People For Sale Human Trafficking in Canada

[Music]

what if i told you human trafficking

happens in canada

what if i told you human trafficking

happens in alberta

what if i told you human trafficking

happens right here

in edmonton and what if i told you human

trafficking looks

different than you think it does what if

i told you this could be happening to

the boy or girl next door

the woman next door or the man next door

let me share with you brittany’s story

as she shared it with act alberta

when britney was young she hated living

at home

it seemed like her mom would bring home

a different guy every week and some of

them were awful to her

to make up for this her mom would take

her and her sister out for ice cream

this taught brittany at a very young age

that her affection was something that

could be bought

when britney was about 14 she met tyler

he seemed nice

and interesting and he quickly became

her boyfriend

being with tyler made her feel less

lonely it gave her something to look

forward to each day

his friends became her friends and soon

she moved out of her home to live with

tyler

tyler explained to brittany that she

needed to do something to start bringing

in money and help pay for the expenses

this is when things changed tyler put up

ads for her on backpage.com

and forced brittany to have sex with

guys who responded to the ads

in hotel rooms across the city she did

this so that he wouldn’t get angry

and hit her brittany wanted to stop

tyler told her she wouldn’t have to see

so many clients if she could find him

another

girl to make up for it brittany brought

him angie

a friend from facebook brittany told

angie she could make a lot of money

working for tyler

and angie believed her a few weeks later

tyler was arrested angie had gone to the

police after tyler raped her

britney was taken to a shelter for

victims of domestic violence

and they connected her with act alberta

never before had she considered that she

had been trafficked

so what is human trafficking let’s take

it to the simplest

definition possible when humans become

a commodity when one human has no choice

no voice no rights and is sold

or traded as a commodity by another

human trafficking involves three

elements

one is action so what is done

recruitment transportation receipt

two means so how is this done

coercion manipulation abuse of power

and three purpose why

is this done sexual exploitation

forced labor now let’s take this

definition

and put it into real life terms with

brittany’s story

tyler recruited britney action

using manipulation coercion and threats

means to sexually exploit her

purpose brittany had

no rights the power resided

solely with tyler he decided her rates

he decided her schedule he decided her

appointments

britney had no choice

the most common forms of human

trafficking include

sex trafficking forced labor domestic

servitude

and organ removal the most common form

both globally and nationally

is sex trafficking with the average age

of entry

into sex trafficking being 13 years old

humans are the second highest trafficked

commodity in the world

second only to drugs and weapons

according to the united nations an

estimated 30 million people

are being trafficked worldwide for the

purposes of sexual exploitation and

forced labor

i want to narrow in on canada does human

trafficking

actually happen in a nation as developed

as ours

the answer is yes and while i will share

some stats with you i want you to keep

in mind that this represents only a

fraction

of what is actually happening in our

country

in 2016 there were 300 340 reported

incidents where human trafficking was

the most serious offense

of those the highest reported incidents

came in order from ontario

quebec and alberta so not

only is this happening in canada it’s

happening here in alberta in a notable

way

did you know that we have an entire

non-profit in our province

dedicated to working on human

trafficking

act alberta the action coalition on

human trafficking for alberta

works alongside other provincial

agencies to provide

resources and support to victims of

human trafficking

so who are the victims globally and

nationally the majority of victims

are women in and around the 75 to 80

range of the people that act alberta has

worked with

roughly 57.9 percent

are internal or canadian citizens

and around 46 are temporary foreign

workers

or international victims i want to go

back to that 57.9 percent

these are internal citizens residents of

canada being trafficked within our own

country

and i would be remiss if i didn’t break

this down further to acknowledge the

disproportionate number of indigenous

women and girls that make up over 22

percent

of the 57.9 percent of internal victims

the reasons for this are deeply rooted

complex

and systemic you’re probably thinking

okay so give me some really solid

numbers

something that i can get my head wrapped

around this situation

this is where things get difficult

studies have shown

that in cases where a human trafficking

conviction may be difficult

prosecutors will often pursue another

complementary or less serious charge

where they feel

more confident in a conviction

another thing that makes accurate

statistics so challenging

is the hidden nature of this crime the

reluctance of victims and witnesses to

come forward

or sadly people don’t even know

that human trafficking is what is

happening to them

human trafficking is big business

