Ottawa commits $1.4 million to help community groups fight human trafficking

Minister of Women and Gender Equality Rechie Valdez announces funding to help combat human trafficking at the Halifax Central Library, in Halifax, on Friday, July 17, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Devin Stevens

HALIFAX — The federal government is funding six organizations across the country in an effort to combat human trafficking and support survivors.

Minister of Women and Gender Equality Rechie Valdez was in Halifax on Friday to announce $1.4 million in funding.

Two community organizations in Nova Scotia will receive money, along with groups in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Windsor, Ont., and St. John’s, N.L.

One of the programs focuses on Indigenous women and girls, another is trying to prevent the exploitation of newcomers and yet another targets men and boys in an effort at prevention.

The government says 93 per cent of human trafficking victims who reported to police between 2014 and 2024 were women and girls.

About 63 per cent of those victims were under 25 years old.

The announcement comes a day after Valdez was in Moncton, N.B. to announce $607 million to extend the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence.

“Far too many (victims) are children and youth,” Valdez told reporters Friday. “And behind every statistic we know is a person whose (life) has been changed forever, a family that will never be the same.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2026.

Devin Stevens, The Canadian Press