Out Of The Shadows: A Memoir
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5 short videos and photos of the evening presentation
by paul Lauzon, Events Photographer
SEE STORY after the photos (at the bottom)
https://www.thespec.com/news-story/9364355-human-trafficking-survivor-timea-nagy-is-out-of-the-shadows-with-new-memoir/
SEE STORY after the photos (at the bottom)
https://www.thespec.com/news-story/9364355-human-trafficking-survivor-timea-nagy-is-out-of-the-shadows-with-new-memoir/
Human trafficking survivor Timea Nagy is ‘Out of the Shadows’ with new memoir
Nagy’s advocacy work included running Walk With Me in Hamilton
"The book is the most honest version of what happened," she said, in an interview with The Spectator. Writing it was "very difficult, very scary . . and healing."
Too often her story has been oversimplified, with Nagy perpetually portrayed in a "victim box," she said. Nobody asked her about what her life was like in Hungary, what made her vulnerable to trafficking and what choices she made.
"I think what's in the book is my real relationship with my mom and how that actually affected me ... affected my decision to come to Canada," she said.
In the book Nagy talks about her upbringing in communist Hungary, her emotionally fraught relationship with her mother, a police officer, and her father leaving the family.
"The truth is victims are flawed and all do things we shouldn't ... people are flawed, but most don't pay such a big price," she said.
The idea to write a memoir had been simmering for a while, especially after meeting her coauthor Moroney, the bestselling author of "Through the Glass" — the story of her late husband's violent crimes and incarceration.
But she didn't want her mom, with whom she had a renewed
relationship, reading everything she went through. So Nagy held off,
until after her mother's death in 2015.
There were a lot of red flags when 20-year-old Nagy responded to an add looking for Hungarian babysitters in Canada. But she ignored them because she was in serious debt and desperate for money, the book reveals.
The girls were told they worked for an "agency" and needed to
work off debts owed for their travel and entry in Canada, plus ongoing
fees for everything imaginable, including $20 motel towels and $350
weekly oil changes. No matter how long they worked and how much money
they brought in the debts only grew.
When she escaped there were no human trafficking laws in Canada and her trafficker in Toronto was charged with sexual assault, but found not guilty.
It would take her years to realize she was a human trafficking victim — a revelation that led her to publicly share her story, and work with victim advocacy.
Police began to hear her story and call her to help victims, including RCMP officers Lepa Jankovic and Husam Farah who called her for help with the Domotor-Kolompar case.
In Hamilton she began working at all hours responding to calls to rescue victims.
At one event where she was a guest speaker she approached afterwards by Hamilton lawyer Rob Hooper and his wife Jill Trites, who has worked in various businesses including church leadership. They helped Nagy make Walk With Me into a real charity, including offering space in Hooper's Hamilton law office.
Walk With Me expanded to operating safe houses, but eventually had to close because of a lack of sustainable funding.
Yet Nagy says her time in Hamilton was where she "ended up growing up."
"The most exhilarating time of my life was in Hamilton," she said, adding that it also taught her there were still good people in the world.
Her work in Hamilton gave her the knowledge to move on to her next venture, a for-profit business Timea's Cause, based in Cambridge, Ont., that includes workshops and other educational opportunities to train everyone from bank employees to police on how to spot human trafficking and deal with victims. She employs survivors in the work, including Timea's Market where they sell handmade bath and beauty products.
Last September Nagy got married in Hooper and Trites's backyard.
While human trafficking remains a complex issue that is widespread in Canada, the country has come a long way with more awareness, stricter laws and some supports for victims.
"There are so many things going wrong with the world, we're so bombarded with bad things ... I want to spread the light," Nagy said. "The light is the love that I got from Canadian people."
Out of the Shadows: a memoir, published by Penguin Random House Canada, is available across North America May 28.
noreilly@thespec.com
905-526-3199 | @NicoleatTheSpec
noreilly@thespec.com
905-526-3199 | @NicoleatTheSpec
There were a lot of red flags when 20-year-old Nagy responded to an add looking for Hungarian babysitters in Canada. But she ignored them because she was in serious debt and desperate for money, the book reveals.
Over time Nagy goes from believing she will be a
babysitter, to working strip clubs and the sex trade. She was
threatened, starved, isolated and taught to fear anyone outside her
traffickers and fellow victims.
When she escaped there were no human trafficking laws in Canada and her trafficker in Toronto was charged with sexual assault, but found not guilty.
It would take her years to realize she was a human trafficking victim — a revelation that led her to publicly share her story, and work with victim advocacy.
Police began to hear her story and call her to help victims, including RCMP officers Lepa Jankovic and Husam Farah who called her for help with the Domotor-Kolompar case.
In Hamilton she began working at all hours responding to calls to rescue victims.
At one event where she was a guest speaker she approached afterwards by Hamilton lawyer Rob Hooper and his wife Jill Trites, who has worked in various businesses including church leadership. They helped Nagy make Walk With Me into a real charity, including offering space in Hooper's Hamilton law office.
Walk With Me expanded to operating safe houses, but eventually had to close because of a lack of sustainable funding.
Yet Nagy says her time in Hamilton was where she "ended up growing up."
"The most exhilarating time of my life was in Hamilton," she said, adding that it also taught her there were still good people in the world.
Her work in Hamilton gave her the knowledge to move on to her next venture, a for-profit business Timea's Cause, based in Cambridge, Ont., that includes workshops and other educational opportunities to train everyone from bank employees to police on how to spot human trafficking and deal with victims. She employs survivors in the work, including Timea's Market where they sell handmade bath and beauty products.
Last September Nagy got married in Hooper and Trites's backyard.
While human trafficking remains a complex issue that is widespread in Canada, the country has come a long way with more awareness, stricter laws and some supports for victims.
"There are so many things going wrong with the world, we're so bombarded with bad things ... I want to spread the light," Nagy said. "The light is the love that I got from Canadian people."
Out of the Shadows: a memoir, published by Penguin Random House Canada, is available across North America May 28.
noreilly@thespec.com
905-526-3199 | @NicoleatTheSpec
noreilly@thespec.com
905-526-3199 | @NicoleatTheSpec
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