Kris started to suspect that her daughter, Shelby, was getting into trouble when she was in Grade 9. The straight A and B 91原创 Fine Arts student was suddenly failing her classes, skipping school and hanging out with the wrong crowd.
She then began to run away from home to escape the rules of her parents, and would disappear for days at a time.
But it wasn鈥檛 until a year later when Kris saw the ads on Craigslist that she was forced to admit the truth.
Her daughter, age 15, was a victim of human trafficking. Drug-addicted and living on the streets of Surrey, Shelby was being forced through organized crime to prostitute herself to feed her habit and stay alive.
鈥淚 realized what she was doing when I found the ads on Craigslist,鈥� said Kris (not her real name). 鈥淏efore that we were wondering, because how does a 14-year-old survive on the streets? You hear of kids hopping from friend鈥檚 house to friend鈥檚 house on the couch, so I thought 鈥榮he has lots of friends, she must be managing.鈥� But then when you see those ads, it鈥檚 in your face. There鈥檚 nothing you can do but admit how she is getting by.鈥�
Shelby (whose name has also been changed for her protection) is one of four kids adopted and fostered by Kris. Her birth mom lived a very similar lifestyle to what she lives now and was addicted to hard drugs during her pregnancy. The doctors made it clear that Shelby must never experiment with drugs because she has a high risk of quickly becoming addicted.
鈥淪he was doing great at the beginning of her Grade 9 year 鈥� playing three instruments at the fine arts school, getting A鈥檚 and B鈥檚, and doing very well. Then she went and hooked up with the wrong kids, they lured her into experimenting with drugs, and misbehaviour and teenage rottenness,鈥� Kris explained.
Once she started running away, Kris began filing missing person鈥檚 reports with the RCMP. On one occasion, Shelby did call and left a cell phone number to be reached at. Kris Googled the number to see if she could find an address, but all that popped up were Craigslist ads with nude photos and prices listed.
鈥淚 think in the beginning it really was just regular teenage acting out, trying to find where she fits in the world. But then there are these predators out there willing to take advantage of these girls. She鈥檇 take off and sit on the streets with no money, no ID, no nothing, but they don鈥檛 care. And it鈥檚 all based on deception. In the ads it would say she was 19. She was only 15. These guys are just sick,鈥� Kris said.
According to RCMP, 800 to 1,200 people are trafficked in Canada annually and, internationally, that number jumps to 800,000.
Up to 75 per cent of aboriginal girls under the age of 18 have suffered from sexual abuse and more than 500 aboriginal girls have gone missing in the past two decades.
This isn鈥檛 something that just happens in Third World countries. This happens in our own backyards, says 91原创 resident Tara Teng, Miss Canada 2011 and an international speaker on human trafficking and exploitation.
鈥淲e know that it happens in Thailand. We know that it happens in the Ivory Coast. But here in 91原创? It doesn鈥檛 connect with what we think and the images that we see,鈥� she said.
鈥淚 go and speak at schools all the time and I can鈥檛 even count how many times, whether it鈥檚 a school in 91原创 or a school in inner city Downtown Vancouver or if it鈥檚 West Point Grey Academy, that a student will stay behind and linger till the end. She waits until all of her classmates leave, waits until her teachers leave, and then she will come up to me with a trembling voice and tears in her eyes saying 鈥榯his happened to me, but I didn鈥檛 know what it was called.鈥� To them it鈥檚 not 鈥榦h this is human trafficking鈥� or 鈥榦h this is forced prostitution.鈥� They don鈥檛 necessarily know the names for these things and because of that they don鈥檛 know how to reach out and get help.鈥�
The average age of entry into prostitution in Canada is 14 years of age, but kids as young as 11 and 12 are targeted for grooming.
Teng says it鈥檚 not necessarily street prostitution that is the biggest issue in 91原创. Rather it鈥檚 protecting our youth from recruitment.
鈥淗ere the biggest thing that we see and that we have come across is our youth being recruited into gangs and into prostitution. And really, prostitution and gang life go hand in hand. Just like drugs and gangs go hand in hand. And I think it鈥檚 really important for people to start realizing that, because we often think prostitution is a separate issue, but really they are quite related. If there are students involved in gangs then chances are there are students involved in prostitution or at risk of being recruited into prostitution,鈥� she said.
Part of the problem is forgetting old stereotypes and realizing that the real recruiters are often normal-looking guys, posing as real boyfriends.
鈥淚t almost always starts with a young girl meeting a guy. And we think he鈥檚 this dark, brooding, Mafia-type guy but they don鈥檛 look like that. This is a nice, charming, handsome young man who is fun. And they hit it off and he starts grooming her for prostitution and she gets thrown into it. She starts to get isolated from her family, from her friends and from her support network that really cares about her," Teng said.
