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by Emma Elshaw  As a parent, we just want to keep our kids safe and healthy. We teach them how to know if someone is a safe person. We teach them what to do if they ever feel unsafe. We teach them about “stranger danger”. However, the danger nowadays is that some of the most dangerous people aren’t really strangers. Traffickers can be friends at school or even relatives.
When it comes to keeping your kids safe from the dangers of trafficking, the first step is prevention - knowing the signs yourself and educating your kids to recognize the potential dangers and signs of trafficking in order to reduce the risk of being lured by traffickers. Another form of prevention might be to know and monitor what your kids are doing online and to know who they are hanging out with. It is important to maintain open communication with your child so that they feel comfortable coming to you in any circumstance or situation.
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by Emma Elshaw  The Ontario government announced in June that it will require school boards to add anti-trafficking plans and protocols to their Health and Education Curriculum in order to identify, respond to and prevent trafficking from happening in the first place. Teachers in Ontario will need to learn this portion of the curriculum in order to teach it to their students. As students learn the material, they can be equipped to help prevent trafficking from happening to themselves and their friends.
When someone knows and learns how to recognize the signs of trafficking, they are armed with knowledge as a type of shield, protecting them from potential exploitation in the form of sex trafficking. Sex trafficking is incredibly prevalent in society and schools today. It is “hiding in plain sight and we need to better educate people on how to spot and stop it” (Tamara Balan). By teaching young people to recognize the signs of trafficking, they are being empowered with knowledge, and it is “very difficult to exploit and traffic[k] an empowered person.” by Emma Elshaw  “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” This quotation by Nelson Mandela identifies what good education can really do. When it comes to fighting and preventing sex trafficking, education is key, and the Ontario government has recognized this importance.
In July 2021, the Ontario government announced that it would require school boards to develop anti-trafficking strategies in order to help schools “identify, respond to and prevent trafficking of children.” One of the best ways to combat trafficking is to start early with prevention measures, rather than solely creating more resources and programs for survivors. Yes, those resources and programs are vital, but imagine reallocating those resources to programs that create fewer cases of trafficking in the first place. This could happen if we start and continue to combat trafficking at an early age, focusing on prevention rather than solely on recovery. By: Emma Elshaw  This blog was written from a "settler's" perspective, using information gathered from an Indigenous person. If you feel triggered after reading this blog, please reach out using the "Contact Us" section of our website. If you are an Indigenous person and you notice anything that is not accurate, please also let us know. Thank you. Due to the hundreds of years of exploitation that has been in existence since the time the settlers stepped foot on Indigenous soil, multiple layers of vulnerability have accumulated within Indigenous communities. Where there is vulnerability, traffickers step in to begin manipulating and trafficking individuals. In the last two weeks, we have seen how the history of colonization has led to the vulnerability and mistreatment of Indigenous people, which has led to an increase in trafficking of Indigenous people.
Trafficking in Indigenous Communities - Part 2:The Historical Mistreatment of Indigenous People6/15/2021 By Emma Elshaw  Trigger Warning: Please note that this blog contains descriptions of violence and mistreatment in Indigenous communities and the residential school system. This blog was written from a "settler's" perspective, using information gathered from an Indigenous person. If you feel triggered after reading this blog, please reach out using the "Contact Us" section of our website. If you are an Indigenous person and you notice anything that is not accurate, please also let us know. Thank you.
“While policies and laws against the trafficking of people contribute to the prevention of future cases of human trafficking and supports for [survivors], the issue cannot be properly addressed without examining the root causes of violence against Indigenous women and girls, and the colonial legacy.” Last week, we examined the effects of colonization on Indigenous people and communities to give a historical context as to why there is a disproportionate amount of trafficked Indigenous women compared to other groups. Today, we will dig deeper into how the mistreatment and subsequent vulnerabilities of women have created a higher risk of human trafficking in Indigenous communities. By Emma Elshaw  This blog was written from a "settler's" perspective, using information gathered from an Indigenous person. If you feel triggered after reading this blog, please reach out using the "Contact Us" section of our website. If you are an Indigenous person and you notice anything that is not accurate, please also let us know. Thank you. Pocahontas. Many of us may know the name and some of us may have even seen the Disney movie. However, as is the case with many Disney movies, her story is a romanticized version that creates a more fairy-tale-like story that will appeal to kids. In reality, though, as a young girl taken by a much older man to live in a new world where she was abused and died at a young age (either from illness or possibly by murder), she may have been the first trafficked woman. (Smoke, 2021)
By: Emma Elshaw Human trafficking happens in various countries around the world, and more and more attention is being paid to the reality of human trafficking in the news and mainstream media. However, there is not a signficant amount of attention being paid to the connection between sex trafficking and the BIPOC community. This is something that needs to change. When looking at the statistics, it is clear that BIPOC individuals are more at risk of being trafficked.
By: Emma Elshaw One of the major streaming sites for online pornography, Pornhub, received attention on the news and on social media at the end of 2020. These news articles pointed out that Pornhub has no policy for censoring videos, meaning anyone can upload a video, regardless of its content or, more importantly, the age of those depicted in the video being uploaded.
By Elizabeth Ashe After the death of my mother, I and my four siblings were put into foster care for 6 years during the late 50’s – 60’s. My father, an immigrant from Germany was pressured and coerced into giving his children, (who ranged from 6 weeks to 6 years old into care) by the Children’s Aid Society. It was their belief that he could not adequately care for us while he worked a full-time job. We remained separated in 3 foster
homes until he remarried 6 years later. Protect Children from Pornography: Ending the Accessibility of Sexually Explicit Material to Minors12/8/2020 By. Emma Elshaw There are a plethora of porn sites out there, many of which can be accessed by anyone at any time, regardless of their age. This means that minors can be exposed to these sites and the explicit material they contain, whether intentionally or unintentionally. There are currently no protocols or laws in place that force these sites to go through an age-verification process in Canada.
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