Human Trafficking Awareness Day was marked Feb. 22 in Saskatoon

By Jon Perez, Catholic Saskatoon News

Organizers and participants at Human Trafficking Awareness Day events in Saskatoon Feb. 22 described the need to keep the discussion going, and to continue to raise awareness of the issue, in order to save those trapped in this illegal trade.

The Catholic Women’s League (CWL) council at Saint Anne Parish again led the way in the local Human Trafficking Awareness Day events, asking Mayor Charlie Clark and Saskatoon City Council to declare Feb. 22-29 as an awareness week for the city.

CWL members held a flag-raising ceremony at City Hall’s Civic Square at noon on Feb. 22, before leading some 50 people on a silent walk to St. Paul Co-Cathedral on Spadina Crescent for presentations and further discussion of the issue, which impacts exploited individuals in Saskatchewan communities and around the world.

 

 

 

 

Anne Ashcroft and Donna Aldous co-chair the Human Trafficking Awareness project for the Saint Anne Parish CWL Council, which has partnered with different agencies like Hope Restored Canada, IWIN (I’m Worth It Now), the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, Soroptimist International-Saskatoon, NASHI, and the Salvation Army to raise awareness about the issue. Members of the Saskatoon Police Service also participated in the Feb. 22 event.

Silent walk from City Hall to St. Paul Co-Cathedral

 

 

 

 

Forum provides more information

During the forum at St. Paul Co-Cathedral, organizer and MC Anne Ashcroft said young women and girls, young men and boys, are at risk of being trafficked – even in Saskatoon, while Donna Aldous added that awareness that leads to action is the key to combating this terrible crime.

 

Saint Anne Pastor Fr. Matthew Ramsay opened and closed the forum with prayer, with speakers at the event including Diocesan CWL President Marion Laroque, diocesan Justice and Peace Co-ordinator Myron Rogal, Saskatoon Police Acting Chief Dave Haye, Soroptimist International-Saskatoon representative Melanie Kenny, IWIN spokesperson Diane Cote, and Ward 5 Councillor Randy Donauer.

Joeline Magill, Executive Director of Hope Restored Canada, thanked organizers for raising awareness on the issue of human trafficking. “To have a day like this to inform the people and remember those who have passed in this industry is an honour. An honour working to help individuals who have experienced this in our community and from across the province,” she said.

“We collaborate with [the police service] Vice Unit, the CWL, Soroptimist, IWIN and others. It is important for us to remember that not only one agency is making a difference. It takes a whole community.”

Hope Restored works with those who have experienced the trauma of being bought and sold, operating a safe house to assist victims in escaping human trafficking and support them in healing from this trauma, with the help of others in the community.

 

Acting Police Chief Haye said that vice and human trafficking Investigation units handle all complaints, files and reports that they receive from the public as they try to put an end to the illegal trade in the city. “[Reports] come in different ways. I read a file where they are investigating something else, but then in the middle of the file, one that [the unit] is working with identified that they were a human trafficking victim. Unit members] stopped what they were doing and just dealt with that because it is important to help the victims. All reports come to us in different ways,” Haye said.

 

In his remarks, Myron Rogal pointed to a diocesan resource that is available online to assist in raising awareness and continuing advocacy around the issue of human trafficking. The resource entitled “Working Toward Freedom” was developed in conjunction with Catholic dioceses of Victoria and Vancouver, BC. and can be found on the diocesan website at: LINK.

 

 

Information about human trafficking and sexual exploitation:

• 93 per cent of trafficked victims in Canada are Canadian
• In Saskatchewan risk is heightened for Indigenous women, girls and vulnerable youth
• Indigenous women are four per cent of the population, but are 10 times more likely to go missing, 20 times more likely to be murdered, and represent 50 per cent of trafficked victims
• Saskatchewan has one of the highest percentage of human trafficking in the country
• Runaways are often picked up by traffickers within 24-48 hours
• Average age of recruitment into the sex trade is 13-14 years old
• 63 per cent of trafficked victims are between 15 and 24 years of age
• Victims on average earn $280,000 a year for their trafficker
• Human trafficking is the third largest crime industry in the world, behind drug dealing and arms trafficking
• Profits are over $150 billion annually
• Victims are often used to produce online pornography
• The Internet is often used to lure young people and groom them for exploitation

Related advocacy:

Bill S-210, introduced by Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne would require websites to verify that users are adults before accessing pornographic content. It has passed second reading in the House of Commons and has now been referred to committee for further study. More information – including instructions for contacting your MP and sample letters – can be viewed here: LINK. (For more information contact Myron Rogal in the diocesan Office of Justice and Peace at: mrogal@rcdos.caor (306) 659-5841.)

Other Resources:

• Diocesan “Working Towards Freedom” resource – LINK
• The Canadian Centre to end Human Trafficking – LINK
• Public Safety Canada – LINK
• Hope Restored Canada – LINK
• Government of Saskatchewan Protection from Human Trafficking Act – LINK

 

 

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Reporter Jon Perez is a parishioner at the Cathedral of the Holy Family in Saskatoon.