • Social Development, Finance and Administration.
• The City works with community organizations and partners to raise awareness (refer to the Community Supports section below).

Supporting Survivors of Human Trafficking

• Access to services, including ensuring undocumented residents can access City services through AccessTO.
• Access to shelter, including funding emergency beds at Covenant House Toronto and transition housing for survivors of human trafficking.
• Access to housing and housing supports, including priority access to rent-geared-to-income housing.
• Access to income supports such as emergency social assistance.
• Access to health services through Toronto Public Health and Lotus Health Program operated by The Hospital for Sick Children.

Preventing Human Trafficking

• The Toronto Police Service’s Human Trafficking Enforcement Team investigates and arrests traffickers.
• City funded, peer-led community based outreach and education to provide education and information about human trafficking to youth in schools, shelters and group homes.

Avoiding Increasing Vulnerability of People Engaged in Consensual Sex Work

• Staff receive basic training on signs of human trafficking, how to support survivors and the difference between human trafficking and consensual sex work. The following divisions participated in the training:
  • Toronto Public Health,
  • Municipal Licensing and Standards,
  • Toronto Shelter and Support Services, and
  • Social Development, Finance and Administration.
• City of Toronto divisions continue outreach to sex workers and community-based organizations who serve sex workers in the development of appropriate responses and supports.
• Toronto Police Service take an education first approach to enforcement of human trafficking by providing information and outreach to any interested parties.

Over 90 per cent of trafficking cases involve domestic human trafficking, and less than 10 per cent involve people being brought into Canada from abroad.(Data source: Status of Women Canada)

The City of Toronto is not responsible for the content of the external websites listed on this page. The City of Toronto does not endorse, approve, or guarantee the accuracy of the information available on these websites. The views expressed on external websites are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the City of Toronto.

Support services for survivors of human trafficking in Toronto:

• The Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking – National Hotline
• Aura Freedom
• Covenant House Toronto
• FCJ Refugee Centre
• Lotus Health Program operated by The Hospital for Sick Children
• Victim Services Toronto

City Council Decisions related to human trafficking are below:

• December 2013 – EX36.13 Initiatives to Address Human Trafficking
• March 2016 – MM17.7 Support for Bill 158, Saving the Girl Next Door Act 
• November 2017 – AU10.3 A Review of Municipal Licensing and Standards Division – Holistic Centres 
• December 2017 – EX29.15 New Supports and Housing for Survivors of Human Trafficking 
• May 2019 – EC5.4 Supporting Survivors of Human Trafficking 
• June 2021 – EX24.11 – Recommendations to Consult and Amend Bill 251, Combating Human Trafficking Act