Indigenous women, girls over-represented in Canada's growing human trafficking problem
- Linda Mikolayenko | March 07, 2017
Human trafficking in Canada is getting worse, but there is hope. That is the message Diane Redsky shared in La Ronge at one of a series of community forums held in Saskatchewan in February supported by the RCMP. The goal of the events, which were also held in La Loche and Stanley Mission, was to create awareness and begin some conversations about actions local communities can take.
Redsky is currently the Executive Director of the Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre in Winnipeg. She has dedicated over 20 years to addressing the sexual exploitation and trafficking of women and girls.
"There is no easy way to talk about a hard issue," says Redsky.
Participants in the forum heard sobering stories and staggering statistics.
Human trafficking is about control over a person for the purposes of exploitation, typically in the sex industry or forced labour.
"The majority of human trafficking that happens in Canada is to Canadian citizens by Canadian citizens, and the crime happens in Canada," points out Redsky.
Among those who are trafficked in Canada for sexual exploitation (forced prostitution), there is an over-representation of Indigenous women and girls, and girls from the North are at particular risk.
The average age of sexually exploited youth is 13, and getting younger. Many people profit from the sex industry, and it is fueled by greed. Traffickers can make over $280,000 profit per year for one girl.
"It is riskier to sell drugs and weapons than to sell women," says Redsky. "Traffickers can sell women over and over and over again with minimal risk."
Traffickers tend to hang out wherever there are a lot of teenage girls without a lot of adult supervision, and girls from the North may not have important protective factors.
"No one has taught them how to be safe online or in an urban area," says Redsky. "Internet safety is particularly important."
When girls are trafficked, there are a number of ways they are controlled. They are often kept in chaos, being moved every 10 days, so that there is no security. Some will be tattooed around their neck to indicate that they are someone's property. Many will be threatened with violence towards family members or pets, and will, themselves, endure physical or psychological violence. Drugs are also used for control.
Typically, men who purchase sex are motivated by power and control, says Redsky, and violence is often a part of it. The violence is more extreme for Indigenous women.
"Indigenous women and girls are over-policed and under-protected," notes Redsky.
Because this is a gender-based crime -- 99% of offenders are men -- men and boys need to be part of the solution. Since 2015, it has been illegal to buy sex in Canada, but, for Redsky, the hope lies in raising respectful boys and creating a new generation that believes the buying and selling of women is not acceptable.
Manitoba has shown leadership by establishing an anti-trafficking strategy and spending $11 million annually to end sex trafficking. By contrast, Saskatchewan, like most other provinces, does not have a provincial strategy and spends less than $600,000 each year to stop trafficking.
From 2011 to 2014, Redsky was the project director for a National Task Force that presented 34 recommendations on the subject to the Canadian Women's Foundation. She encourages everyone to learn about sex trafficking, to speak up, and to challenge it. In particular, it is important to see a child prostitute as a victim of child abuse, she says.
"It requires our attention to call 911," says Redsky. "She deserves that."