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Human Trafficking Standing Committee Chair: Kelly Tallon Franklin
Date: August 9, 2024
Time: 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Location: Crown Plaza, Moncton
REGISTER HERE: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/anti-human-trafficking-awareness-event-bpw-canada-tickets-911662365677
Join hosts Business and Professional Women Canada Task Force at this must-attend Anti Human Trafficking Session:
Keynote Presentation: Jennifer Holleman raised in rural Nova Scotia became a Global Advocate for Anti Human Trafficking as the result of the untimely loss of her daughter Maddison. She can attest to the importance of understanding the interconnectivity of East to West Corridors and current issues and trends in crime that continue to disproportionately affect women and girls. Author, Speaker, Award Winner, She has turned a mother’s most feared tragedy into a message of positivity and hope, not only for her daughter’s legacy, but for the many other young women and girls potentially affected by sexual exploitation and organizations who must take note and action.
Feature Film Presentation: Dark Highway is a just-released feature documentary with a sold-out premiere now scheduled to traverse the Canadian Film Festival scene. It is about the invisible crime of human and sex trafficking happening every day in Ontario relevant to all corridors in Canada. The film is led by filmmaker Anna Jane (AJ) Edmonds, a bystander, as she takes audiences along the 401 Highway to meet survivors of sex trafficking and their advocates and change makers. These personal conversations with AJ detail the luring, grooming, hunting, torturing, and exploiting of vulnerable people, and most notably children, in our communities, ends with a call to action, making it a must-see for all Canadians.
Preview the Dark Highway Trailer below.
An informative series, you will hear actual incites, current trends, survivor lived experiences, and professional stakeholder conversations vital to our personal and organizational understanding. Learning together we are excited to present esteemed experts who will give real time recommendations to empower women in their participation to end one of the most egregious forms of violence, control, and manipulation of women and girls known in history.
Moderator: Pauline Platt
Host Club: BPW North Toronto
Panelists:
Alexandra Ford – the Laughing Survivor
Samantha Mc Neil – Peel Anti-Human Sex Trafficking Strategy Nurse Advisor
Kate Price – Action Coalition on Human Trafficking (ACT) Alberta ED
Watch Session #1 below.
Moderator: Tina Jordan
Host Club: BPW Bowmanville
Panelists:
Jasmine DaFina – Safe Hope Homes ED
Kelly Tallon Franklin – Courage for Freedom CED
Bridget Perrier – Space International Canadian Coordinator Victim Services Human Trafficking Counsellor
Watch Session #2 below.
Moderator and Host Club: BPW Hastings & Prince Edward
Panelists:
Susan (Sue) Orlando – Deputy Director Minister of the Attorney General Provincial Coordinator of Human Trafficking Prosecutions
Detective Constable Tracey Tucker – Ontario Provincial Police Human Trafficking
Gareth Williams – CFF President and former Vice President Probation and Parole Association Ontario
Watch Session #3 below.
On February 16, 2021, the All Political Party Group to End Slavery of Persons presented a motion, unanimously adopted, to make official February 22nd as the National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. February 22 will now be honoured as National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, each and every year, across Canada.
February 22 coincides with the 2007 declaration by the Canadian House of Commons to condemn all forms of human trafficking and slavery.
The House of Commons proclaimed February 22 as Human Trafficking Awareness Day to help bring awareness to the magnitude of modern-day slavery in Canada and abroad and encourage Canadians to take steps to combat human trafficking.
March 15, 2021: Letter to RCMP Commissioner signed by 70+ Senators and MP’s representing all eight political parties and Senate groups supporting the voices of survivors regarding exploitation and Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) on MindGeek.
Dear Commissioner:
We join the voices of over 100 survivors of sexual exploitation along with hundreds of non-governmental organizations to call for a full criminal investigation into MindGeek and its subsidiaries.
Over the past month, the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics has heard shocking evidence from survivors and child protection agencies that MindGeek has regularly made available content featuring child sexual abuse, sexual assault, and sex trafficking.
Even more alarming, we have heard evidence that MindGeek continues to make available material featuring child sexual abuse material and non-consensual acts as one survivor testified to the Ethics Committee on February 19, 2021: “Thanks to Pornhub, today is day 1,292 that I have been naked on these porn sites.”
“That the Standing Committee on Health be instructed to examine the public health effects of the ease of access and viewing of online violent and degrading sexually explicit material on children, women and men, recognizing and respecting the provincial and territorial jurisdictions in this regard, and that the said Committee report its findings to the House no later than July 2017”.
Human Trafficking in persons is an issue that BPW Canada has been addressing since convention 2000. A resolution was passed in the Sault Ste. Marie Convention after it came to BPW Canada members’ attention that young girls were being smuggled into Canada from Mexico, Thailand, India and the Philippines and other countries illegally, and were being held as sex slaves. Canadian laws prohibited the sexual procurement of children in Canada and in other countries in the world but these laws were not being enforced.
At the United Nations at the Committee meetings on the Status of Women in 2005, there were parallel workshops addressing the expansion of human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and girls around the world.
World Cup Soccer in 2006
BPW became aware that Germany was setting up a football-size area where players and fans could have sex with prostitutes without being exposed to the public. It was anticipated that women would be trafficked across Asia and Europe to fill the need. BPW Clubs started writing letters and signing petitions, along with an extensive prevention campaign by immigration and law enforcement. In the end, during the World Cup, Germany experienced a short-term increase in demand for prostitution, but instead, local prostitutes from elsewhere in the country were drawn in to host cities. The next year, at the Athens Olympics, prevention efforts were poor. Researchers found that there was a 95% increase in human trafficked victims during the Olympics.
A further resolution, Combatting Human Trafficking in Canada, was presented and approved at the convention in 2010 urging the Government to provide services to assist victims in Canada. Read the 2010 resolution.
Certificate of Appreciation – July 2012
In 2013, BPW Canada developed the resolution: Identification of Businesses and Individuals With a Risk of Sexual Exploitation to Combat Human Trafficking.
Learning Report, September 2012
Human Trafficking National Coordination Centre
Books on Human Trafficking
Project Unveiling, July 30, 2019
