About our project
This training has been developed in collaboration by George Brown College, Ryerson University, Covenant House Toronto, and the Ontario Association of Child and Youth Care (OACYC). Our research and training creation occurred primarily in Tkaranto, on the territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples. We recognize, and encourage participants to keep in mind, how settler-colonial researchers, service providers, the Western academic and social service systems have, and continue to, exploit Indigenous communities, persons, culture, and land, and are complicit in conducting and maintaining the violence of colonialism.
The exploitation of Indigenous people and land are a historic and ongoing purpose of colonialism across Turtle Island. Moreover, due to colonial violence, oppression, dehumanization of Indigenous persons, white supremacy, and patriarchy, Indigenous women, girls, and Two-spirit persons are some of the communities most exposed to sexual exploitation. Throughout this training and our lives going forward, we must continuously commit to dismantling the colonial hierarchy and domination entrenched in our daily interactions, in our work, in our mainstream systems and in our culture as a whole.
Through the course of a 3-year research project, we have pursued the development, application, and evaluation of a framework for:
- the early identification of youths involved in human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation (HTSE)
- effective support for youths involved in, and at risk of HTSE, through the development and dissemination of training tools for Child and Youth Care Practitioners (CYCP).
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