Survivor leadership shaping our path forward.
ACT’s Survivor Advisory Council ensures that all our programs, policies, and practices are consistently reviewed and shaped through the lens of survivors lived experiences.
Survivor leadership is crucial to our mission, as their direct involvement is key to maintaining an empathetic and effective agency that truly meets the needs of those it serves.
About the Survivor Advisory Council
The Council ensures that the voices and expertise of those with lived experience are at the heart of our anti-trafficking work. This is a space where survivors shape the direction of programs, policies, and advocacy, not as participants, but as partners. We walk beside one another in truth, equity, and respect for each person’s story and cultural identity, ensuring that our efforts are meaningful, ethical, and impactful.
Objectives
To integrate survivor leadership and expertise into organizational and systemic decision-making processes.
To create meaningful opportunities for survivors to guide strategies that challenge harmful systems and promote justice, equity, and healing.
To provide a platform for survivors to share insights and drive systemic change, ensuring their voices are centred in anti-trafficking work.
To honour and compensate survivors fairly for their time, wisdom, and contributions.
To ensure that all council discussions and decisions honour diverse worldviews, particularly those of Indigenous Peoples and other historically marginalized communities, by practicing humility, curiosity, and respect.
Why join?
Your lived experience is invaluable. This advisory council is designed to uplift your expertise while respecting your boundaries—because survivor leadership should guide the work that affects survivors.
This is more than a meeting space; it is a circle of shared responsibility, where stories lead to action and wisdom becomes policy. Together, we weave pathways toward justice and healing that honour the strength of every survivor, every culture, and every community.
Our Council Community: Eligibility and Participation Details
Participation details
The purpose of the Survivor Advisory Council is to ensure that all programs, policies, and practices developed by ACT are consistently reviewed and shaped through the lens of survivors lived experiences. This council is vital to uphold the agency's commitment to trauma-informed, person-centred approaches in every aspect of its work.
By prioritizing survivor voices, we centre the needs and insights of those most impacted, ensuring their perspectives guide decision-making and service delivery. This ensures that ACT’s services remain responsive, inclusive, and grounded in the real needs of diverse communities, including Indigenous Peoples, migrant workers, 2SLGBTQ+ survivors, racialized communities, and newcomers.
Survivor leadership is crucial to our mission, as their direct involvement is key to maintaining an empathetic and effective agency that truly meets the needs of those it serves.
Participant criteria
The Advisory Council will include a minimum of 10 survivors of labour and/or sex trafficking or exploitation. Participants may be former clients of ACT Alberta or individuals connected through our partner agencies. If we are unable to reach the minimum number through these networks, we will open the opportunity to survivors from the broader community.
Participants must be fluent in English and have basic English reading skills. Access to a computer or cell phone with a stable internet connection for Zoom is required for virtual participation.
Participation format
Meetings will be held in a hybrid model (virtual and in-person) and are structured as discussion-based circles. We invite members to share their insights at their own comfort level, recognizing that listening is as valued as speaking. The space is designed to ensure everyone who wishes to share has the time and opportunity to do so.
Connect with us
Are you interested in joining our Survivor Advisory Council? Send us a message and we’ll guide you through the next steps.