Responding to Sexual Exploitation: Tracia's Trust

Manitoba Sexual Exploitation Strategy- Phases and Timelines
Previous Partnerships and Programming

Manitoba’s Sexual Exploitation Strategy was developed to:

complement the existing good work being done by community groups already active on this issue,
respond to current research on sexual exploitation, and
respond to offenders

The histortical publication of Front Line Voices: Manitobans Working Together to End Child Sexual Exploitation, stemmed from the Front Live Voices Summit in March 2008. This report identifies themes and community initiatives to be developed. These include:

Legislation and Law Enforcement,
Continuum of Service,
Breaking the Silence, and
Child, Youth, Family and Community Empowerment

Manitoba’s Sexual Exploitation Strategy - Phases and Timelines

The Manitoba Strategy Responding to Children and Youth at Risk of, or Survivors of, Sexual Exploitation was launched in December 2002 as directed by the Manitoba Government’s Healthy Child Committee of Cabinet.

Tracia’s Trust, phase two of the Manitoba Strategy was launched December 10, 2008. Emphasis is placed on the need to build upon phase one by:

implementing more prevention initiatives,
developing a fuller continuum of services for victims,
increasing public awareness, and
making offenders more accountable.

While the first phase of the strategy focused on children exploited through prostitution, phase two of the Strategy encompassed the coordination of services for all ages (children, youth and adults), and considered all forms of sexual exploitation, including prostitution, pornography, sex trafficking, sex tourism and internet luring.

For a timeline on how Tracia's Trust came to be, click on the links below:

Phase III

Phase II

Phase I

March 2008
February 2007
May 2006
November 2004
October 2004
May 2004
Launch - Initial announcement - December 2002

Previous Partnerships & Programming

The groups listed in this section represent partnerships and programs within the first three phases of Tracia’s Trust.

At Our Relatives’ Place

Ka Ni Kanichihk Inc. Logo At Our Relatives’ Place is a holistic and culturally congruent approach to child rearing. The foster care program is an adaptation of traditional Aboriginal practices of child protection whereby grandparents, aunties and uncles, sisters, brothers and extended community members step into the role of caregivers for children and youth. It is specifically designed to address the needs of Aboriginal children and youth (9 to 17 years of age) who are being sexually exploited. The program strives to create a model for intervention, prevention, and stabilization for youth by providing culturally accepting environments in rural and urban settings. At Our Relatives’ Place recognizes the importance of children’s and youth’s cultural roots, families, communities of origin and the role of significant individuals identified by the children.

Programs that comprise At Our Relatives’ Place are:

10 specialized foster care beds for sexually exploited children and youth
3 emergency foster care beds for sexually exploited youth
4-bed specialized foster home (Ka Mi Mina) for female sexually exploited youth and young adults who are aging out of CFS care

Regional Resource Teams - Previous Teams:

Sexually Exploited Youth Community Coalition (SEYCC) – Winnipeg, Manitoba
Citizens Against Sexual Exploitation (CASE), Norman Region – The Pas, Manitoba

Stop Sex With Kids Public Awareness Campaign

The Stop Sex with Kids campaign, a part of the Manitoba Strategy to address child sexual exploitation, is designed to raise awareness about children who are exploited through the sex trade. Phases I and II of the campaign were released in 2006 and 2008. Phase III, launched on April 28, 2010, is a call-to-action designed to mobilize adults to get involved and do their part to protect children. It’s up to all of us to send the message that kids are off limits.

Mandatory Reporting – Cybertip.ca

On April 15, 2009, mandatory reporting of child pornography was proclaimed in Manitoba. Manitoba became the first Canadian province to make it mandatory for all citizens to report child pornography. The Child and Family Services Act was amended to include child pornography in the definition of child abuse. Under the new law, if a Manitoban sees something they believe to be child pornography; they are required to report it to Cybertip.ca. The goal of mandatory reporting is to facilitate the reporting of children in need of protection. All reports relating to a child victim and/or suspect in Manitoba are forwarded to child and family services and Manitoba law enforcement so they can coordinate investigations into the allegation and ensure children are protected from abuse. Please click here for complete information.

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection has run several public awareness campaigns on this issue.

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection has also released a report that gauges the effectiveness of Manitoba’s mandatory reporting of child pornography legislation, which was enacted in April 2009. The report, titled Mandatory Reporting of Child Pornography in Manitoba: 2009-2010 Annual Review, analyzes the first-year impact of the legislation.

Manitoba Integrated Task Force for Missing and Murdered Women

The province, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) formally established a task force in August 2009 to review cases involving missing and murdered women. It was announced that the unit’s focus would be:

the review of unsolved homicide files involving women victims:
the review of missing person files involving women victims where foul play is suspected;
the analysis of the file review data to determine what, if any, linkages exist between occurrences; and
the determination of appropriate avenues for follow up investigation(s).

The Province of Manitoba is lending support to this task.

StreetReach North

Both StreetReach Winnipeg and StreetReach North were modelled after the High-Risk Victims (HRV) Unit that was established in Dallas, Texas by the Dallas Police Service. Sergeant Byron Fassett, manager of the Dallas Police Service's HRV Unit, provided two days of training in Winnipeg in February 2009 to 140 stakeholders, including a large contingent from law enforcement services, CFS agencies and social service organizations from locations around the province. Shortly thereafter, the Winnipeg Police Service initiated a similar response to high-risk victims in the Winnipeg area and partnered with the Child Protection Branch, CFS agencies and outreach organizations to form StreetReach Winnipeg. Members of StreetReach Winnipeg then provided the orientation and other assistance required to establish a StreetReach North, located in Thompson, Manitoba.

The StreatReach program was built upon the premise that children most frequently missing are the same children at highest risk of being sexually exploited, drug and gang involved and victims to physical and sexual assault and murder. A rapid and multi-system coordinated response helps to better identify, locate and assist these high-risk victims. With a personalized response, children that are identified as high-risk victims are served as much as possible by the same police officer, CFS worker and outreach worker each time they require service. This facilitates the development of trust-based relationships with the at risk children. Additionally, workers can respond quicker if they become familiar with the locations and habits of high-risk victims when they go missing. Another unique feature of StreetReach is the partnership that has developed with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (formerly Child Find Manitoba) and local media outlets, whereby police services have regularly been issuing media alerts when the public's assistance is needed to located missing high-risk victims.

An initiative announced under Tracia’s Trust, the StreetReach North Team was formed in April 2010 to provide a coordinated and integrated effort between CFS, RCMP and youth-serving organizations in Thompson to:

Help prevent high-risk runaway youth from becoming exploited;
Help sexually exploited youth who are missing escape further exploitation;
Better identify the predators and the drug and prostitution houses where missing high-risk and sexually exploited youth are being harboured and exposed to exploitation.

A community consultation committee was developed to discuss community needs and the Thompson Boys and Girls Club was selected to operate the StreetReach North Program jointly with the RCMP Thompson detachment. A multi-sector advisory committee has been used to help develop the StreetReach North Team and an outreach coordinator has been hired to work in partnership with other outreach services, a designated RCMP officer, and the Sexual Exploitation Northern Regional Team in Thompson.