The Traffik Report

EP4: Sex work versus sexual exploitation

Elvira Truglia & Fay Faraday

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We can’t talk about human trafficking without having difficult conversations. In this episode, the Traffik Report Collective takes on the polarized debates about the commercial sex trade. Some people working on the frontlines see the sex trade as fundamentally exploitative and think the solution is to abolish it altogether. Some look at it from a labour perspective and advocate to ensure the rights of sex workers are respected like other workers in the labour force. How do we break this polarized framework? How do we find common ground and trust in order place people who have experienced coercion at the centre of conversations? 

Hosted by Elvira Truglia and Fay Faraday

Click on the 'Transcript' tab to read the show transcript.Link to the show transcript here.

Some resources

We encourage you to host conversations in your community and do your own research on this topic. Here are a few resources to get you started:

Causing harm while trying to help women in sex work, on OpenDemocracy.net

Stop the Harm  from Anti-Trafficking Policies & Campaigns: Support Sex Workers’ Rights, Justice, and Dignity, by Butterfly, the Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network 

To find out more about the range of issues and perspectives about human trafficking, see the annotated bibliography on human trafficking by the Refugee Research Network.

Join the conversation

We’re interested in your feedback and how the podcast can help build mutual aid and communities of practice.

We’ll keep building our resource library through our show notes. If you have a helpful resource you would like to share, write to us with your suggestion!

Contact us: info@thetraffikreport.ca

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Credits: This podcast is produced by Elvira Truglia and Fay Faraday. We thank the Canadian Women’s Foundation for their financial support which has made this work possible.

Acknowledgement

For all those listening to the podcast from coast to coast to coast on Turtle Island, we acknowledge that we are creating this work on the ancestral and unceded territory of all the Inuit, Metis, and First Nations people who call this land home. 

We are doing this work as a collaborative feminist, anti-racist, anti-colonial practice.

 The Traffik Report
EP4: Sex work versus sexual exploitation

NOTE: Transcripts may contain errors. Please check the audio before quoting in print.

Elvira Truglia  00:35

Welcome to The Traffik Report, a podcast that navigate sex and labour trafficking in Canada. Join us as we close the gap between the image and the reality of trafficking. My name is Elvira Truglia.

 Fay Faraday  00:47

On the show we have real conversations, share ideas about what's working on the ground, and build solutions for economic and gender justice.

 Elvira Truglia  00:55

In earlier episodes, you met the Traffik Report Collective, a group of frontline workers and advocates who support people who have experienced sexual or labour exploitation. Today we're talking to members of the Traffik Report collective and we're talking to them about sex work versus sexual exploitation it's a topic that fuels polarized debates.

 Fay Faraday  01:13

It absolutely does. And, you know, people bring a lot of assumptions and perspectives into conversations about trafficking. There are a lot of assumptions about what trafficking is and what's harmful about it. Anti trafficking campaigns are championed by groups across the political spectrum and with very different ideologies, but as a collective we're trying to find common ground to find practical solutions that are responsive to the realities of women, non binary, and trans folks. And that means we need to have some difficult conversations to build bridges across those divides, to help us have those difficult conversations. Here's what we've got on today's roundtable.

 Leah Woolner  02:10

So my name is Leah Woolner. I use the pronouns she and her. I work at a feminist sexual assault center named the Movement Against Rape and Incest which is based in Georgia, or also known as Montreal. I work specifically with precarious status migrant women who have experienced different forms of violence and exploitation.

 Jessica Wilson  02:36

My name is Jessica Wilson. I work for Binesiwag Centre for Wellness in Fort Frances Ontario. I work with vulnerable people and am specialized in supporting individuals that are exiting the sex trade or are being human trafficked or exploited. 

 Camilla Ho  02:52

My name is Camilla Ho, my pronouns are she and her. I am the program facilitator at the Children of the Street program with PLEA Community Services. Children of the Street is based in Coquitlam BC and we raise awareness on issues of sexual exploitation and human trafficking of youth in BC through education, so we are a prevention based program.