鈥淗uman trafficking preys on situations of vulnerability. If we鈥檙e talking about Thailand, there鈥檚 specific sets of vulnerability.There鈥檚 still vulnerability here in 91原创, it鈥檚 just different. The story tends to be the same for a lot of them. They didn鈥檛 have a solid, healthy support network. They ended up in a relationship and the guy took advantage of them. And when you look at it, human trafficking is a couple steps more extreme than a domestic violence situation. It鈥檚 just the most extreme you can get with that.鈥�
Danny Ferguson, a youth worker with 91原创 Youth Unlimited, works on the front lines with kids at risk and has seen firsthand youth in 91原创 being recruited into the sex trade. He has worked with Shelby in the past, and many other children in similar situations.
In one case, a young girl told Ferguson that her boyfriend, who had previously bought her many gifts, suddenly presented her with a bill for $10,000 for everything he had ever bought her. Her only way to pay it back, her boyfriend told her, was to work as an escort for him.
鈥淓very kid that we work with is at risk. It doesn鈥檛 matter if they come from a family with a lot of money or if their parents are successful. It doesn鈥檛 matter if their needs are met in a physical way. There鈥檚 a social poverty where these kids are struggling for friendships and relationships,鈥� Ferguson said.
鈥淭hese recruiters, they understand the physical aspect of this. They target kids with social needs, with emotional needs, who need love and acceptance. And what鈥檚 scary is the pimps that work in Surrey and Vancouver will hire boys who are around the same age, 17 and 18, and then get them to enrol in schools in the Valley. And their whole objective is to get girlfriends and slowly recruit them into this lifestyle.鈥�
There is no minimum sentencing for human trafficking in Canada, and it was not included in the Criminal Code until 2005. Since then, there have been nine human trafficking convictions have been made 鈥� six in Ontario and three in Quebec.
Teng says a lot of groundwork has been covered, but much more still needs to be done.
鈥淲e鈥檙e running to play catch up, and we鈥檙e definitely running slow,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e still have a lot of things to do from a legislative standpoint 鈥� a lot of things still need to be put in place. We need a lot more resources for people who work on the frontlines. But at least the conversation is starting to happen.鈥�
Kris is still trying desperately to find her daughter, who turns 19 this year. The last she heard Shelby was working in the Newton area of Surrey, but this could change overnight. Though Shelby calls home on occasion, every time Kris begins to ask too many questions the line is immediately disconnected.
鈥淪he still won鈥檛 disclose where she is, because of course if I send anyone looking for her it puts her at risk,鈥� Kris said. 鈥淎t one point she had said to me 鈥榶ou鈥檝e got to get the police off my back because they are going to move me out of province.鈥� Literally if they don鈥檛 behave, they will move them to Toronto, they鈥檒l move them wherever.
鈥淪he has told me about being threatened with guns and being threatened with being moved and all kinds of things. She told me that they were once holding her in the bathtub because she didn鈥檛 bring home enough money. This is just a kid. Even now, she鈥檚 only 18. We鈥檙e not talking about people doing this by choice.
鈥淭he worst thing is every time you hear there鈥檚 been a body found I鈥檓 always thinking 鈥榳as it a male or female?鈥� And I go through this every time. You鈥檙e always worried, is she going to do the wrong thing or say the wrong thing? And then they鈥檙e going to be done with her.鈥�
鈥⑩赌⑩赌�
There is hope. After Teng and fellow 91原创 abolitionist Todd Hauptman hosted the event 鈥淲ake Up: A Night Against Exploitation鈥� at Township Hall in January, a special task force was created to form an action plan for combating human trafficking at a local level.
Made up of Teng, Danny Ferguson, Hauptman, 91原创 Township Councillor Michelle Sparrow, 91原创 school Trustee Megan Dykeman and other members of 91原创 Youth Unlimited and the community, the task force released the final draft of their action plan to Township and City councils in April. They hope to have it adopted and promoted by both councils and the board of education.
The plan is a working document which will change over time, Hauptman said.
"Because human trafficking is a long term issue, we need a long term action plan. Once the first steps on our plan are completed we will reassess the situation, see where we are at and make changes if we need to."
91原创 is the first community in Canada to draft such a proposal, something that Teng believes will set a precedent for the rest of the country.
