W.E.C.E.N. provides direct services to survivors of domestic and international exploitation. This includes labour exploitation, sex trafficking, and forced marriage.

W.E.C.E.N. works with community organizations to identify risk factors and vulnerabilities as well as provide intensive case management to assist mitigating the negative effects of trafficking and decrease barriers to service access. W.E.C.E.N. partners with organizations locally in the Windsor-Essex community, provincially and nationally to advocate for systemic change…

Direct services include: advocacy to obtain basic needs such as income and housing, translation and interpretation, support navigating the criminal justice system, referrals to appropriate community services including legal counsel, skills developments well as counselling to support individuals facing challenges due to trauma.

Advocacy may be provided in collaboration with an affected person as well as through public education in the form of training seminars, workshops and publications.

W.E.C.E.N. was founded initially as WEFiGHT in 2002 as a community project of Legal Assistance of Windsor and community partners. It was created in response to the prevalence of trafficking in our community and the gap in services needed. Twenty years later, as we continue to grow and change to accommodate changing needs of this marginalized and vulnerable population, we have transitioned to the name to the Windsor-Essex Counter Exploitation Network (W.E.C.E.N.)

This rebranding reflects both the evolution of the project as well as its vision for the future. We believe it is appropriate to rebrand our project to more specifically reflect the existence of exploitation along a continuum and ensure those at risk feel they have a place to gather the information and the support they need to make healthy and safe decisions in their lives. We utilize a trauma and violence informed and anti-oppression approach to service delivery.