Human Trafficking Support

Human trafficking does not always look like kidnapping.

It can look like a relationship. A friendship. A job opportunity. A place to stay. A promise of money, love, protection, or a better life.

Human trafficking occurs when a person is exploited through control, coercion, deception, or other forms of pressure for someone else’s benefit. It can involve sexual exploitation, forced labour, or other forms of exploitation.

Trafficking can happen to people of any age, gender, background, or socioeconomic status. It can happen in large cities, small communities, rural areas, online, or within a person’s own neighbourhood.

A person does not have to be transported across a border—or even outside their community—to experience human trafficking.

Trafficking may begin with something that does not appear threatening.

A trafficker may offer:

• Love or attention

• Friendship or belonging

• Gifts or money

• Transportation

• Housing

• Employment

• Protection or support

• Opportunities to travel or make money

Over time, the relationship may change.

The trafficker may begin isolating the person from friends and family, controlling their money or identification, monitoring their phone or social media, creating debt, making threats, or using emotional manipulation.

What began as trust or affection can become a pattern of control and exploitation

This process does not always happen in a predictable order, and not every trafficking situation looks the same. Some people are targeted because of existing vulnerabilities, while others may be deliberately approached and manipulated over time.

Physical violence can occur in trafficking situations, but control may also be psychological, emotional, financial, technological, or social.

A trafficker may:

• Threaten to hurt the person or someone they love.

• Threaten to expose intimate photographs or personal information.

• Control access to money, identification, medication, transportation, or housing.

• Create or enforce a debt.

• Monitor phone calls, messages, social media, or location.

• Use drugs or alcohol as a means of control.

• Threaten homelessness or abandonment.

• Convince the person that police, family, or service providers will not believe them.

• Use promises of love, money, employment, or protection to maintain control.

Sometimes several forms of control are used at the same time.

One of the most common misconceptions about human trafficking is that a person who is being exploited would simply leave if they wanted to.

Leaving may be dangerous or may feel impossible.

A person may fear retaliation, homelessness, financial hardship, losing contact with someone they love, harm coming to family members, or having intimate photographs or information shared publicly. They may be isolated from their support network or have become dependent on the trafficker for housing, transportation, money, drugs, or emotional support.

They may also believe that the trafficker loves them, that they are responsible for the situation, or that nobody else will help them.

A person may leave and return to an exploitative situation more than once.

Returning does not mean the exploitation was not real. It does not mean the person does not want help.

Support should remain available without judgment.

People experiencing trafficking may look very different from one another.

Someone may:

• Continue attending school or work.

• Maintain contact with friends or family.

• Defend or express love for the person exploiting them.

• Have money, a cellphone, or access to social media.

• Use substances.

• Be involved in criminalized activities.

• Be reluctant to speak with police or service providers.

• Leave and return to the situation.

• Not identify what is happening to them as trafficking.

These circumstances do not, by themselves, determine whether trafficking is occurring.

The responsibility for exploitation belongs to the person who exploits and controls another person—not the person being exploited.

Human trafficking is not only an international or big-city issue.

It can happen in communities across Simcoe County, including smaller and rural communities. Recruitment can happen in person or online, and exploitation can occur without a person ever being transported away from their home community.

That is why awareness matters.

Knowing what trafficking can look like can help friends, family members, educators, healthcare providers, employers, community organizations, and other community members recognize concerns and connect people with appropriate support.

You do not need to prove that someone is being trafficked before offering support.

If you are concerned about someone, listen without judgment, prioritize their immediate safety, and connect them with an appropriate service.

If you are experiencing exploitation:

It is not your fault.

You do not have to explain everything before asking for help.

You do not have to be ready to leave before talking to someone.

Support is available.

If you are concerned that someone may be experiencing human trafficking, approach them with care and without judgment.

If you can speak with the person privately:

• Listen and believe them.

• Let them know they are not to blame.

• Avoid pressuring them to disclose details they are not ready to share.

• Ask what they need to feel safer.

• Avoid making promises about outcomes you cannot guarantee.

• Do not confront the suspected trafficker.

• Help connect them with a trained service provider.

A person experiencing trafficking may not identify themselves as a victim or may not be ready to leave. This does not mean they do not need help. Building trust and providing safe, consistent support can be an important part of the process.

If there is immediate danger

Call 911.

If you suspect human trafficking or need confidential information, support, or referrals, contact the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-833-900-1010. The hotline is free, confidential, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and can connect people with services across Canada.

In 2015, North Simcoe Victim Services partnered with local police services to participate in Operation Northern Spotlight, an initiative to fight human trafficking by supporting sex trafficking victims.

Human Trafficking Q & A – with Frances Yarbrough, Former Executive Director of North Simcoe Victim Services:  Download the PDF Here: HT Q&A – NSVS.

Thank you for helping us support victims of Human Trafficking – by sponsoring the cost of Human Trafficking Support Kits. 

We have now put together 10 new Human Trafficking Support Kits, thanks to the generous cash and in-kind donations received during our fundraising campaign.

Victim support kits help us provide the care and nurturing that victims so desperately need. The kit contains a variety of items, from clothing and toiletries to snack food and coffee gift cards. The goal is to have a supply of the kits on hand to provide to victims when needed.

We have seen how much they are appreciated and they are an excellent tool to help us to begin to have a positive impact with the victims we encounter. The cost of the NSVS Human Trafficking Support Kits is approximately $100 each.

While NSVS is funded through the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, the organization relies on fundraising and community donations to support the resources that contribute to the valuable and practical assistance that clients need.

Please consider donating to help us fight human trafficking and helpthose affected by it.

To learn more about Human Trafficking, watch these videos: