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