Human trafficking is about trust, not chains, Paul Brandt says as Montreal summit kicks off
It was a trip to Cambodia about 20 years ago that opened Paul Brandt’s eyes to the horrors of human trafficking.
Brandt, one of Canada’s best-known country music artists and now an activist against human trafficking, is in Montreal this week for a gathering of more than 200 police investigators and Crown prosecutors from Montreal, across Canada, and even the United Kingdom, who specialize in human trafficking.
“I met a young girl who was five years old who was being trafficked six to eight times a night to adult men,” Brandt said of his experience in southeast Asia. “These are dark and difficult stories, but I think when we are exposed to the reality of this crime, we have an ‘ah-ha’ moment where we realize it’s real.”
Brandt’s “ah-ha” moment led him to explore the reality of human trafficking in his own country, and eventually to found an organization called #NotInMyCity which raises awareness and takes action to prevent sexual exploitation, particularly of children and youth.
That organization is holding its fourth summit April 27 to 30 in downtown Montreal, under the theme, “Intelligence Without Borders: Global Partnerships in Disrupting Human Trafficking.”
According to the United Nations definition, “human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit.”
While it may be better hidden in Canada than in some other countries, human trafficking is shockingly common here. There were more than 4,500 incidents of human trafficking reported to police services across Canada between 2013 and 2023.
Women and girls made up 93 per cent of the victims in those reported cases, and 23 per cent were under the age of 18. Another 42 per cent were between 18 and 24. Most (91 per cent) knew their trafficker and 34 per cent were trafficked by an intimate partner.
For the past four years, Brandt’s organization has brought together police officers and lawyers to share knowledge and best practices at the Maddison Sessions, which he describes as a national operational summit to combat human trafficking in Canada.
The summits are named after Maddison Fraser, a Canadian victim of human trafficking who lost her life at only 21, after getting pulled into sexual exploitation as a teen.
Commander Frédéric Martineau leads the Montreal police service’s Human Trafficking, Procuring and Internet Child Exploitation investigation units. He said the summit is particularly helpful for the 50 officers in those units who investigate about 300 incidents of human trafficking per year.
“Since sexual exploitation is a crime without borders, it is important that the different actors dedicated to the fight against this scourge get together,” Martineau said at a news conference to launch the summit Monday.
More than 90 per cent of victims of human trafficking in Canada are Canadians.
“That generally shocks most people,” said Brandt, “… because they think about people coming from somewhere else. When people think about human trafficking, they think about chains. They should be thinking about trust. Human trafficking is an incredible violation of trust.”
He said sexual traffickers are very motivated, since each victim brings in an average of $280,000 per year. Exploiters invest time and money finding and grooming a “target”. They frequent areas where young people congregate — malls, parks, etc. — and they also “shop” for their victims online.
Many traffickers use gifts and loving attention to lure victims into a relationship. Then they use threats, blackmail and violence to coerce them into sex work.
Warning signs
There are signs parents can look for, he said. For example, the young person becomes evasive and difficult to reach by phone or text. They suddenly have new clothes, haircuts or expensive manicures, with no obvious source of income for these.
“Maybe your child suddenly has two cellphones, or comes home with expensive gifts, or has a new friend who does what they can to try to move them away from family and friends,” he said.
He advises parents to be aware, ask questions and watch for shifts in behaviour.
Victims often bond with their abusers and are influenced by them not to cooperate with law enforcement, their families and social services.
Exploiters use physical and sexual violence to trap their victims, threatening to harm the victim’s friends or family, or to share explicit photos. Drugs and alcohol often play a key role in trafficking, with the victim using substances to cope, or the trafficker feeding the victim’s addiction to retain control. This is commonly referred to as a “chemical leash,” the #NotInMyCity website notes.
While anyone can be a target of sexual exploitation, there are some risk factors that seem to make some more vulnerable. These include: a history of child abuse, a history of mental illness (in particular body image disorders), living in poverty, living in foster care or group homes, involvement with the juvenile justice system, social isolation, disabilities or developmental disorders.
#NotInMyCity trains members of the public, as well as employees of airports and malls etc., to identify warning signs that someone might be being groomed for or involved in human trafficking. These can include: appearing malnourished, sleep deprived or in need of medical care, not having control of their own ID, and travelling with minimal luggage.
If human trafficking is suspected in a public place, authorities say not to intervene, but to take notes and call 911, or Canada’s National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-833-900-1010.
Brandt said his goal is not to make people fearful, but to develop a “network of hope” across the country.
“If we give people practical things they can do or say or teach their children, we actually can prevent human trafficking from happening.”
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