鈥淧arents need to have these conversations with their children when they're young, so when they are older and start being more independent and start going to parties and hanging out with their friends they are better equipped, they are better prepared and they know what to look for. And that's the primary goal when moving forward with this 91原创 action plan. The ultimate goal would be to have a trafficked-proof community that has zero tolerance for human trafficking. But I think the more prominent problem is the youth being recruited, so we're really focusing on prevention strategies,鈥� she said.
According to the task force, the first step to combating human trafficking is educating the public.
鈥淲e need to talk about this more. We need to talk about this with families. We need to talk about this with youth. We need to talk about this with teachers and community leaders. That鈥檚 how things move forward,鈥� Teng said.
鈥淎wareness is where it needs to start, but it needs to branch out from awareness and move into action, because it is not enough just to know about it. It鈥檚 important for the teachers to look out for students who may be as risk or who may be in the process right now. They can start to recognize those signs and actually step forward.鈥�
Dykeman, who is a member of the task force, says that awareness in schools can make a big difference for youth.
鈥淧ersonally I think that any time a concern is brought forward that affect children in our community, it's important to hear the concern and see what can be done to address it. As a mother of two children, this sort of information is something that I want to be acutely aware of so that I can figure out what I can do as a parent to prepare my children. Every parent has that urge,鈥� Dykeman said.
鈥淲e need to bring awareness to teachers for warning signs to look for if there is a problem and bring awareness to students at an age appropriate level. How can better education on this problem happen within the school district? And that's something the Board of Education is really excited to hear about.鈥�
Ferguson has visited many Grade 7 classrooms throughout 91原创 to discuss what the issues of human trafficking are and its potential dangers. His biggest shock was learning how many kids already knew about it and how many had already experienced something like it through social media sites such as Facebook.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an invisible problem. Raising awareness is the best thing we can do with kids, but also with their families. If you see kids try to separate themselves from their families, if you see tension between parents, what鈥檚 happening there is that the kid is intentionally being separated from them. A lot of these families are loving and caring, and they want to take care of their kids. But their kids never tell them about their problems,鈥� he said.
Parents such as Kris want the public to realize that there are real faces to prostitution and real families that are battling to cope with it. Kris still has two boys living at home, both who have special needs. Trying to describe to them where their sister has gone has been heartbreaking for her.
鈥淢y boys both know what鈥檚 going on. It鈥檚 been explained to them, but we don鈥檛 talk about it a lot. They miss their sister, but we focus more on the fact that she has an addiction problem more than on the prostitution because I really don鈥檛 think that is something that they can grasp,鈥� she said.
鈥淭hese girls aren鈥檛 kids without faces. I think a lot of people think that kids who do this don鈥檛 have homes to go to; they don鈥檛 have families who care, but that鈥檚 not the truth. And I think in a lot of cases the kids are told by these recruiters that their families don鈥檛 want them back, or their dirty, which makes it even harder for them to take a moment and say 鈥榟ey, I do have a family that loves me and cares about me and wants to help me.鈥�
鈥淗opefully (the task force) will make a difference and will help some kids. But something definitely needs to be done. People tend to just sweep it under the carpet. People don鈥檛 see them as kids that have grown up in their neighbourhoods with families that care about them.鈥�
Trying to change people鈥檚 perceptions of prostitution is one of the foremost issues when it comes to abolishing human trafficking, Teng says.
鈥淲hen you're talking about prostitution, automatically all these misleading stereotypes pop up. It is taboo. You see it as, 'Oh they're just dirty hookers. They made bad choices, they want to be here, it's their fault.' They don't get our sympathy, we just dismiss them. We don't stop to wonder what their stories might be,鈥� she said.
鈥淏ut people are starting to realize that maybe we were wrong for treating these women like discarded dirty hookers. I hate that whole terminology, hate it. It doesn鈥檛 give the dignity to the human being. I think that is one really positive shift that has happened over the last 10 years is that we are starting to see them as human beings, and they have stories, and families, and backgrounds and there is a reason why they got there.
"Between 92 and 98 per cent of people in prostitution don鈥檛 want to be there. And if they had the exit strategies, if they had the resources to leave, to have the support, to have a job to go to afterwards, to be able to talk through the trauma they have been through, all of that, they would leave right now.鈥�
Kris still believes there鈥檚 a chance that her daughter can escape and rebuild her life.
鈥淚 just hope for brighter days. I hope that at some point in time she will be able to turn her life around and make better choices. She鈥檚 young so there is still a lot of time to do that,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not going to be an easy lifestyle to pull yourself out of, but I think it can be done. If the support is there and she is not just written off as some junkie adult who couldn鈥檛 care less.鈥�
To find out more on Teng's anti-human trafficking initiatives, visit her website www.tarateng.wordpress.com.
