Facts from a now-public report on trafficking of aboriginal women in Canada

OTTAWA – A newly disclosed report says aboriginal women and girls are easy prey for human traffickers because they are more likely to suffer from poverty, drug addictions and mental-health problems.

Among the other findings in the Public Safety Canada report:

— Family members, gangs and friends can recruit women and girls through financial and psychological coercion and physical violence;

— Aboriginal women and girls are more likely to be poor, have low self-esteem, addictions and mental-health issues, so they are especially vulnerable to people who want to sexually exploit them;

— Smaller gangs are behind most of the trafficking of aboriginal women and girls, not highly sophisticated criminal organizations;

— Aboriginal women and girls in the North are even more vulnerable and may not speak out for fear of retribution from others in their remote, isolated communities;

— Most law-enforcement agencies don’t collect data on ethnic backgrounds or if the victims of human trafficking are status or non-status First Nations, Metis or Inuit; and,

— The needs of aboriginal women and girls who have been sexually exploited are often greater than what support agencies can provide.