Human Trafficking

When the average resident thinks about human trafficking, it is usually tied to illegal immigration and the smuggling of persons over international borders. 

But human trafficking can take on multiple forms of abuse, including sex trafficking, forced labour, domestic servitude and even organ removal.

Types of Human Trafficking

Definitions from Blue Campaign (USA)

What all of these types of trafficking have in common is a victim/survivor, someone who has become compromised and forced into doing work they would not otherwise do.

It's a cycle of abuse, where the victim is often groomed, then exploited.

Sex trafficking is very different from sex trade workers; where the victim is completely controlled in a modern-day form of slavery.

Signs of Human Trafficking 

• Being isolated from family or friends.
• Being controlled by threats, force or deception.
• Being driven to and from locations, escorted at all times, or watched.
• Being told to keep in constant (given two or more cell phones).
• Someone else always speaks for them.
• Suddenly receiving expensive gifts.
• Earning money but not able to keep it.
• No access to own ID.
• Being moved frequently; claiming to be “new” or “just visiting”
• Paid an illegal recruitment fee to obtain a job.

Behavioural symptoms 

• Depression and mood changes
• Malnutrition
• Fear and anxiety
• Guilt and shame
• Drug use
• Signs of physical abuse
• New tattoos

Ottawa Police Service Human Trafficking Unit 

The Ottawa Police Service’s (OPS) Human Trafficking Unit (HTU) has partnered with service-oriented agencies across the city, like hotels and entertainment groups, to target those victims or survivors and offer them the supports they need to get out. Officers from the unit provide training for hospital staff, law enforcement agencies, community agencies, school boards, front-desk service workers to help them identify sex traffic victims that may visit their establishment. The HTU is also a member of the city-wide Ottawa Human Trafficking Frontline Committee, which includes Ottawa Victim Services, OPS Victim Crisis Unit, and other frontline agencies that are engaged in providing exit strategies for those caught up in the abusive cycle of human trafficking.

Additionally, the OPS has s with support service agencies city-wide that can help those who want out. 

While Ottawa does see forced labour and domestic servitude cases from time to time, most of the human trafficking in the city revolves around the sex trade. On any given day, there is at least one sex trade worker in every single hotel across the city, according to OPS HTU officers. 

Many of these victims can be runaways, between the ages of 12-25, with little or no support from friends or family. Often, they are controlled by their addictions and lured into the profession with false promises of security and access to those substances. Most sex trafficking victims have been groomed and conditioned to believe their exploiter is trustworthy and not someone using them; others are controlled by fear and brutality. While a sex trade worker will keep all the money they make, a sex traffic victim will receive no money. It provides the trafficker with an easier means to control the activities of their victim and create a dependency.

Between 2019 and 2021 the OPS Human Trafficking Unit responded to 98 investigations deemed to be of a human trafficking nature and laid 349 charges. But more importantly the Human Trafficking Unit has supported 88 women who’ve courageously come forward to exit.

The support provided comes in many different forms. The Human Trafficking Unit is not statistically driven. What this means is that the HT Unit supports and assists countless sex trade workers or survivors who do not wish to pursue criminal charges. The support is tailored and specific to the individual’s needs and wants. This work is performed by HTU members but predominantly by an imbedded victim support specialist who works tirelessly with sex trade workers to facilitate and connect them with various resources and community partners.

The HTU has a victim centered approach. We value the safety, security and well-being of victims and survivors of human trafficking offences regardless of if they choose to participate in the criminal justice system or not. HTU members strive to treat everyone with compassion, dignity and respect while seeking to minimize re-traumatization by playing an active role in connecting clients with internal and external community supports based on needs and wishes.

They have helped with several high-profile joint initiatives both domestically and internationally. Victims of this type of criminality are often rotated between cities down the Montreal to Toronto corridor, up north and through various provinces and territories based on supply and demand, and sometimes into the United States.

The HTU works collaboratively with provincial and municipal police agencies and has established a very good working relationship with the Gatineau Police and the Quebec Provincial Anti Human Trafficking collaborative working group.

If you, or someone you know, is caught up in the vicious cycle of human trafficking and want out, please call us. We can help.