Reclaiming Power

Survivors Are Reshaping Canada’s Financial System

For survivors of human trafficking, the exploitation is ongoing, even after they exit the unimaginable. 

Many are left with fraudulent loans, credit cards, and accounts opened by their traffickers—coerced debt that destroys credit, limits access to housing and employment, and continues to cause harm long after the trafficking ends.

In 2024, VST launched the Reclaim Roundtable—an unprecedented forum that brought survivors lived experience directly to banks, creditors, and credit bureaus.

The Roundtable helped bank and credit bureaus recognize and address the ongoing financial harms that systems inadvertently create.

40 leaders across banking, government, law enforcement, and social services stepped up to work with survivors to understand and begin dismantling systems perpetuating survivors’ financial exclusion.

Together, they identified:

• New survivor-centred services that eliminate coerced debt without re-traumatizing survivors.
• Tools and training for banks, governments, and frontline workers.
• Provincial legislation — modelled on Ontario’s Bill 41 — to protect survivors nationwide.

The Reclaim Roundtable sparked real momentum within the financial sector. Participants heard directly from survivors how existing systems were failing—and they’re stepping up.

Shortly after the Roundtable, TD's Ready Commitment made a three-year investment to help expand Reclaim across Canada, recognizing the urgent need for survivor-centred, trauma-informed solutions to eliminate coerced debt.

Reclaim shows what’s possible when advocacy, policy, and survivor leadership align.