Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Sean Fraser announced new funding supporting victims and survivors of human trafficking on Thursday.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
The federal government is providing around $3.35-million in new funding for a group of survivor-focused organizations combatting human trafficking, as cases of the crime continue to rise steadily across various parts of Canada.
Nine organizations in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and British Columbia will receive the funding over three years to support projects for victims and survivors, Justice Minister Sean Fraser said Thursday.
Mr. Fraser made the announcement on the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, established by the United Nations in 2013 to push governments to take action and raise awareness about the persistent global issue.
“Today’s investment signifies an important step in our efforts to end human trafficking, and solidifying a justice system that responds to the needs of victims and survivors while putting their safety and dignity first,” he wrote in a statement.
The non-profit groups intend to use the funding for a range of projects that include advocacy support for victims navigating the criminal justice system, digital outreach programs on the Prairies and tailored services for francophones.
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Over the past decade, trafficking cases have soared in Canada, with both police-reported incidents and calls to national crisis lines hitting record highs.
Experts have said human trafficking is one of the most challenging crimes to detect, investigate or prosecute, as it overlaps with issues such as drug addiction, poverty, homelessness and systemic discrimination. Often, victims may not know or believe that they are being trafficked.
Statistics Canada has repeatedly warned that human-trafficking figures – including its own data, which recorded 5,070 incidents nationwide between 2014 and 2024 – only provide a partial picture of the “extremely underreported crime.” Still, despite the caveat, the agency says recorded cases have consistently increased year after year.
The Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline, meanwhile, says it received more than 5,900 calls in 2025, an all-time high and 14 per cent more than the previous year.
Earlier this week, The Globe and Mail reported new findings from a Thomson Reuters report that showed how traffickers have been exploiting the country’s highways and airports to establish corridors for moving victims between major Canadian cities.
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By examining thousands of sex ads claiming to feature Indigenous women and girls, researchers highlighted active routes for predator networks: Toronto to Vancouver; Edmonton to Fort McMurray, Alta.; Calgary to Edmonton; and Belleville, Ont., to Edmonton.
The report dovetailed with a Globe investigation published last month that demonstrated how predators are utilizing online platforms for short-term rentals to move victims in Canada. In one case, a Quebec teenager was pressured into providing sexual services to at least 50 men in the span of 15 days, The Globe reported, as she was taken westward from Montreal through Ontario before winding up in Manitoba.
In another case that highlighted how extensive trafficking can tend to be, on Tuesday, police in the Toronto area announced more than 80 charges for nine people as part of a network spanning Ontario and Western Canada. Halton Regional Police Service Superintendent David Costantini called it “just the tip of the iceberg.”
Mr. Fraser positioned Thursday’s funding announcement as part of Ottawa’s recent legislative changes to toughen bail laws and thwart gender-based violence. The Protecting Victims of Crime Act, which came into effect earlier this month, coupled with the new federal reverse onus rules that make bail harder to obtain, are both “laws to enhance protection for victims and survivors of human trafficking,” he said.
Julia Drydyk, executive director of the Toronto-based Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking, said the funds will “make a huge difference for front-line organizations that do incredible work on shoe-string budgets.”
However, she cautioned that much more is needed.
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Ms. Drydyk, whose charity works directly with a majority of the groups that received the new funding, said she hopes Ottawa will soon provide details about its National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking, a previous five-year plan that expired in 2024 and had provided the basis for a steadier flow of long-term funding.
“It’s hard to do the work for survivors and grow as an organization when you’re constantly chasing these three-year contracts like this,” she told The Globe.
For Cristina Scarpellini, founder and executive director of Sudbury-based Angels of Hope Against Human Trafficking, the $85,640 her non-profit received to increase socio-legal services for French-speaking survivors is more than just funding.
“It is an investment in hope, healing and second chances,” she said in a statement.
“Together, we can continue building a future where survivors are empowered, traffickers are held accountable and human trafficking has no place in our communities.”