Notes From: Beyond Net Zero - The Canada Human Trafficking Declaration
RAGAS and the Canadian RAGAS members, with the founding group of the Canada Declaration Team, hosted a first ever event on April 3rd in Winnipeg at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Their goal is to see Canada as the first country in the world to adopt a Zero Tolerance approach to Human Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery. And it was a huge success! With Survivors, Canadian Senators, Members of Parliament, Local and Provincial government heads, plus keynote speaker and IJM Canada’s Leader Anu George Canjanathoppil, with countless organizations (roughly 10 people from 7080 joined us!) and groups from around the country all working together – it was nothing short of outstanding! The first follow-up to this event is already being planned for Toronto, Canada in June 2024, with a third summit being designed to run alongside the Rotary International Conference in Calgary in June 2025.
The entire team at District 7080 has been a huge support for which we are extremely grateful. DG Sandhya Meine was amazing as was DGE Brenda Halloran, who graciously attended meetings and helped to plan the event. Humbly, I'm not sure we could have done what we've done without them.
Members of the Canada Declaration Team include: Canadian RAGAS Ambassador Barb Lustgarten Evoy, Global Chair Emeritus Dave McLeary, International Justice Mission Canada’s David Pollendine, NotInMyCity’s founder Paul Brandt, and The Mekong Club’s founder Matt Friedman.
The overall outcome was exciting, and the attendees are all waiting for the next summit with enthusiasm. Barb Lustgarten Evoy shared these comments from an attendee following the success of the event: "You may not see what I saw. I've attended hundreds of these events around the world and can honestly tell you that this one will go down in the annals of history as being the day the page turned for Canada and for the rest of the globe!" A. George Canjanathoppil
Bill S-211 now only awaits Royal Assent before being passed!! It is with teamwork, collaboration, and the power of Rotary that we hope to be a small part of positive changes like this going forward.