 Lauren Mathias  03:14

My name is Lauren Mathias, and I am a Program Manager here at ple community services in the Vancouver coastal region.

 Thunder Shanti Narooz van Egteren  03:21

My name is Thunder Shanti Narooz van Egteren and my pronouns are she and her. I work for YWCA Halifax so we're based in Halifax Regional Municipality in beautiful Nova Scotia, but we do work provincially and our projects are the project that I coordinate is called the trafficking and exploitation services system. So that project focuses on connecting with service providers and partners across the province of Nova Scotia working to address the commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth.

 Rebecca Alexander  03:48

My name is Rebecca Alexander, my pronouns are she and her I work with the Elizabeth Fry Society of northern Alberta based here in Edmonton. I help Indigenous women who have experienced sexual exploitation find appropriate housing around the city.

 Elvira Truglia  04:13

So as you know, there is a divide or a debate really that comes up when we talk about sex. And there are two distinct perspectives on the sex trade: those who see it as fundamentally exploitative and advocate to abolish it altogether as a solution versus those who look at it from a labour perspective and advocate to ensure the rights of sex workers are respected like other workers in the labour force. Can you speak to this from your personal or your professional perspective? As someone who works to provide services for exploited and trafficked people?

 Thunder Shanti Narooz van Egteren  04:46

I can speak to this. So initially, when we started our project, we we sort of joked that we put out this free call for anyone in Nova Scotia who was interested to work together to address the issue. So for us when I say the issue, we're working specifically targeting commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth. So even in that language, that's actually language that we have chosen and developed over time to capture this issue, and in it, we see that we can capture the complexity of it, you know, there are people who are trafficked for their sexual labour, there are folks that are exploited. There's lots of overlap there. But we also recognize that there are young people who are involved in the sex trade without a third party perpetrator, but they're participating on their own for various reasons. So we do use that and try to capture all of it. So recognizing that there are folks who have lots of different opinions, and thoughts and experiences, and knowledge and values and morals coming to the table. And what we found is that, in fact, we weren't able to bridge that divide, unfortunately. So we, throughout the process of that partnership, that initial partnership, we did develop a spectrum of choice to help break down some of the complexity around participation in the sex trade, and where trafficking and exploitation and sex work fit. And when we got to the side of discussing sex work, specifically, we couldn't come to a consensus. And in the end, we decided to dissolve the partnership and rebrand as the trafficking and exploitation services system. And when we did that we recognized that we had to come to the table with value alignment. So every partner who comes to the table signs a value statement and a partnership agreement to ensure that we are agreeing to certain things, so agreeing to certain language, agreeing to be sex work inclusive in our work. And that way, we don't have to have those conversations. We already agreed to that. In this way, we can be more action oriented, we certainly tried to bridge that divide. But we found that like I said it, it stalled the work and we wanted to refocus our energies and with that we did have to start with that value alignment.

 Leah Woolner  06:54

Yeah, I mean, I think one of the major problems with this issue is just this idea that you have to be either exploited or empowered, but you can't really be both. And so what I observe in my work is that the reality is much more complex than that, I think it's really hard to try and fit people into two distinct categories, when in fact, they can feel multiple things at the same time, or they can oscillate through a variety of different experiences, whether that's empowerment or exploitation. And I don't think it's very helpful to have this point of view, because there's a tendency to really want to universalize the experiences of women who are involved in the sex industry. But really, you know, in my experience, each person's lived experiences unique. And so if you can't really use just one brush to paint the whole picture, right? It is much more effective to focus on the systemic barriers and the other underlying issues that affect and you know, in my case, precarious migrant women, precarious status, migrant women, and I think it's, those conversations are much more fruitful than going back to this same argument really, or debate on what's the best way to view this in theory. The other thing too, is that migrant women that are referred to us or that I work with self identify as being having been exploited or as having experienced violence, and that violence can have occurred in the context of an intimate relationship, at the workplace, in the family, in public. And our focus is really on what she defines as her experience of violence. And, of course, the context is important, but it's only as relevant as she makes it in our work together, whether or not she has been formally or is currently involved in a sex trade is not necessarily always relevant to what it is that we are trying to accomplish together.

