Government of Canada Provides Funding to Raise Awareness of Services for Victims of Sexual Exploitation

MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - March 20, 2015) - Department of Justice Canada

Today, Justice Minister Peter MacKay announced funding of $192,000 for the Concertation des luttes contre l'exploitation sexuelle (CLES) to develop a toolkit to increase awareness of the realities and consequences of human trafficking and violence in the lives of women and of the services, resources and legal information available for victims of these crimes.

CLES is a community-based advocacy coalition that focuses on offering services and support to women and girls who have been victims of commercial sexual exploitation. It also raises awareness and offers training on the consequences of sexual exploitation. The main goal of this project is to ensure that victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation are aware of their rights and of the resources and laws available to help them leave situations in which they are being sexually exploited. Outreach workers will be hired by the coalition to help them reach vulnerable populations most at risk of being victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Quick Facts

• Formed in 2005, the Concertation des luttes contre l'exploitation sexuelle (CLES) is a community-based advocacy coalition based in Montreal, Quebec, that involves more than 50 groups and 150 individual members.
  
  
• The funding is being provided through the Department of Justice Canada's Victims Fund. The Victims Fund provides grants and contributions to support projects and activities that:
  
  
  • Encourage the development of new approaches;
    
    
  • Promote access to justice;
    
    
  • Improve the capacity of service providers;
    
    
  • Foster the establishment of referral networks; or
    
    
  • Increase awareness of services available to victims of crime and their families.

Quotes

"Our Government recognizes the significant harms associated with human trafficking and sexual exploitation-crimes that prey on the most vulnerable, especially women and children. Victims of these horrible crimes need access to information and services that can help them exit a life of exploitation. In addition to developing legislation that recognizes the harms that flow from sexual exploitation, our Government is also proud to provide funding to organizations like the Concertation des luttes contre l'exploitation sexuelle that seek to empower victims of these crimes and those most at risk of being exploited."

Peter MacKay

Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

"Being aware of one's rights to dignity, to equality and to support services in breaking free of prostitution is key to ending sexual exploitation and violence against women. Any person in contact with women in prostitution must recognize these rights. Society must clearly reject the idea that buying sexual services from another individual is a right; this is not true, it is a crime".

Diane Matte

Spokesperson of the Concertation des luttes contre l'exploitation sexuelle

Related Products

• Backgrounder: Federal Victims Strategy and Victims Fund

Associated Links

- Department of Justice Canada's Policy Centre for Victim Issues

- Department of Justice Canada's Victims Fund

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Backgrounder

Federal Victims Strategy and Victims Fund

The Federal Victims Strategy brings together federal efforts to give victims of crime a more effective voice in the criminal justice system. It was created in 2007 and made permanent in 2011. The objective of the Strategy, which is led by the Department of Justice Canada, is to give victims a more effective voice in the criminal justice system. The Department of Justice Canada works in close collaboration with other federal institutions, as well as victims, victim advocates, provincial and territorial governments, service providers, and others involved in the criminal justice system. The Department of Justice Canada develops policy and criminal law reform, funds various programs to meet the needs of victims of crime, explores best practices to address victims' needs, and raises awareness about the concerns of victims of crime and their role in the criminal justice system.

Within the Federal Victims Strategy, the Victims Fund is a grants and contributions program administered by the Department of Justice. More than $11M is available each year to provinces, territories and non-governmental organizations whose projects, activities and operations support the objectives of the Federal Victims Strategy.

The Victims Fund provides funding to projects and activities that:

• Enhance victim assistance programs across Canada;
• Promote access to justice and participation in the justice system and the development of laws, policies, and programs;
• Promote the implementation of principles, guidelines, and laws designed to address the needs of victims of crime and articulate their role in the criminal justice system;
• Contribute to increased knowledge and awareness of the impact of victimization, the needs of victims of crime, available services, assistance and programs, and legislation; and
• Promote, encourage and/or enhance governmental and non-governmental organizations' involvement in the identification of victims' needs and gaps in services, as well as in the development and delivery of programs, services and assistance to victims, including capacity building within non-governmental organizations.

Since 2006, the Government of Canada has allocated more than $140 million to give victims a more effective voice in the criminal justice system through initiatives delivered by the Department of Justice Canada.

More information is available on the Department of Justice Canada's website.

March 2015

Department of Justice Canada