New funding directed at human trafficking awareness is exposing gaps in support resources for survivors.
Hospitality Saskatchewan has received $115,000 from the Government of Saskatchewan through the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence to launch a training program to help workers notice signs of trafficking and increase reporting.
“I’ve been working in this industry for 40 years and I shudder to think what I missed,” Hospitality Saskatchewan president and CEO Jim Bence said.
Bence says reporting is only the first step, and survivors also need somewhere to turn, but one of the places he relies on most is in jeopardy.
Hope Restored Canada, a prominent organization that provides safe housing and outreach to survivors, has lost almost 20 per cent of their annual funding.
“We just can’t exist without it. I can report all day long, but if victims don’t have a place that they can go or work with people that they trust, this is just an exercise,” Bence said.
Hope Restored’s Saskatoon location was already at full capacity when its federal funding expired on March 31. The organization has received funding from the federal Department of Justice’s Victims Fund since 2023.
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In September 2025, the federal government put out a call for applications for renewal. In early March, Hope Restored was told it was not renewed.
Its executive director, Kendra Mazer, says that has forced the organization to temporarily stop some services.
“With this announcement, we’re going to see more calls coming through. It’s really hard to have to say no to someone that we can’t meet what their needs are at the time they need them,” Mazer said.
Mazer also worries about the long-term effects. She says when support disappears, so, too, can the trust it takes to ask for help.
“People aren’t going to be coming forward to ask for support, and people are going to feel that there’s no support available and that they have no other option. So I think it just further increases folks’ vulnerabilities when there’s no other option to leave the situation that they’re in,” Mazer said.
In response to the decision on Hope Restored, the Government of Saskatchewan said it was “disappointed by the federal government’s recent decision to discontinue funding for these important programs.”
“Complex issues such as human trafficking need to be addressed with all partners at the table — including the federal government,” it said in a statement.
“We are aware of and understand the value of these programs and are currently in discussions with the affected organizations to explore potential options for provincial support.”
At Hospitality Saskatchewan’s announcement, Saskatchewan Justice Minister Tim McLeod said that “if the federal government removes itself from a critical program, that’s a challenge for us as a province, but we have met that challenge in a variety of ways in a variety of ministries multiple times, and this is certainly one that we’re going to take seriously.”
The Department of Justice said in a statement that funding for Hope Restored was provided for a set period, not on an ongoing basis.
Mazer says the organization has reached out to the federal government to determine why the application was not approved, and which organizations were approved in order to support ongoing efforts, but never heard back.
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