 Elvira Truglia  08:55

It's really interesting, both Leah and Thunder, because you're speaking to, I think, two debates. One, you're sort of presenting is around opposing views of sex work; at the same time, Thunder was talking about how to do this work together. And what that means if you're working as part of a coalition versus being a service provision, organization. I'm wondering if anyone else has any similar reflections or different reflections based on really these two sets of debates or divides?

 Rebecca Alexander  09:27

Yeah, I can jump in here. I can speak just purely from a personal perspective, when I entered, I definitely found that when I engaged with mentors from various different organizations, there definitely was a polar type of view. And it was interesting because they were very, not willing to look at other people's points of view, right. So it was very polarizing, and very passionate. And I think at the basis they really just wanted to protect people, right? And so that was difficult for me. Cuz I was just, I saw validity to both sides. And in a way, I think I just kind of reflected back on like, what consent is back in sexual violence work? And is it willing? Is it voluntary freeful? Yes? is kind of what I just think about when I'm approaching this type of work.

 Jessica Wilson  10:20

I would like to maybe use my perspective as a survivor. Seeing that and being in the life of being exploited, and in the sex trade, it's very black and blue, you don't have a choice. And whereas their sex work, if it is a choice, there is no debate on, I guess that choice. The conversation is not about the choice, because when you're in the sex trade, and in that lifestyle, there is no choice. I also feel that with sex work, we all know that obviously, someone under the age of 18 cannot give that consent. But I also feel like those people that are doing sex work or the game, you are considered a renegade, a renegade is someone that is working under themselves. So even if you are choosing sex work, and that is your choice, you still have that form of violence probably coming at you, because there are people around you that are trying to get you to choose up, you know, they want you to work under them, they want your money. So in my perspective, and my survivor perspective, there is not a choice. And when you're in that lifestyle, there's not a choice, but sex workers do see that form of violence or aggressiveness or that pressure to choose up.

 Fay Faraday  11:36

I think you've raised a really interesting set of perspectives amongst you, because there's so many different levels that we each bring to this, and any sort of attempt to simplify this area, flattens it out, and really makes you lose what's significant and real about it. And when we think about how that polarization happens, or that simplification of narratives, it's something that affects the clients that we all all work with. I'm wondering how the language around trafficking and the different political perspectives affect the people you work with, and their ability to access services? does it create barriers in that way? And does it affect how you're able to advocate for them?

 Rebecca Alexander  12:35

I think for us in like an application sense, we use the sexual exploitation like a definition, what I've noticed is that a lot of people wouldn't necessarily say like, I have been sexually exploited, right? That's not necessarily the terminology that they use. So if they don't read the definition, on an application, they would check No. And I've had conversations where I explained to them what sexual exploitation is, and then they're like, Oh, yes, that is that is me. So I think it's, I don't want to say like academic kind of terminology, but we just don't use terms that people would designate for themselves. And I think that's a huge barrier and a big problem.

 Thunder Shanti Narooz van Egteren  13:17

One of the things that we do in our work is capacity building training for service providers, frontline workers, and first responders. And in that training, we spend a lot of the first module talking about language and the importance of language. So like I said, you know, we have decided that the language we use is commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth. And when we have that first module, we have an activity where we ask people to just think about three terms, we say, okay, if you're reading a news article, let's say, and it's talking about victim of sexual exploitation, a prostitute or a sex worker, what are some images that come to mind? What are some biases, and we have this really fruitful conversation around? How are things portrayed often in the mainstream, and when we're talking about human trafficking in particular, often people go back to that image of the movie taken. And that's what they think this is, but that isn't often what's happening. And so we want to emphasize that people when they're coming to these trainings, that that's not the reality for so many people, and especially how it's showing up in Nova Scotia, and how youth are being learned and recruited. That's really not their experience. And so the issue is they're not seeing themselves in that and if that's the only language we're using the only imagery we're using, then people are not going to come forward people are not going to recognize that their situation is exploitative potentially and reach out for help if they want it.

