Cathy Dobson/The Independent

Human trafficking has escalated in Sarnia Lambton increasingly targeting young teens, say local counsellors and educators.

It’s a very tough subject to discuss but it is a problem that won’t go away without a lot more community awareness, said Chantel Butterfield, executive director of The Centre, which hosted a symposium Monday warning that human trafficking is on the rise.

“There is an exponential increase in the number who are being coerced and groomed in every age group,” Butterfield said.  During the pandemic, isolation and increased time online introduced many young people to exploitive relationships.  In 2023, the Centre – formerly known as the Sexual Assault Survivors Centre Sarnia-Lambton – supported 124 survivors of human trafficking and exploitation.  

Comparatively, The Centre assisted only 35 who were trafficked between 2017 and 2019. 

A survey by The Centre of 230 Sarnia-Lambton high school students showed that 77 per cent said they’d had online conversations with someone they’d never met, and 31 per cent admitted to agreeing to meet this new friend in person.  

The statistics are deeply concerning and the entire community needs to know it’s happening, said Butterfield.  

“The point is we don’t want to hide the scary stuff. It can be hard but we need to have honest conversations with the children in our lives.”

Traffickers prey on children who are the most vulnerable, and online relationships are often initiated with youth between the ages of 11 and 15, said Sarnia Police Detective Josh Mitchell during a panel discussion at the event held at the Sarnia Library Auditorium with about 60 people.

A vulnerable child is one who is largely unsupervised online, has little confidence or self-esteem or is lonely, he said. Most are girls and women but boys and men are also victims of trafficking.

Stats show that victims often experience poverty, have had CAS involvement or past trauma, noted Butterfield. About half are Indigenous. 

Statistics also show that traffickers are most likely known to their victims and that the average age for recruitment is 13, said Hunter Kameka, counsellor and public educator at The Centre.

Human trafficking isn’t limited to sexual exploitation, she added. In rural Lambton County, immigrant workers are lured by jobs and discover they must work long hours for minimum or no pay and live in very poor conditions.  

“A lot are foreign workers or international students are unaware of their rights,” said Selena Joseph, executive director of Victims Services Sarnia-Lambton and panel member at the symposium.

“We are trying to educate them more when they arrive so they know what their rights are,” she said.

Police face multiple challenges in tracking down traffickers, said Mitchell.  

“The biggest thing is that human trafficking is hiding in plain sight.  The victims don’t want to talk about it because they are scared,” he said. “They’re vulnerable and their groomers have created a sense of trust so they have complete and utter control over their victim. They think they have no way to escape. And that leads to under-reporting.”

Mitchell said when he moved to Sarnia-Lambton 10 years ago, he was surprised how little awareness this area had about human trafficking, especially since the border is nearby and a large amount of trafficking takes place along the Highway 402 and 401 corridors. 

“I think it’s time for everyone to recognize that, yes it does happen here,” he said. 

He warned caregivers to be vigilant about what social media and internet apps children use and the kinds of interactions they have.  In particular, he singled out any game with a chatroom.

Games with chatrooms are “a breeding ground for child exploitation,” Mitchell warned.  As a father, it deeply concerns him “as it should everybody here,” he said. He also urged parents to learn about AI and its capabilities online.

The symposium featured keynote speaker Kaitlin Bick, a survivor who now works in Toronto as an anti-human trafficking specialist supporting survivors and training police.

Bick, 37, shared her powerful story of being trafficked as a young woman addicted to drugs.

It wasn’t until she went to a treatment centre to quit drinking and drugs that her life turned around. She ultimately filed a police report about her trafficker.

The kindness of one police officer made all the difference, Bick said.

“We have to be non-judgemental because you have no idea how that can change someone’s life,” she said.  

Bick has been in recovery for nearly 11 years now, went back to school and became a social worker.  

“Education is power and I wish someone had come into my school and had these conversations,” she said, adding she speaks bluntly about her experience in the hope that it can make a difference “even in one person’s life.”

“There’s no easy way to combat human trafficking, but I’m pretty sure it starts with our little ones,” Bick said.  

“Unfortunately, we need to help the traffickers too.  

“We need solutions to fix both sides of the problem or it’s never going to end.”

Staff at The Centre is available to provide free presentations about human trafficking. Call the office at 145 Christina St. North at 519-337-3154. 

Anyone wanting help can contact The Centre’s 24/7 crisis line at 519 -337-3320. Caregiver support, advocacy and individual counselling are also available.