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. 

​

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. ​

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. ​

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)​

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.