 Leah Woolner  14:41

In my case, I think that you know, similarly the language is obviously not very well aligned with the way in which the migrant women I work with describe their experiences. However, I would say that there is a benefit in using that language for certain purposes in some cases when it comes to regularizing someone's immigration status, it's important for them to be able to identify as a victim. And sometimes I feel bad because you really need to push that to the forefront, because you want the authorities to recognize them as a victim, and not as somebody who has been in some way shape or form responsible for their own exploitation, which often happens in the case of migrant workers, I have mixed feelings about it, because on one hand, I don't think it's good to just to label people when they're not necessarily using that language, but I do think that there are some benefits to it. With regard to our services, you know, you don't need to, there's no specific criteria other than the fact that you are a woman who has experienced violence at any point, the women that I work with, oftentimes, I'll ask them, like in your life, do you feel as if you have faced any type of sexual harassment or violence, just to be able to say, okay, so you qualify, we can now work on whatever together, we could work on trying to get you this vaccine, we can work on trying to improve your labour conditions, we can work on, you know, trying to regularize your status, or whatever it is that you want, they just need to be able to say at some point, they have had an experience of violence.

 Elvira Truglia  16:18

I think a lot of people are expressing the idea about language being strategic, that the kind of language that is used can be strategic as as a way to support people in exploitive situations, or it could also serve to the detriment of people. So this idea of being strategic in your roles as service providers, is this maybe a way to navigate across the differences? How could focusing on service provision and program design be a way to put politics aside and place those impacted by trafficking at the center? At the same time, how to actually be strategic about language in order to advocate towards prevention? It's kind of getting to both the individual advocacy needs as well as the need to do systemic advocacy on the issue...

 Camilla Ho  17:05

Just speaking from a prevention lens, at Children's Street, we deliver workshops to youth to raise awareness through education, and it's so important, I think, to help them identify sort of like the words that and experience that is happening to them through just coordinating these workshops. Also, being a former presenter, a lot of times, yeah, kids don't really know that it's happening to them, or they don't identify that it's happening to them, you know, learning about some of these issues through workshops, that's when something clicks and that's when often, we have, you know, young people coming up to us asking for support, it could be an unhealthy relationship, it could be concerns of exploitation. And I guess it comes down to that, why education around the issue, so important.

 Elvira Truglia  17:48

So again, back to the question of language, and who our audience is for that language, does it really speak to the people that we're supporting? Anyone else have any reflections on this idea about language as a way to navigate cross differences and sort of meet common goals?

 Leah Woolner  18:06

Actually, in thinking about the questions for this discussion, I called up one of my friends, who is a sex worker, she's an online sex worker. And she's been doing that for over seven years, I wanted to speak like really, frankly, with somebody who is involved in the sex industry, and who identifies as a sex worker by choice. And I wanted to talk to her and to share some of the things that I know and that I have observed through my work and to kind of feel out What does she think about this? You know, what is what does she have to say? It was interesting, because at the end of that conversation, I thought, I wish that I could do that more often with people who are kind of across the aisle on this issue and have that, like frank and non confrontational discussion, if she was surprised to hear the extent to which some of the women that I work with have experience, exploitation. There's one woman in particular that I'm working with right now that came to Canada as an international student, and entered into the sex industry and ended up being trafficked across the country, and ended up spending a year in jail before you know, pretrial because she didn't have any ID and she was undocumented at that point. And then the judge thought that she had probably overstayed what she would get if she was convicted, because she's still awaiting trial. And then they put her into an immigration detention and that was how she was referred to me and since then been released, but is still undocumented. And, you know, it's been really, really, really hard to be able to support her because of all of the barriers to her being treated as a full human with dignity and respect. And so you know, when we were talking about this, when I was talking about With my friend, I think there was something about that that really hit home to her, she was saying how much you know, that doesn't necessarily get brought up the experiences of precarious migrant women and their experiences of being exploited, but also of all the different ways in which somebody can be exploited and how gender and sex intersect with different forms of exploitation, like I work with a lot of migrant women, for example, who are domestic workers, or who are agricultural workers, but then have been sexually assaulted in their workplace, for example, and, and so in some way, they are also being exploited for their bodies for their sexuality as well. And so these are the types of things or nuances that don't get included in this very mainstream black and white binary discourse about what trafficking is in something, you know, these are the voices and perspectives that aren't necessarily included in this very pro choice rhetoric. And so I guess what I would say is that it is it is really beneficial to be able to have these conversations.