think about it this way for a minute

humans

are a reusable resource unlike drugs

so a trafficker can buy a human once and

then can continue

over and over to make money off of them

the services that they sell

or even sell them to another trafficker

the average annual income off of one

sex trafficking victim is 280

thousand dollars an international woman

being sex

trafficked in canada is expected to

perform

on average 25 services

per day i

share these numbers with you to give you

some context but let me be clear

with stories surrounding human

trafficking sensationalism is an easy

route to go

but what this does is re-victimizes the

survivor

we need to share their stories in an

ethical way

we need to engage our communities and

one another to take action without

resorting to sensationalizing and taking

further advantage of those who have

already had

everything taken from them

human trafficking has no stereotype

no one is exempt the perpetrators don’t

care

who you are they don’t care about your

economic status

your family of origin your hopes or your

dreams

they take advantage of vulnerable people

they identify a weakness and they prey

on it

this can happen to anyone

this can happen to a girl from overseas

whose family is being promised that

she is being taken to canada for a

better life

this can happen to a man who’s promised

a high paying job

only at a rat to arrive here in canada

and find out that that job

no longer exists he has his documents

taken away

he doesn’t see a dime of the money that

he’s earned

this can happen to a middle-class

teenage girl from your

very city who is lured by a boy who

shows her attention and showers her with

gifts

this can happen to an indigenous girl

who has experienced a life

so hard that she knows no different and

thinks that this life

is all that she is good for this can

happen

to anyone and let’s not forget

that in order for human trafficking to

happen there has to be demand

which means that there are consumers

so who’s buying when it comes to sex

you might picture someone a little

sketchy

someone who lives a rough lifestyle and

is frequently in trouble with the law

the truth is this can be professionals

blue collar workers dads legitimate

businesses

and families we need to remember

that trafficking victims have been found

in legitimate

alberta businesses in construction

agriculture

retail hotels restaurants

nail salons and in private homes as

nannies and caregivers

i want to close with marco’s story

despite working hard in his hometown in

the philippines

marco struggled to make ends meet and

debt mounted for him and his family

when his cousin gave him the name of a

recruiter who offered him a high-paying

job as a chef

in sherwood park marco thought this was

his opportunity to build a better life

for his family

for ten thousand dollars the recruiter

would take care of everything

and when marco said he couldn’t afford

the fee the recruiter told him he could

repay it once he started working

marco arrived in sherwood park only to

find out that the restaurant could no

longer give him a job

the only way he could stay in canada was

to be employed as a janitor by a

cleaning company

this resulted in 14 hour days of

exhausting

manual labor and regular insults and

physical abuse by the company

owner when marco approached the owner

about his earnings he was told that they

would be withheld until his recruiting

fees were paid

he was also told at this time that he

was working

illegally in canada because the visa on

which he was brought over was

only valid for that original job he was

contracted for

he was threatened with immediate

deportation if he complained

weeks turned into months and as marco

had no money

he regularly went hungry and the long

days exhausted him

one day marco passed out from hunger

and fatigue and was taken to an

emergency room in edmonton

the nurse recognized the signs of human

trafficking and

asked marco if he needed help

in desperation marco shared his story

and he was connected with act alberta

act alberta provided him with the

resources and support that he needed

during his transition period

marco now has his permanent residency

status and his wife

and two sons have moved over to canada

to live with him

so why me why this talk

i acknowledge that i come from a place

of privilege

and this privilege gives me an elevated

voice and platform from which to start

i want to use that voice to speak for

those who can’t

for those who are vulnerable for those

who are marginalized

for those who have experienced such

trauma that they don’t know

a life of anything different i want to

be a voice for them

and you can too we all have the power

of a network so share what you’ve

learned here on social media

the next time you’re with friends make

this a topic of conversation

continue to talk and share and educate

yourself

connect with the organizations and

agencies in your area that are doing the

work and find out how you can help

let’s raise our children in a way that

they respect themselves

one another and that they know that all

human life is of equal value

let’s recognize the warning signs and if

something doesn’t look or feel right

let’s make a phone call

let’s understand the impact that the

cycle of abuse

has in relation to human trafficking and

raise our children in a way that we put

an

end to this let’s use our collective

voices

in the fight to end human trafficking

thank you

you