Researchers say they discovered 140 human trafficking victims in Ottawa over the course of a nine-month investigation into the scope of sexual exploitation in the city.
According to a report released Wednesday, the victims were almost exclusively female, most frequently ranged in age from 12 to 25 years old and 16-year-olds were the most vulnerable to manipulative recruiting tactics that allowed human traffickers to prey upon susceptibilities such as the need for economic support, social acceptance and the desire for love and affection.
And pimps are recruiting the teenagers and young women from neighbours ranging from the ByWard Market and Vanier to the suburbs of Ottawa south and Kanata, according to the report prepared by PACT-Ottawa, or Persons Against the Crime of Trafficking Humans. Girls as young as nine are targeted at parties, shelters, group homes, social housing establishments, the Ottawa Central Bus Station and methadone clinics, the report found. PACT-Ottawa, a non-profit corporation working to prevent human trafficking, held a press conference for the release of their Project imPACT Local Safety Audit Report by lead-author Elise Wohlbold (L) and co-author Katie LeMay, in Ottawa, July 30, 2014.
David Kawai / Ottawa CitizenThe number of human trafficking victims is higher than anyone anticipated, according to researcher Elise Wohlbold, the lead author of a report examining the situation in Ottawa.
“Human trafficking is happening in Ottawa. It’s happening to youth and it’s happening to youth of all different backgrounds and races,” said Wohlbold. “There are far more (victims) than what people were expecting.”
Of the 140 victims identified, some were reluctant to report being trafficked since they felt a sense of gratitude for being cared for, loved or simply accepted for who they are by the traffickers, according to the report.
The number is considerably higher than the number of cases that have resulted in arrests or criminal trials, a discrepancy researchers attribute to fear or misplaced loyalty to their abusers.
Ninety per cent of the victims identified in the PACT-Ottawa report are Canadian and from the Ottawa area. Youth who have been marginalized by race, class, disabilities, gender ideology and sexual orientation are at the highest risk of being trafficked.
The research report is part of a two-year pilot project that received $200,000 in funding from Status of Women Canada. Similar projects are being carried out in the York region and in Edmonton. As part of the project, PACT-Ottawa has now prepared an action plan that will involve collaborating with the Ottawa Coalition to End Human Trafficking to provide training to front line staff such as health-care professionals, social workers, police officers and other community service organizations.
They also hope to educate and empower youth by promoting gender equality through existing laws and programs that reduce violence against women and promote positive gender identities.
According to Wohlbold, emphasis needs to be placed on group homes, high schools, social housing and shelters. Education and public awareness is also needed, specifically tailored towards youth in schools, she said.
Ottawa has seen a number of high-profile court cases involving human trafficking, including the trial of three teenage girls who pimped out other teens for sex. Two of the girls pleaded guilty, while a third was found guilty.
In another case, Jamie Byron was sent to prison for six years for pimping out a 17-year-old from hotels in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal. The girl testified she had been forced to have sex with more than 100 men.
Wohlbold said once the victims are recruited and groomed, traffickers exercise “tremendous control” over them both psychologically and physically, leaving victims not only fearful for their own lives but also for the safety of friends and relatives.
That, along with a distrust for police or psychological grooming keep them from going to the authorities, she said.
One woman told the researchers she was groomed for months by a trafficker she thought was her boyfriend, then gang-raped and sold for sex from a private home for weeks.
The only contact she had was with “clients.” Private parties are among the most common places victims are trafficked. She never went to police, a common theme.
One former local trafficker told the researchers girls were “easy” to recruit as they were looking for “fast money and a luxurious lifestyle.”
Once the girls were “in the game,” it was difficult to get out because the trafficker used violence, blackmail and threats. On average, he’d earn $1,000 a night from a girl, then keep the money.
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