With human trafficking on the rise, Guelph organizations partner with police to create awareness video

A number of Guelph organizations, along with police in that city, have banded together to create a video raising awareness about the reality of human trafficking in the area. 

Guelph Police Service created the Human Trafficking Awareness Campaign in conjunction with Victim Services Wellington, Guelph Wellington Women in Crisis and Crime Stoppers Guelph Wellington. 

The video, released last week, includes an expert from each organization to discuss and dispel some of the myths around human trafficking. 

It features trafficking survivor and advocate Kaitlin Bick, who shares her experience being manipulated by someone close to her at the age of 24. She was trafficked within Canada.

She said trafficking can happen to anyone at any time. 

"Education is power. If I knew what human trafficking really looked like, maybe it wouldn't have happened to me," said Bick. "This crime doesn't only happen to women and girls, it happens to our 2SLGBTQ+ community, men and boys."

The video's main message is that increasing awareness is key in preventing victimization before it can happen. 

Victim Services Wellington Executive Director Elizabeth Kent said one of the major myths they aim to dispel with their organization is that people are trafficked by strangers. 

"Many victims are trafficked by somebody they know and trust," she said. 

She also noted that victims are often thought of as physically incapable of leaving a trafficking situation.

The reality, Kent said, is that there are also emotional and mental factors that leave a victim fearing for their safety or future if they were to try to leave an exploitative situation. 

'A hub for this heinous crime'

In a media release, Det. Sgt. James Graham of the Human Trafficking Unit notes that Guelph's proximity to Highway 401 and "larger urban centres" can make it a "hub for this heinous crime."

While Det. Const. Adam Roszell, who appears in the video, wasn't available for comment, Guelph police spokesperson Scott Tracey told CBC News that this video was meant to highlight the reality of crimes like these in the area. 

"There's a perception, I think, in Guelph among some people that this is something that happens somewhere else. It's not something that happens here in Guelph," Tracey said. "We certainly know from our daily experience that it is happening here and it's happening much more."

While there aren't clear statistics for Wellington County, Tracey said Guelph police are certain that they're "barely scratching the surface" in addressing the amount of trafficking incidents. 

Tracey said they've recently increased the size of their Human Trafficking Unit and, in the past year, have focused much more on this type of crime. 

But he said police get a sense that human trafficking remains "massively underreported."

"It's something that we could really be, and we are, doing full time every day and still barely scratching the surface," he said. 

Tracey said that, like Kent explains in the video itself, human trafficking is not just "somebody being kidnapped off the street ... like we might see in the movies."

"What we're seeing is, typically, young women and girls who are being exploited by people that they know," he said. "That's a friend or a family member or, most often, an intimate partner."

#NotInMyCity, says Waterloo region

The Region of Waterloo International Airport has created a new program to "educate and raise awareness of human trafficking in Canadian airports."

This is in partnership with the #NotInMyCity movement and Waterloo Regional Police Services Human Trafficking Unit.

#NotInMyCity was created by country music artist Paul Brandt to raise awareness on preventing and ending human trafficking. 

In the release sent out last week, Brandt said that airports play a "crucial role" in suppressing human trafficking. 

As a result, the Waterloo airport will now incorporate knowledge from Brandt's aviation-focused e-learning platform, post awareness signs and informational material and share tools that may help people report the signs of human trafficking in the safest way possible. 

Signs to look for 

While Tracey said trafficking is not necessarily a problem that will affect everyone, it can still be important to recognize signs that someone is being taken advantage of. 

"There are some very telling signs. If someone in your life suddenly doesn't have a cell phone, or doesn't appear to have access to money or resources," he said. "If there's a new person in their life that always seems to be there or seems to be speaking for them ... they're exhibiting signs of fear, shame, guilt, distrust of authority."

He also said there may be some cases where physical abuse is evident. 

Tracey said the best course of action if someone thinks they're witnessing a human trafficking or exploitation event is to reach out to police or report it anonymously through Crime Stoppers.