Sask. safe house for human trafficking survivors gets provincial money for one-year pilot

Joeline Magill grew up with the signs around her, but didn't recognize them until she was an adult.

Magill, who grew up on the west side of Saskatoon, is the co-founder of Hope Restored Canada, which provides public education and services to survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation and has operated an eight-bed safe house since 2019.

She heard about exploitation and human trafficking growing up, then did more research in college, worked in community outreach and got to know people who had experienced it.

“For me, it was just recognizing that we need to do something,” she said in an interview.

“I remember sitting in a seminar and they were talking about how child exploitation happens in Saskatoon, and they were naming specific streets and specific areas. And all of a sudden my world became very small because the exact locations that they were naming was my paper route growing up as a child. It was directly beside my elementary school and high school.”

She thought of past schoolmates and wondered if it was happening to them when they weren't in school some days. It hit close to home, she said.

It became her motivation for doing the work she does, running the only safe house in Saskatchewan exclusively for survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

“It's an honour to get to work with these courageous individuals every single day,” she said.

Hope Restored Canada's programs have three phases: exit and stabilization; recovery and transition to what's next, — returning to school, finding employment or permanent housing; and long-term supports. It takes up to a year to complete all three phases. Survivors work with trauma therapists and case workers to build personalized plans.

Many people are referred through the justice system or other community organizations, but some reach out on their own, she said. The majority of participants have been Saskatchewan residents.

About sixty-one per cent are Indigenous and 35 per cent are persons of colour. The average age of the women is 24 years, and all clients are adults.

Magill said she has learned through her work that many people who are trafficked don't identify as being trafficked. Traffickers pose as partners, people who love them, or people who want to create a business with them, so a lot of manipulation is happening, she said.

“As I work with individuals, it's just peeling back the layers of things that exist for them. Really, every person wants to be loved, every person wants to be known, every person wants a family, so traffickers prey on those vulnerabilities.”

In the future, Hope Restored will need to house exit programming and long-term transitional programming in separate locations; the organization also sees a need for safe houses in other cities, Magill said.

Like other non-profits, it has struggled to secure ongoing financial support; it's also a newer organization. To date, it has survived on donations, local family foundation funding and grants.

Earlier this week, the Saskatchewan government announced it will provide $150,000 to Hope Restored Canada for a one-year pilot to provide housing, counselling and life skills programs to survivors of human trafficking.

“Addressing human trafficking is an important aspect of reducing violence against women and girls and helping to build safer communities across the province,” Minister Responsible for the Status of Women Laura Ross said in a statement.

Magill said Hope Restored's annual operating budget is $550,000. She said the one-year pilot money will help the organization continue operating its safe house and programming, and build on its cultural programming.

“We're definitely hoping that this pilot project will turn into continuous funding from the province and are very open to ongoing conversation with them about that, because stable funding is an absolute must for the work that we do,” Magill said.

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