GreyBruceKids_Summer2020

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SAFETY HUMAN TRAFFICKING IT’S NOT JUST A BIG-CITY PROBLEM, AND KIDS IN GREY/BRUCE ARE AT RISK. BY JON FARMER AND CHELSEA DONOHUE
As parents and caring adults, it’s our job to teach young people how to safely live in a world that can be dangerous. That’s why we teach them to look both ways before crossing the street; if they can’t recognize danger, they can’t avoid it. We all tend to agree that teaching road safety is common sense. Although it may not be as obvious to most of us, it’s time that we take the same approach to human trafficking. While we might prefer not to think about the frightening reality of human trafficking, just like road safety, there are things we can teach young people that will help them recognize the danger and avoid the risks. What do “human trafficking” and “sex trafficking” mean? Human trafficking is not a topic of everyday conversation. When it does appear in pop culture, through movies like Liam Neeson’s Taken franchise, human trafficking is sensationalized and presented as a problem in far away places where the victims are naive tourists or poor migrants searching for a better life. In reality, human trafficking is a problem everywhere, including Grey and Bruce counties. Human trafficking is an umbrella term and encompasses many forms of abuse and coerced work, from forced labour and the removal of organs, to forced marriage and sex trafficking. It encompasses any form of modern slavery, but in this article we’ll focus specifically on sex trafficking because it poses the greatest risk to young people in our region. Sex trafficking is a crime defined in Canadian law as the recruiting, transporting, harbouring and/or the exchange of a person by another, with the use of force, coercion or threat, for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Sex trafficking is not the same as sex work. Sex workers have choice; they control how and when they work, who their clients are, and what happens to their earnings. It is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to do sex work in Canada. People being trafficked do not have choice. They are threatened, isolated, trapped and manipulated through physical, emotional and mental abuse. Victims are frequently under the age of 18. They are being exploited sexually and other people are making money as a result. Sex trafficking is also known as commercial sexual exploitation and sex traffickers are also known as pimps. Most traffickers are older males, but people can also be trafficked by women and by their peers. STAGES OF MANIPULATION There are identifiable stages to human trafficking. Contrary to stereotypes, sex trafficking rarely begins with a sudden kidnapping. In fact, most trafficked people don’t realize they’re being trafficked; they often think their trafficker is their boyfriend. In these cases, sex trafficking is the final of four phases of manipulation: luring, grooming/gaming, coercion/ manipulation, and sexual exploitation. Recognizing and
Page 1 and 2: SUMMER 2020 • Volume 10 Issue 2
Page 3 and 4: FROM THE PUBLISHER Hang in there, p
Page 5 and 6: In what seems like a blink of the e
Page 7: phone calls, texts, letters and doo
Page 11 and 12: WHO IS AT RISK? We do not have the
Page 13 and 14: questions in much the same way you
Page 15 and 16: Most adults find themselves living
Page 17 and 18: However, if there is a part of you
Page 19 and 20: SCIENCES Elementary It’s Okay to
Page 21 and 22: Secondary Visual Arts National Gall
Page 23 and 24: The Grotto *There may be travel res
Page 25 and 26: around the lake, it’s the perfect
Page 27 and 28: Startrails greybrucekids.com • 27
Page 29 and 30: Now open in 49 locations! the commu
Page 31 and 32: Wiarton Kids Den Day Care/Kids Club
Page 33 and 34: Owen Sound and North Grey Union Pub
Page 35 and 36: Register your child Choose excellen

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