Aurora House offers long-term transitional housing for individuals who identify as women, including expectant mothers and women with young children, who have experienced human trafficking, gender-based violence, or other forms of exploitation in Canada.
Unlike emergency shelters or short-term safe houses, Aurora House provides a stable and supportive home for residents as they move beyond crisis and begin rebuilding their lives. Our model bridges the gap between immediate crisis care and independent living, offering time, space, and individualized support for healing and planning the next stage of life.
Aurora House currently consists of two shared, multi-level units designed for collaborative living, each accommodating up to three adults and their children, alongside a separate self-contained apartment for a single individual or a family. This flexible model allows us to meet the diverse and changing needs of survivors, recognizing that each resident’s journey is unique and ensuring they have access to safe, responsive, and empowering support along the way.
For the safety and privacy of our residents, the location of Aurora House is kept confidential. We believe strongly in protecting the physical and emotional security of those we serve.
WHAT IS HUMAN TRAFFICKING?
Human trafficking is the recruitment, control, or exploitation of people through force, manipulation, coercion, deception, or abuse of power. In Canada, trafficking most commonly involves sexual exploitation, though it can also include forced labour and other forms of exploitation.
Human trafficking does not always involve crossing borders or physical confinement. Many survivors are controlled through fear, emotional manipulation, threats, financial dependence, isolation, or violence. Trafficking happens in communities across Canada, often targeting women, girls, youth, Indigenous people, newcomers, and individuals experiencing vulnerability or instability.
Human trafficking is one of the fastest-growing crimes worldwide and a serious violation of human rights. Canada is a signatory to the United Nations Palermo Protocol, an international agreement focused on preventing trafficking, protecting survivors, and prosecuting traffickers.
WHAT IS GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE?
Gender-based violence (GBV) refers to violence, abuse, coercion, and control rooted in gender inequality. It can include physical violence, sexual assault, emotional abuse, financial control, harassment, exploitation, trafficking, and intimate partner violence.
GBV can happen anywhere, including homes, relationships, workplaces, schools, online spaces, and communities. Women, girls, and gender-diverse people are disproportionately impacted, with Indigenous women, racialized women, women with disabilities, newcomers, and 2SLGBTQ+ people facing heightened risks and barriers to support.
In 2023, Toronto City Council formally declared gender-based violence and intimate partner violence an epidemic. In 2025, the Toronto Police Service released its first annual Intimate Partner Violence report and public data portal, recognizing the serious and ongoing impact of IPV across Toronto.