Open for signatureElectronice-7839 · Parliament 45

Financial relief for survivors

Petitioners ask the Government of Canada to establish a federal framework and trauma‑informed, survivor‑led processes to identify, review and relieve federal debts, tax liabilities and benefit overpayments caused by trafficking, sexual or domestic violence.

Why we would sign this petition

Creates mechanisms to relieve lasting debts and tax harms that survivors attribute to trafficking or abuse, helping restore financial stability and reduce long‑term harm.
Requires trauma‑informed, survivor‑informed processes, which could reduce re‑traumatization and make relief applications more accessible.
Mandated reviews of federal laws and CRA procedures could identify and remove procedural barriers preventing survivors from obtaining relief.

Why we wouldn’t sign this petition

Implementing a federal framework and new processes may be administratively complex and costly to design and run.
Assessing whether debts arose directly from exploitation could be difficult, risking delays or fraud if verification rules are weak or overly strict.
A broad federal framework could duplicate or conflict with existing tax and benefit rules; targeted legislative or program changes might be more practical.

The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.

Official petition

Petition to the Government of Canada Human trafficking, sexual violence, and domestic violence, can involve financial exploitation, including identity theft, coerced debt, fraudulent use of government benefits, tax liabilities, credit damage, and financial transactions undertaken without the survivor's meaningful knowledge or consent; Survivors may continue to experience the financial consequences of their exploitation years after leaving trafficking; Existing government processes may not adequately account for financial liabilities incurred as a direct consequence of human trafficking; Survivors should have accessible, trauma and survivor-informed mechanisms to seek review and relief from financial liabilities arising from their exploitation; and The lived experience of survivors should inform the development of government policies and processes addressing financial exploitation associated with human trafficking, sexual violence, and domestic violence. We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to: 1. Develop a federal framework to identify, review, and provide appropriate relief from federal debts, tax liabilities, benefit overpayments, and other financial obligations incurred as a direct result of human trafficking, sexual violence, domestic violence, or exploitation; 2. Review existing federal legislation, policies, and CRA procedures to identify barriers preventing survivors from obtaining such relief; 3. Establish clear, trauma and survivor-informed processes for assessing these cases without unreasonable delay, and unnecessarily requiring survivors to repeatedly disclose or prove their lived experience; and 4. Establish a survivor-informed advisory board on financial exploitation, including people with lived experience, to advise the federal government on policy, legislative reform, and implementation.

Government response

No government response is available yet.