A video by Covenant House Toronto aims to dispel the myth that sex trafficking in Canada involves foreigners, when the majority of cases actually involve Canadian girls.
The four-minute dramatization on sex trafficking tells the true story of “Amy”—a teen enslaved by a man she believed was her boyfriend. It was created by Toronto agency Manifest Communications.
It uses the actual words of a teenage girl who was rescued from sex trafficking and interviewed by Covenant House.
“There’s a lot of myths that surround this issue, so we really wanted to debunk that,” says Josie do Rego, communications director at Covenant House Toronto, Canada’s largest shelter for homeless youth.
Do Rego notes Covenant House conducted a survey last fall to gauge public knowledge of sex trafficking and found that while people understood the issue is a critical one, the majority believe it involves girls who are brought into Canada.
“Very few people really recognize the fact that the majority of sex trafficking cases in Canada are with Canadian citizens.”
The video shows how sex trafficking often involves the “boyfriend pimp,” which do Rego says represents the largest proportion (35%) of trafficking cases. To a lesser extent, girls are lured by friends, are kidnapped or sold by family members.
In the video, Amy explains how she got caught up in sex trafficking: “I did really well in school. I had a lot of friends, but I really hated the way I looked. I started dating Ryan. He seemed really interested in me. He gave me a lot of attention. He loved me. After two months he started telling me he had money problems…” Amy is then forced to work in a massage parlor and faces death threats if she leaves.
The video includes interviews with Toronto police and a sex trafficking specialist who notes it is “happening right under our noses.” It also provides signs that may indicate when girls are involved in sex trafficking (from expensive clothes to falling grades).
“We’re trying to show girls that this could happen to them and to recognize some of the signs,” do Rego says. “Many of these girls when they’re lured, they’re romanced, and believe they’re in a true relationship and the tables are turned on them.”
The video was released on United Nations World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on July 30 and so far has had more than 12,000 views on YouTube.
The idea was to create something that could work as an educational video for parents and girls that would also have fundraising and media awareness applications, says Andrea Donlan, president of Manifest Communications.
So far, the video has been promoted through Twitter, Facebook and traditional media, but there are plans to do more targeted messaging in the fall to reach girls at schools and community groups. In addition, the Toronto Police Department plans to use the video for training.
Toronto police are putting more focus on the issue since a human trafficking enforcement team was established two years ago, do Rego says. The result has been a huge increase in arrests for trafficking and a greater reliance on Covenant House to provide services to rescued girls, with 46 cases so far this year, compared with 16 last year.
“The biggest trend we’re seeing now is that ordinary middle-class girls living at home are being lured. I think that the digital arena has really created a big opportunity for predators,” do Rego adds.
