Dedicated human-trafficking unit needed in New Brunswick, say survivors, advocates
Allyson McCormack | CBC News | Posted: November 28, 2024 7:42 PM | Last Updated: November 28
Human trafficking is misunderstood and under-reported in New Brunswick, expert says
Kelly Tallon Franklin is making it her life's mission to help end human trafficking in Canada and around the world, and her interest is personal.
As a young woman in the 1980s, she was a victim of human trafficking and was trafficked through New Brunswick and eventually across North America, she said.
It all happened without friends or family knowing about it, "because they teach you how to hide it in order for you not to be hurt."
Decades later, Tallon Franklin founded Courage for Freedom, an Ontario-based charity that supports survivors and educates the public on human trafficking.
Her advocacy work brought her to Fredericton this week for a conference which included survivors, advocates, policy makers and community members, in a collaborative effort to find ways to combat human trafficking and support survivors, who were typically transported or coerced into work, often in the form of forced labour or sexual exploitation.
Tallon Franklin said "the exploitation and the grooming and luring does happen in this province."
"I've also worked with young women and girls that have reached out for assistance when they're in another city or another province, that were trafficked out of here," she said. "So it was important to come back and give support to this community."
Human trafficking unit needed, RCMP officer says
RCMP Staff Sgt. Tyson Nelson, co-ordinator of the response to human trafficking in New Brunswick, has been advocating for a dedicated unit in the province.
Nelson said there have been more investigations and charges coming forward in front of the courts in the past few years in New Brunswick, but there have been no convictions.
"There are other files that don't quite make it that far. And part of the reason is I believe that we don't have a dedicated human trafficking unit in the province."
He said human trafficking is only coming into its infancy in New Brunswick now.
That's part of the reason for a lack of provincial statistics.
Cpl. David Lane, an investigator with the RCMP in Nova Scotia, was one of the people tasked with setting up that province's human trafficking unit in 2019.
Lane said the unit is dedicated to helping survivors and victims, but also targets traffickers and offenders.
Even though it's a provincial unit, Lane said it took them across Canada because "borders are not known by these traffickers."
That's why Lane would like to see the rest of the country follow suit. He said it would help with the exchange of information, the exchange of resources, and would make investigations more efficient.
New Brunswick-specific data still lacking
Julia Drydyk, executive director of the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking, said the crime is "grossly misunderstood and under-reported in New Brunswick."
The centre operates the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline, which is a confidential, multilingual service that operates 24/7 to connect victims and survivors with social services, law enforcement and emergency services. It also receive tips from the public.
In the hotline's first three years of operation, Drydyk said they identified 1,500 cases involving 2,170 individual victims and survivors across Canada. Only 2 per cent of those came from Atlantic Canada.
"So while we do not have statistics specific to New Brunswick, we do know that it's taking place," she said.
In provinces where the government has worked on creating awareness, education and services, more cases are reported, Drydyk said.
Part of the problem is that "no one knows what to look for," she said.
"They're misidentifying it. They still think human trafficking looks like the movie Taken. And it's until we build that education and awareness, that we're going to actually start seeing increases in reporting."
Nelson agrees there are misconceptions about what human trafficking can look like and said education is a key to seeing more cases reported in New Brunswick.
"I didn't recognize human trafficking cases when I was early in my career," he said.
He said if it takes somebody six or seven years of a policing career to recognize it, then victims and the general public are going to have a hard time spotting it. But there are signs to watch for.
"The trafficker will normally and almost always take control in situations — whether it's talking for the person, it's paying for things, it's holding IDs, holding debit cards and credit cards," he said.
"Putting somebody in a vulnerable state is required." Traffickers often take victims out of their community, making sure they don't have any money or ID on them.
"Those are the two things that you need to get on a bus, train or plane. So if you don't have ID and you don't have money, you're not making it back. You don't know how to get around the city, you don't know anybody here."
Best practices already exist
Tallon Franklin said New Brunswick can take examples from the provinces that already have units in place to set one up in the province.
"There are precedents set," she said. "You can borrow this without reinventing the wheel."
CBC News reached out to the provincial government for an interview about a dedicated human trafficking unit. No one was made available.
In an emailed statement, Public Safety Minister Robert Gauvin said "I recognize the urgency of this file and will be engaging with officials within government departments, our policing partners, and experts in this field as well as survivors to learn more about human trafficking within New Brunswick."
While it's too early to say what will come from those conversations, he said, "there is work to do and will take the appropriate actions."