Pillars: Human Trafficking

Making The Impacts of Human Trafficking Visible.

VST provides case management, advocacy, and crisis response for survivors of human trafficking.

We also address the often invisible, systemic issues victims face, including working with the health care sector to address victims' access to quality, trauma-informed health care and with the financial sector to help eliminate the burden of coerced debt that gets in the way of healing.

Programs

Crisis Intervention and Case Management

VST offers specialized Crisis Intervention and Case Management for survivors of human trafficking, recognizing the heightened risks and complex realities of these experiences.

Care Without Limits

VST launched the Care Without Limits Survivor Healthcare Network in collaboration with Women's College Hospital — the first initiative of its kind in Toronto, with founding support from Algonquin Capital.

The network now connects 12 partner health agencies, including community health centres, hospital-based clinics, mental health programs, and a mobile healthcare bus.

In its first year, VST trained the network to deliver trauma- and violence-informed care and built a peer community of clinicians who work together to improve access to healthcare for survivors of human trafficking across Toronto.

With leadership support from our Founding Program Partner:Algonquin Capital

Reclaim

Traffickers coerce survivors into taking on debt in their own names — credit cards, phone contracts, loans — then use that debt as a tool of control that outlasts the trafficking itself. Eliminating coerced debt is essential to survivors' ability to heal and rebuild. Reclaim works directly with banks, telecom providers, car rental companies, and payday lenders across Canada to have that debt recognized and cleared.

With leadership support from:Capital One Canada, TD Ready Commitment, and Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE)

Reclaiming the future for more human trafficking survivors.

Reclaim by the numbers:

Reclaim works directly with creditors to clear debt that survivors were coerced into taking on.

$2,000,000+

In Coerced Debt Cleared To Date

Expanded to 6 provinces, with 69 new agencies and 158 new advocates joining the network.

95%

Of The Debts Advocates Took On Were Eliminated

94%

of human trafficking survivors say Reclaim improved their hope for the future.

Survivor's art at the AGO.

The Exposure Project

Nine survivors of human trafficking produced paintings, photographs, and drawings that were featured in one of the country's major galleries.

The project helped shift the lens on human trafficking by centring survivors' creativity, expression and resilience.

The exhibit elevated the issue of Human Trafficking by making survivors' realities visible.

Survivors spoke about what it meant to see their own paintings, photographs, and drawings hanging at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

100+

Attendees

100%

Of Art Sold

$10,000

Raised + Split Equally Among The Artists

A Professional Guide, Guided by Survivors' Knowledge

Guiding Principles: What Victims of Human Trafficking Need You to Know

Developed by VST's Peer Expert Advisory Committee as a practical guide for professionals who come in contact with survivors.

The survivor-led guide helps professionals in healthcare, social work, law enforcement, education, criminal justice, hospitality, and finance better understand how to provide survivor-centred support that puts dignity and respect first.

At times, it doesn't even feel like manipulation - it's so subtle that it seems like your needs are genuinely being met.
The experience can leave you feeling like you're in control, but in reality, you actually have no control at all.