New national hotline provides resources, collects data on human trafficking
Posted Jun 8, 2019 02:20:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
At the end of May, a new toll-free number was launched to provide resources and collect data on underground criminal activity.
“It's been an issue for a long time and it's happening in communities across the country from coast to coast to coast,” says Julia Drydyck, the Manager of Research and Policy at the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking (CCEHT).
Drydyck says that because of the underground nature of the crime, not a lot is known.
“When you're trafficking people there's a level of coercion and manipulation. It happens underground, that's the entire nature of how traffickers get away with it,” she tells NEWS 95.7's The Todd Veinotte Show.
But now with the new hotline and added resources, the CCEHT is trying to dig deeper into the world of trafficking.
“It's an absolutely horrific crime,” she explains. “We're still learning more about how human trafficking is playing out across the country.”
Generally, Drydyck says women and children are most vulnerable to being trafficked.
“Women are way over represented, and also young people, specifically those 18 to 25 are at a heightened risk of being trafficked,” she says.
The researcher explains how some trafficking is very organized, while other trafficking is on an individual level.
“There are systems connected with gangs and other illegal groups that are making hundreds of thousands of dollars off of trafficking individuals,” says Drydyck. “But we're also seeing it happen between family members, boyfriends and girlfriends.”
Drydick says the most common forms of trafficking are forced prostitution, or forced labour in industries like farming and hospitality.
“Human trafficking happens when someone is recruited, transported, harboured or controlled for the purposes of exploitation, primarily labour or sexual exploitation,” she says.
Drydick says it's important to realize that most people being trafficked are Canadians, not immigrants or temporary foreign workers like most people think.
“As much as 90 per cent of human trafficking victims are Canadians,” she says.
To combat trafficking, the CCEHT has set up a new 24/7 hotline staffed by trained advocates who can provide resources to victims.
“The priority is to provide services, support and information to people who are being trafficked or may know someone who's being trafficked,” Drydyck says.
Drydyck explains that the new hotline will also compile data to find trends and hopefully crack down on trafficking in specific corridors that transport victims across the country.
“We've been really lucky to receive funding for this specific project where we can do a deep dive, we can leverage the expertise and the knowledge that frontline service providers have, police have, advocates and people with lived experience have,” she says. “I'm hopeful that we'll come up with something really meaningful and that we'll really shed light on this issue.”
You can contact the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-833-900-1010.
