Northwestern Ontario receives funding boost to fight against human trafficking

CBC

3 days ago

Jaye Wesley says northwestern Ontario has seen a stark rise in human trafficking cases over the last five years.
"The communities that surround Kenora are seeing a huge rise in luring and grooming the youth," said Wesley, who is the board chair for the Kenora Coalition Against Human Trafficking and the executive director of the Kenora Sexual Assault Centre, which provides a number of wraparound services.
"It's being done online because a lot of these communities are isolated and the internet is obviously very well used by young people."
To help curb these risks, the Ontario government is spending $6 million to launch a new Children at Risk of Exploitation (CARE) unit in the northwestern Ontario city.
The new CARE unit will be led by Anishinaabe Abinoojii Family Services and Kenora-Rainy River Districts Child and Family Services.
The launch, announced on Wednesday, is part of a broader announcement that the province is spending $345 million on the renewal of its Anti-Human Trafficking Strategy.
In 2023, 570 human trafficking cases were reported to police across the country, according to Statistics Canada.
That number represents a 395.7 percent increase in yearly cases since 2013.
"Our strategy will continue to provide specialized supports to protect children and youth from sex trafficking," said Michael Parsa, Ontario's minister of children, community and social services at Wednesday's press conference.
Ontario alone accounts for 58 per cent of reported human trafficking cases, according to the provincial government. Highway 401 in southern Ontario has become known as a hotspot for human traffickers, connecting major cities like London and Toronto to the U.S.-Canada border in Windsor.
However, northwestern Ontario also finds itself susceptible to human trafficking, with its close proximity to major traffic arteries like Highway 11-17, Lake Superior, and provincial and international borders, said Wesley.
It's being done online because a lot of these communities are isolated and the internet is obviously very well used by young people. - Jaye Wesley, board chair for the Kenora Coalition Against Human Trafficking and executive director of the Kenora Sexual Assault Centre
She adds that Kenora's population tends to swell in the summer due to tourists, as well as people from remote First Nation communities coming to the city to access services.
The Native Women's Association of Canada estimates that Indigenous women account for roughly half of all human trafficking cases in Canada.
Meanwhile, roughly a quarter of all cases across the country involve children and youth under the age of 18, according to Statistics Canada.
"Some of our children and youth have experienced the effects of intergenerational trauma, poverty and abuse. This puts them in a vulnerable position to seek affection or attention," said Katherine Machimity, director of services for Tikinagan Child and Family Services, in an emailed statement.
Machimity added that the organization, which is based in Sioux Lookout, hired a CARE intervention helper with funding received as part of the Anti-Human Trafficking Strategy.
Yet in 2024, there were only six CARE units across Ontario, according to the province's Children's Aid Society.
Communities stepping up
Many communities and municipalities have taken it upon themselves to increase awareness and prevent human trafficking.
Earlier this year, Grassy Narrows First Nation set up a community checkpoint in response to human trafficking concerns among its members. The creation of the checkpoint followed a community notice from the First Nation's emergency response co-ordinator, Terry Fobister, that cited "recent incidents involving attempted abductions of our band members."
Airports across northwestern Ontario have also stepped up to the plate to combat the crime.
Last week, the municipality of Sioux Lookout announced that its airport had partnered with the anti-human trafficking advocacy organization #NotInMyCity, which was founded by Canadian country music artist Paul Brandt.
The partnership is especially important, considering Sioux Lookout has the second busiest airport in northwestern Ontario, according to the town's mayor, Doug Lawrance.
"People come here for health care, education and retail business, and some of those people will be vulnerable people," said Lawrance. "Human trafficking is something that's insidious, it's difficult to track down."
Thunder Bay's airport partnered with the organization three years ago, according to Jackie MacDonald, the airport authority's director of business development and revenue management.
"We collaboratively put together these signs that are throughout our terminal building," said MacDonald. "In partnership with [#NotInMyCity], they do have a training toolkit that we use online that has been given to all of our staff here at the airport as well."
An ever-evolving fight
As Canada's online landscape continues to evolve, so too does the effort to combat human trafficking. Social media platforms that entice children and youth, such as Instagram and Snapchat, have become particularly attractive for predators and traffickers.
However, Wesley added that anyone in a vulnerable situation could fall victim to the crime, regardless of gender or age.
"We're really trying to focus on the youth and children but at the same time, we don't want to lose our perspective and forget that this happens to everyone."
Wesley adds that human trafficking isn't always for the purpose of sexual exploitation, but can also take form in labour trafficking, particularly when it comes to family debts.
To better ensure that outreach organizations — such as the Kenora Coalition Against Human Trafficking and the Kenora Sexual Assault Centre — are able to address and prevent cases of human trafficking before it happens, Wesley said it is vital that organizations are up to date on the technology being employed by traffickers.
"They're using different avenues, so I think we really need to keep ourselves educated and aware of how perpetrators are actually committing the crime and then adjust what we're doing," Wesley said.