 Elvira Truglia  21:06

In the end, what I'm hearing is that it's really about putting people at the center, and listening to the needs of the people that are being supported. And how those needs are really different from person to person, and situation to situation, and that maybe the politics of it really takes away from what's necessary.

 Fay Faraday  21:26

I'm wondering just in connection with that, I've been listening to the different words that you have been using that helped connect with the folks who you're you're working with, but I've also heard, you kind of talk around the dynamic that you're working with, you know, by calling it this issue, right. And I'm wondering if there are particular phrases, particular framing, particular words that bring out the reality of people's experience, in the way that they describe it, as opposed to these external labels of trafficking, or exploitation, or any of the words that are used in the policy realm? How did the people you work with describe their experience, in their words?

 Jessica Wilson  22:16

In my experiences, it's just the way of life. That's just the way of life and I think they don't realize like that they are being exploited or, you know, they're not recognizing it, I think we get very caught up in the language of on a service provider level. And I always think that when I talk to the individuals that I support, I find sometimes we talk very educated, I guess, maybe the word would be and they're not identifying with that. But if I was to talk to someone and say, explain the lifestyle to me, or the language within, like I just explained, like the renegades are choosing. If I use those words, with some of the people that I encounter, they totally 100% I'm building that trust with them, because they look at me, and they're like, she knows what she's doing. She knows what she's talking about. She knows exactly what I'm going through, or what I'm experiences or stem things that I'm experiencing. But if I'm to talk, very professional, I've lost them, right. So it's all about, again, building that trust piece. But I do have some knowledge in that lifestyle, that chaos. And that's what we really need to think about is it's chaos, it's not pretty. And when we talk to them in a pretty way, we've lost them.

 Fay Faraday  23:33

All of this language that we use is not just alienating, because it's this pretty professional language, but it also treats the experiences as somehow distinctive and separate from real lives, right? Like it's something that's happening on top of their real lives as opposed to being part of the texture of their everyday life. Getting into really using the language that people use to describe the texture of their life is so necessary. And I'm wondering if there's other words, other phrases, other ways of expressing what we do that help build those links.

 Jessica Wilson  24:20

We have to also be mindful that people that are experiencing exploitation trafficking, they're going to see right through you too if you're using words that we know that you have not experienced, right, but I really think it goes back to just being completely honest, like you know what, I'm here to support you and what do you need, right? Because if you start using this language that is in the game, or this language that really you haven't experienced or know a whole lot of, they're gonna see right through that right. But then when we talk about that educational piece and sounding very professional, you've lost them too. So it is that balance and it's also just that truth, just honesty, right?

