Human trafficking is a highly profitable crime.
Victims are found in a wide range of economic sectors, including the sex trade, agriculture, construction, and involuntary marriage.
Police say traffickers move victims quickly between cities and towns across Ontario and Canada by using Trans Canada and 400 series highways. Highways 11 and 17 are often used by traffickers to transport victims through Northern Ontario and into Western Canada.
The Joy Smith Foundation is a charity that promotes awareness and prevention of sex trafficking in Canada.
Through the foundation, more than 7,000 survivors of human trafficking have reconnected with family members and begun the healing process.
The Joy Smith Foundation was founded by Joy Smith in 2011 with the help of volunteers and supporters. Since then, the foundation has been passed down through three generations, with Joy’s daughter as the new leading president.
Joy Smith’s daughter, Janet Campbell, President, and CEO of the Joy Smith Foundation, said people underestimate the severity of human trafficking.
“One of the things in Canada is a lot of people still don’t understand how it happens here or who can be vulnerable,” Campbell said. “There’s a lot of misconceptions in Canada and a lot of myths I would say which respects to what it would actually look like and how it happens.”
Campbell said people need to come together to put an end to trafficking through the support of others.
“This is a crime that happens in communities across Canada, and we need to engage communities across Canada to actually stop it from happening,” she said. “It’s a really horrendous crime that happens and it has a tremendous impact on those that have been affected.”
The Canadian government defines human trafficking as recruiting and exploiting victims for forced labour or sexual activities.
Blood & Water, a popular Netflix show, explores the angle of exploiting and kidnapping victims. The first and second seasons are devoted to finding a baby girl who was abducted and unlawfully sold to a smuggling organization that was passing itself off as an adoption agency.
During the third season, the focus narrows to a trafficking syndicate that poses as a modeling agency. Several episodes from the show are featured on the Official Netflix Site, which raises awareness about sex trafficking being a common issue.
Covenant House Toronto, which turned down a request for an interview, is an agency that helps people who are victims of trafficking, homelessness, or individuals who are at risk. The average age of a sex trafficking victim is 17.
One Child, a movement that acts against exploited children, said the average age of trafficking victims ranges from 11 to 13 years old.
There are Four Stages of Recovery from Trafficking and the third stage is called Thriver, where a victim tries to put their life back together. This is where the Joy Smith Foundation gives trafficking victims hope to heal and be reunited with their families.
“This is a very big issue and we wanted to be able to really continue the work and make an impact to help prevent this from happening to Canadians and to help those that have been impacted to restore their lives and support them through their journey of healing,” Campbell said.
The National Human Trafficking Education Centre at Joy Smith Foundation is a unique online resource that provides resources to help Canadians better understand and combat human trafficking.
“One of our recent initiatives has been the traffickingsigns.ca campaign,” Campbell said.
“They haven’t necessarily put a lot of awareness on it, and so the traffickingsigns.ca campaign was really to get the attention of all Canadians on this issue and give Canadians the opportunity to have free access to learning more about the issue and educating themselves so they can protect themself and their families and loved ones from having this happen,” she said.