It’s not just sad that people around us are living within spaces of sex, housing or labour exploitation. We need to realize our broken systems are perpetuating these situations.

By Alice Plug-Buist

Originally posted on The Hamilton Spectator Website. Please click this link to read the article.

“Hamilton human trafficker treated victims as ‘human slaves’” (Feb. 28 Hamilton Spectator). You may have blocked it out already, but earlier this year, many of us were shocked and horrified by this most recent revelation of human trafficking happening right under our noses. The reality is that this story is one among many, not only in other places around the world, but right here in Hamilton.

We live in a society which is perpetuating systems conducive to exploitation. It isn’t just a sad thing that our governments are not prioritizing affordable housing and that they are legislating poverty by keeping social assistance at deplorably low amounts. It is actually a situation where we are causing harm. Our inaction with respect to the care of vulnerable people is creating situations of exploitation.

Consider Leanna. She finds herself in a financial situation where being able to afford housing is out of reach, so she lives at the mercy of men in her life who give her a bed to sleep in, but at a cost to her body that no money should be able to buy.

Consider Stan. He lives in an apartment where the toilet is not connected to running water, the stove hasn’t worked in years and rats run rampant through his kitchen drawers. His landlord knows that the housing wait-list is 10 years long and Stan can’t afford to lose the roof he has over his head right now.

Consider Carla. She is a newcomer to Canada and does not have a good grasp of English nor her rights. Someone told her that if she didn’t follow his instructions, she would be at risk of deportation, and he seems to know more than she does about how it all works.

(Leanna, Stan and Carla are all real people. I have changed their names for their privacy, but they all live in Hamilton and are our neighbours.)

We have created an environment where the tiniest apartments are being rented for exorbitant amounts of money — which is why Leanna finds herself using her body to pay for room and board.

We have not prioritized funding for housing at federal, provincial or municipal levels, or taken the time to speak to our government representatives to ensure that they do — which is why Stan is paying a slumlord for an apartment with no toilet or stove, and infested with rats.

We have also not prioritized the needs of refugees and newcomers to Hamilton, both in terms of funding and neighbourly social support — which is why Carla finds herself at risk of human trafficking.

It’s not just sad that people around us are living within spaces of sex, housing or labour exploitation — we need to realize that our broken systems are perpetuating these situations, and as we realize this, we all need to take action to stop the harm.

Tell your government representatives that we need to prioritize care for the vulnerable now, and that you will only vote for them in the next election if they demonstrate these priorities (for example, through supporting guaranteed basic income and substantially increased funding of affordable housing).

Are you a housing provider? Provide housing justly.

Do you know a newcomer to Canada? Check in on them and offer your support.

Do you not know anyone who is vulnerable? Then offer your support to others who do and help work together to create a safe and caring society.

Be shocked and horrified at the discovery of human trafficking in our community. But then check in along with me to see how we have become a society where this could happen, and work to change things so that it can’t happen again.

Alice Plug-Buist is the executive director of Helping Hands Street Mission.

Originally posted on The Hamilton Spectator Website. Please click this link to read the article.