 Lauren Mathias  25:03

I think what you've mentioned is that language is extremely important. And unfortunately, depending on the factors and the circumstances that bring a person to our services, it's going to depend on how easily or accessible we're going to be to be able to support those folks. So like Jessica said, depending on the language you use, particularly with our agency, working with young people, a lot of our referrals can come from ministry supports, whether that's a social worker probation officer, and unfortunately, there's been times where conversations have already been had with that person. And it's set up a barrier by using the professional language saying, oh, we hear you're at risk of sexual exploitation. Oh, we hear you might be involved in sex work, or prostitution, or whatever that might be. And already the kids like, what, what, what does that mean? I think all of us can't stress enough how important language is and not only educating and helping the folks that we're trying to support, you know, in those circumstances, but it's also educating the greater communities that we're working with to say, we need to work collaboratively with this, because if you kind of set us up in the wrong way, the likelihood of that person accessing supports with us is going to be dramatically reduced. So you using words like, you know, sex work, prostitute, things like that. young folks especially do not identify with that, especially if they feel that they have agency over them themselves, and the sexual activities they're engaging in, or whatever that might look like, it's insanely important to make sure that we are using the right words, and we're educating everyone, we're all on the same page. Otherwise, like Jessica said, we're going to lose them before we even had a chance to engage with them. The biggest tip that you're saying is, be honest, be your authentic self, be genuine, meet them where they're at, have conversations, when we have young people coming to our services, we don't say, Oh, we hear you're here, because you're being exploited. It's more like, hey, we hear that you've got lots going on, we want to have a conversation, what does that look like for you? Maybe you've had some unhealthy relationships, maybe those are romantic relationships, maybe those are personal relationships, we're not sure. But we'd like to have a conversation, see where you're at, how can we help you not, hey, you're exploited, you need to get some help. You know, there's so many barriers in place. And it's really important to be client centered, participant focused and meet them where they're at.

 Leah Woolner  27:22

It's also really important to have services that are not pre determined cookie cutter services, where you're going to intake somebody into a program and here are ABC the activities of the program, you really want to have something where you are able to cater your services, or what it is that you're going to be working on with that person, to how they describe their experiences, and what their priorities are, you know, just because somebody has had an experience of exploitation doesn't necessarily mean that that's really what they want to work on, they could be completely focused on another part of their life. And, you know, that's what they're here for. That's what they would most like help with. And so you have to really be open to just truly truly meeting the person where they're at.

 Jessica Wilson  28:08

I also think that it is our responsibility as helpers and service providers to give that choice. Like when Leah says it's important to meet them where they're at, or they might not even want to look at that part of their experience, it goes back to that choice piece, right. And eventually, once we build that trust, and once we give them the choices, and then eventually, they will open up to those different experiences in their life, and they will feel supported. And that's when like the true healing starts with helpers and service providers, right with that chestpiece is so crucial. And our first encounter that first impression is huge. The language we use, the body language we use, the compassion we use, the realness we use, is literally if that individual is going to continue with their services, or if they're going to move on and not, and not use their services.

 Elvira Truglia  29:00

Maybe going back full circle to where we started with this conversation. And it was to address the question of the divide in perspectives around sex work. I'm also wondering if others can maybe circle back to what Thunder was mentioning at the very beginning, in terms of what it means when you're working in a coalition, does the need to actually work in coalition with others come up as this individual service provision organization? And if so, what do you do when there there is this thing called a divide? Bridging the divide; what's the sort of the key takeaway in terms of how you address it as an individual organization and working in coalition with other organizations?

 Thunder Shanti Narooz van Egteren  29:40

I want to come back to the issue of trust. So when we are working in coalition that we also have to have that trust with each other. And that's where I think that that language piece is important and that that values piece is important, because if I'm making a referral to an organization that has different values, and hasn't agreed to how we can serve this youth best, then I may not have the trust in them to make that referral. And that's one of the things that has come up for us, you know, when we are working with youth, how do I support that youth and make a referral to an organization that believes that that youth in fact needs to be rescued or saved from that situation simply because they're participating in the sex trade, even if we take a third party perpetrator out of it. And so that's where I think that difficulty comes is that even if we try to place the individual at the center of service delivery, the kind of supports or how that support is given can still differ based on how we approach the issue and what the values are and what the language is, I know that they are also a victim of commercial sexual exploitation, because they cannot legally consent to participate in the sex trade as a 16 year old. But if they're calling themself a sex worker, and they want to remain in the sex trade, then from a harm reduction perspective, how do I support them to be as safe as possible, and build that trust with them. So if and when they come to a point that they want to exit, then we can support that. But I wouldn't necessarily feel comfortable working with another organization that's going to treat that youth as needing to rescue them from the situation if they don't want to be rescued. And that's where that value misalignment would be, I find can be tricky, and can affect service provision.

