Believe it or not, human trafficking is happening in Perth County: OPP

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Human trafficking isn’t just an urban problem, so when Det. Sergeant Ashley Horton was asked point-blank if it happened in Perth County, and it didn’t take her long to answer.

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“Yes, that is absolutely true.”

The approximately 150 attendees, already silent during the two-hour community presentation at Mitchell District High School on Oct. 29, somehow became even quieter.

“If you were to ask me if it was a destination, maybe not in a typical way, but it’s definitely an origin,” said Horton, an officer with the OPP’s anti-human trafficking unit. “It happens and people also travel through it. There are victims from here who have been trafficked and sometimes are trafficked in Alberta or BC or out east. . . then you also have another side of human trafficking that is held closer to home, more family-based.

“Whether that’s to make ends meet, or to satisfy an addiction, it does happen. And it’s heartbreaking.”

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Horton and Melanie Knights, who were stuck “in the game” for 15 years and are now executive directors of the Bridging Gaps Anti-Human Trafficking Board in Hanover, were compelling speakers at the free event, hosted by the Perth County OPP and the School Board of the Avon Maitland district to tackle what they call ‘a difficult and important community issue’.

Judging from the attendees from across the region – from grandparents to parents and young adults to mothers with pre-teens – there was tremendous interest in learning about the warning signs of a growing problem that is not limited to cities.

Across Ontario, an increasing number of victims are being recruited for the purpose of sexual and labor exploitation. In Canada, victims are usually trafficked domestically, intra- or inter-provincially. Across Ontario, police are seeing an increase in the number of human traffickers who recruit potential victims from small towns and take them to various destinations via major highways. About two-thirds of police-reported human trafficking cases in Canada occur in Ontario, and victims are often extremely vulnerable and rarely disclose themselves or their trafficking situation to police or authorities.

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What was once seen as a “metropolitan problem” is now common in Ontario and Canada. Local youth are involved and targeted, officials say. Parents, guardians, coaches, teachers and anyone with young people in their lives need to know warning signs and what to do about them.

Knights began her half-hour conversation outlining her own experiences with human trafficking, explaining that she came to Canada from England in 1980, along with what she described as her dysfunctional family. The police were chronic runaways and always brought her home, oblivious to the fact that there were obvious red flags. She started living on the streets when she was 12 and was 27 when she managed to escape.

She spent fifteen years “in the game,” mostly in Western Canada, and was abusing substances by the time she was twelve. Soon she was rounded up by gangs and moved.

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‘I got my PhD in ways to die. I have to figure out how to live,” she said, adding that she had two children she didn’t really know but needed in her life.

Knights went back to school and became a personal support worker, which taught her how to care for herself by caring for others. After getting married, she went back to school and earned a degree in addiction and community service, which led her back to downtown Toronto for her placement to cause harm and reduce work for the “visibly broken” girls she encountered. She worked for two years as an anti-human trafficking case manager in York Region.

“I was prepared for this. This is what I knew, and the fact that there was a job that encompassed everything I had experienced over the years was suddenly absolutely a surprise,” Knights said. “I never thought my life experiences would be worth anything to anyone other than my children. . . so i said yes. The light bulb went off and that’s why I’m here.”

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Sex trafficking is most common among young girls, with an average age of 13, often by other girls who recruit friends, which improves their hierarchy in the organization.

“It’s not a nice play. . . . The level of violence they experience is incredibly brutal,” she said, noting that human trafficking does not necessarily involve movement from city to city.

Once the girls are holed up, they stay there because of the difficulty of escaping, but many would rather stay because, strangely enough, they are valued and shown love through material gifts, a roof over their heads and food in their stomach, Knights said.

“Your value de-escalates exponentially and then you become disposable, and you don’t care,” she said.

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Horton, the West Region Team Leader for the OPP’s Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, spoke from a policing perspective, discussing warning signs, risk factors, local trends and research.

Much of the luring begins online through social media applications and continues through the grooming and honeymoon phase before coercion, manipulation and exploitation take place. Horton said 91 percent of trafficking victims knew their trafficker, while most create opportunities to fear police instead of reaching out, which is a way to better control their victims.

Tattoos and branding are used as a sign of sexual exploitation, with symbols such as crowns, roses, currency, initials and names in discreet but sometimes obvious locations, such as behind the ears or wrists. Scars and injuries from abuse are also warning signs.

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Horton also provided information on labor trafficking, which often involves immigrants who have difficulty with the language. Examples include people from construction, agriculture, manufacturing and food processing industries, as well as live-in caregivers and people who work in restaurants. Often they are held in appalling living conditions and faced with enormous illegal debts from which they can never recover, so they stay.

Education is an important component for all parties, Horton said when asked about warning signs to look out for. It is crucial to educate your children about the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships. Parents should also be aware of their children’s friends and monitor social media access, while sharp changes in behavior and sneaky behavior are other clues.

Community organizations such as Victim Services Huron Perth, the Perth Mobile Crisis Response Team, Optimism Place, Stop Violence Against Women and the Huron Perth Center were on hand to provide support and resources to community members.

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