Executive Summary

Voice Found is a registered charity that serves individuals who may be at risk of, who have been, or who are being trafficked for sex and/or labour.Footnote 1 Only those clients who have experienced sex trafficking were included in this research to provide insight into their lives at the time of first being trafficked, during trafficking, their experiences as they exited, and their lives after exiting.

Methods

Twenty-two (22) participants, including two (2) professionals working in the field of anti-human trafficking and twenty (20) of Voice Found’s clients, were invited by Voice Found’s Director of Anti-Human Trafficking, and principal researcher, to participate as lived experienced experts in semi-structured qualitative interviews for this research.

Section One: Sample characteristics

The participants include twenty-one (21) females and one (1) trans female. The majority of participants were first trafficked between the ages of thirteen (13) and eighteen (18), trafficked more than once, and all but one participant indicated that they attempted to exit more than once. When they did exit successfully, half of the participants said they did so on their own without support.

Section Two: Beginning of trafficking

Many participants describe an intersection of challenging home environments, negative or poor relationships with family, and lack of positive social support all resulting in extreme vulnerability. Just under half of participants indicated that nothing was positive in their lives at the time they were trafficked. Traffickers, whether posing as boyfriends, friends, strangers, drug dealers, or acquaintances, exploited this vulnerability for their own gain by promising a better life, easy money, or a lavish lifestyle and instead took the earnings of these survivors for themselves.

Section Three: During and exiting trafficking

All of the participants experienced violence from both traffickers and johns, and the majority of participants indicated that they had been forced to provide sexual services with someone else. Some participants were given the choice to work with someone else, and a few said they chose to do so for increased safety. Some participants had assistance from an anti-human trafficking police unit while they were being trafficked, but the majority of participants were unaware of any support. Participants indicated that the most helpful supports they received were lived experience case management or peer support, therapy, and trauma-informed medical care.

Section Four: After exiting trafficking

The most common current positive influences include family and friends and/or healthy social relationships. Human trafficking specific support, therapy, and lived experience supportFootnote 2 in particular were identified as the most helpful support that participants had received since exiting. The majority of participants indicated that they had engaged in consensual sex work after exiting, and two (2) indicated that they had a “sugar daddy”.Footnote 3 To help overcome the current challenges they are facing financially, over a quarter of participants mentioned that they have thought about or are considering getting back into sex work independently because of the money that can be made.

Section Five: From survivors

Participants were asked what they would tell politicians and bureaucrats if they could speak to them directly. Many participants indicated that there is not enough education, awareness, and prevention of trafficking, particularly for at-risk youth. Many said that there is not enough social and financial support available to effectively promote well-being in the short or long term, which only adds to the trauma that survivors experience. Participants also mentioned the need to protect and support sex workers.

Discussion and Conclusion

This report concludes with a synthesis of findings and reflections on their significance.