Paul Brandt was in Saskatoon on Monday, but instead of using his voice to sing, he used it to advocate for victims of human trafficking.
Back in 2017, Canadian country music star Paul Brandt founded Not in My City, an organization that helps people identify and fight human trafficking in Canada.
Now, Brandt, investigators, and Crown prosecutors are coming together in Saskatoon this week for the 3rd annual Maddison Sessions, a summit that provides a space for professionals to discuss ways to get on top of this often-unseen crime.
The event is named after Maddison Fraser, a young woman from Alberta who lost her life to human trafficking in 2015.
“Ninety-three per cent of human trafficking victims are girls and women. The greatest risk factor for being trafficked in our country is simply being a girl.” He adds that it can impact anyone regardless of socioeconomic status, and the crime is on the rise.
“We’ve literally gone in eight years from some of the top leaders in the province saying that human trafficking doesn’t happen here, to now, the Government of Alberta putting forward $23.8 million and creating a new Alberta office to combat trafficking in persons.”
Sergeant David Lane works in the RCMP Human Trafficking Unit in Nova Scotia, the province with the highest rate of human trafficking incidents per capita in Canada.
“It took me maybe by first ten to twelve years as a police officer to realize how dark of a crime human trafficking was and how much of a problem it is in Canada.”
The complexity of these crimes makes them difficult to investigate, but Lane says sudden behavioral changes, a hiatus from social media, and a sudden influx of money can be key indicators that an individual is being trafficked.
He adds that human trafficking reaches far beyond the sexual aspect, having a grasp on the labour and hospitality sectors, as well.
Inspector Erin Coates with the Saskatoon Police Service says the local human trafficking unit investigated about 20 files.
“It’s just as big of an issue here as it is everywhere across Canada,” she admits.
Brandt encourages all members of the public to take the free Not in My City e-learning course to learn the indicators of human trafficking.
“One of the things that we’re so excited about is when we hear testimonies from the general public telling us, ‘I took your e-learning (course) a month ago, and two weeks ago I identified a human trafficking victim, and I knew what to do.”
The free e-learning course can be found here.
