About us | Human Trafficking Health Alliance of Canada

Vision

To have a cohesive network of health care providers across Canada working to advocate awareness of human trafficking and its impact on the health of a person and our health care system.

Mission

To develop a network of Canadian health providers working to bring awareness to Human Trafficking (HT) and how it affects health care equity and access
To build an interdisciplinary group of broadly-defined health care providers within Canada (ex. clinicians , researchers, policy makers, administrators) working cohesively to address human trafficking
To share best practices, evidence, and unite advocacy efforts within Canada
To bring a health/public health/forensic perspective into multi-system approaches to HT in Canada at the local, provincial, and national level in Canada
To serve as a centralized resource on the impacts of health for the anti-trafficking community overall within Canada

Purpose

To engage in work that bring awareness to and strives to promote prevention of all forms of human trafficking;
To support those who have been trafficked of all genders, ages, races/ethnicities, religions, origins, cultures, and sexual orientations;
To educate those involved in health care so that all trafficked persons have access to a full range of health care including medical, mental/behavioral health, reproductive health, dental, and substance use disorder treatment services;
To engage in discussions about human trafficking from a public health perspective that incorporates a socio-ecological framework and prevention strategies; and
Promotes a survivor-centered, trauma-informed, harm reduction, evidence-based, practice-based approach to anti-trafficking efforts.

Founder

Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioner PHC-NP, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE-A)

Tara Leach is a Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioner (PHC-NP) and Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE-A).

Tara is the Founder and Clinical Director of the H.E.A.L.T.H Clinic (Health Care, Education, Advocacy, Linkage, for Trauma Informed Healing) https://www.healthclinicottawa.ca/.

The H.E.A.L.T.H clinic is the first primary care clinic in Ontario committed to providing patient centered and trauma-informed primary health care to people aged 13 years and older who are at risk for, who have experienced or who are experiencing coercion, exploitation, labour and or sex trafficking.

Tara addresses violence from four pillars: Research, Policy, Education, and front line Clinical perspective. Since 2012 Tara has been a part of the Ontario Network of Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Treatment Centers https://www.sadvtreatmentcentres.ca/.

Tara is a professor at Algonquin College in the Victimology Ontario College Graduate Certificate program.

Founder

Tara Wilkie RN, BScN, Forensic Nurse Examiner - SANE-A

Tara Wilkie is a Registered Nurse (BSN) and Forensic Nurse Examiner (SANE-A) with her Specialty in Emergency Nursing who is passionate about caring for the health needs of persons who are trafficked. Tara was instrumental in creating the Human Trafficking Healthcare Initiative Team for Fraser Health’s Forensic Nursing Service, and a creator of “Human Trafficking: Help Don’t Hinder”; the first online learning modules in Canada that trains health care provider to identify and respond to trafficking.

Tara is an Instructor for British Columbia Institute of Technology Forensic Health Science and Technology program, and in 2018, Tara was awarded the BCIT Distinguished Alumni award for her work to address human trafficking.

Tara is an active volunteer helping women and girls locally, and has volunteered abroad in Thailand with tribal children who were at risk and trafficked, which was the catalyst to her life’s work.

Board of Directors

Coming soon…..