 Fay Faraday  31:21

One thing that came up sort of tangentially, in the course of the conversation is not just the need to find language and values that enable us to work in coalition, but the need to use established language in order to access rights and remedies. And the way that, that official language shapes the vision of what a court or a tribunal will understand as an experience that deserves a remedy really requires converting the person's experience into something that is alien to them. Do any of you have things that you've learned along the way in terms of how to sustain trust with your clients, as you're navigating those spaces that use alien language?

 Leah Woolner  32:18

Well, one of the things that we work a lot in collaboration with the art, we call them members like member, your client and their lawyer, but always with the idea that we're there to support our member. And so one of the big focuses that we have is on like demystifying processes, providing information in language that's easy to understand, fielding people's questions in a way that's not me No, because it's can be really intimidating to ask a lawyer who is often seen as a person of authority, and really providing that kind of emotional support throughout that entire process. And that's something that I think that really makes people I guess, just more aware of what it is  that they're actually participating in. Because people often have this idea of what will happen. And that is often not at all what happens, they have these sets of expectations of what that's going to look like and what's going to happen. And then and then they've built up this narrative in their head, it's so rare that any of those things actually end up being their experience.

 Lauren Mathias  33:28

I think it's important that you just keep showing up, there's going to be days where they're not going to show up, and they're not going to show up a lot of the time, you can't assume that someone's just going to meet with you and open up and divulge their entire past and just tell you everything that's going on for them. I mean, there are some folks that are definitely in that situation. And that's great. But also maybe not why is someone divulging their entire life in one hour meeting with you. I mean, there's, it always comes back to kind of trauma and where folks are at and it's about meeting them where they're at staying consistent, but also just showing up and sending a text message or giving a phone call, even though you know, they may not read it or see it or get there or just showing up where you think they might be. I mean, we expect that folks are going to just kind of keep working with us. And we have to be reminded as workers, sometimes there's a timeline to our program, we may only be able to support them for six months. Sometimes we can extend them to a year or whatever that might be. But we're asking someone to be very vulnerable, and to trust us and to come to us and tell us their life story. And our intention is always good to try and help them but they don't necessarily know that and we can't just assume they'll just let us into their life. We have to show them why we're there. Show them the respect they deserve. And just keep showing up day in day out and ensure that they know we're not just a worker, we're there because we genuinely care.

 Elvira Truglia  34:49

There's no more perfect way to end this part of the conversation. Thanks so much. That wraps up today's episode of The Traffik Report. Join us next time for a conversation on the dynamics of gender, youth and sexual exploitation.

 Fay Faraday  35:16

Make sure you subscribe to our podcast so you don't miss any of our conversations. And also make sure you visit our website at thetraffikreport.ca. That's traffik with a K. As always, we'll post our show transcript, as well as some resources and links that are related to the things that we've been talking about today. Tune in next time. My name is Fay Faraday.

 Elvira Truglia  35:41

And I'm Elvira Truglia. In today's episode you heard from Rebecca Alexander in Edmonton, Camilla Ho in Vancouver, Lauren Mathias in Vancouver, Thunder Shanti Narooz van Egteren in Halifax, Jessica Wilson in Fort Francis and Leah Woolner in Montreal.

 Fay Faraday  35:58

This episode was produced by Elvira Trulia and Fay Faraday. Our theme song "I'm Not Alone", was created by youth at PLEA Community Services Society in British Columbia. This podcast was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Canadian Women's Foundation.

 Elvira Truglia  36:17

Thanks for listening to The Traffik Report, speaking truth to power on sex and labour trafficking. Until next time.