Trafficking in persons, also known as human trafficking, involves recruiting, transporting, transferring, receiving, holding, concealing or harbouring a person, or exercising control, direction or influence over their movements to exploit them or facilitate their exploitation.

Senior Crown Attorney Josie McKinney of the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service specializes in human trafficking and discusses common misconceptions, answers questions from methods of recruitment to methods of prevention, and shares signs of ongoing trafficking that she learned from her victims' experiences.

McKinney debunked some common misconceptions shared about human trafficking.

"The first misconception is that human trafficking is not going to look like what you think it is: it's not going to look like people being kidnapped and held in cages. It is almost always going to be that manipulative relationship by a trafficker, or someone pretending to be a boyfriend or a loved one. The second misconception is that it is only people from 'certain communities,' any child or adult can be trafficked. Yes, they are targeting vulnerable people, but it's not something that we should only expect, it could be anyone."

 

A report from Statistics Canada released in May 2019, shows that Halifax had the highest rate of police-reported human trafficking in the country. At more than 10 incidents per 100,000 people, it's 7.5 times higher than the national average rate. Halifax also reported the second highest number of incidents of all Canadian cities, second only to Toronto.

"We don't have more reported incidents, so Ontario has the most reported cases. Nova Scotia has the highest rate, so we have the most reported cases per capita. So it's difficult to say why Nova Scotia would have a higher rate of human trafficking."

McKinney said that Halifax being a point of entry into the country could be a contributing factor to these statistics. She said Nova Scotia is part of a circuit, to bring victims into other parts of the country.

"A lot of the victims from Nova Scotia will be taken through from Halifax or other parts of Nova Scotia, up to Moncton and New Brunswick because that's the closest place where illegal strip clubs run. So traffickers will try out a victim in Moncton first and if the person is successful there, then they'll transport them to other provinces like Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, or Newfoundland, which is known as the 'the circuit'."

She said people have misconceptions about the reality of human trafficking recruiting, and that is does not happen the way it is portrayed in many films.

"Part of the challenge is folks have this false image about what human trafficking looks like, which is that they think people are being taken, like the movie Taken or that they're being pulled off the street, captured, kidnapped-those sorts of things. That's extremely rare."

Most human trafficking happens through what the system calls "the boyfriend method."

"The boyfriend method is when a trafficker would build an initial relationship with someone who is going through a difficult time in their life. Then, they would shower them with attention and affection and make that person feel like this is the greatest boyfriend they've ever had. Later, the relationship transitions into an exploitative relationship once they've earned the victim's trust."

She describes it as a long, seductive process followed by manipulation, as opposed to a violent to volatile process.

"It doesn't mean that violence will eventually become a part of the equation. But a lot of the cases that we see, both in Nova Scotia and elsewhere, are mental and emotional coercion and manipulation."

While the police's role in human trafficking situations is to investigate crime and decide whether or not charges should be laid; sometimes they interact with the Crown attorney to get advice or guidance before laying required charges. Once charges are laid, the file officially moves into the court system.

"As a Crown attorney, my role is to take cases after the police have investigated them and to guide victims through the court process."

McKinney and other Crown attorneys' roles include meeting with victims or witnesses, in preparation for court and keeping them up to date. Sometimes, they are also involved in making preliminary arguments on the file before eventually going to trial. If a negotiation, in terms of resolution, other than a trial was on the table, that deal falls under the Crown attorney's responsibility as well. If the trafficker either pleads guilty or is found guilty, it is the Crown attorney's job to go to court and make recommendations about the sentence they should receive.

According to McKinney, on a national level, the average age range targeted the most for trafficked victims is 18-25 years old, however, she said she has seen a younger age bracket in Nova Scotia.

"My experience in Nova Scotia, I'm seeing victims much younger than eighteen.  Teenagers ages 13 until 18 seem to be the most common age range that we're experiencing in prosecution right now, so essentially children."

Any person can be targeted by human traffickers whether it's children, adults, males, females or non-binary persons. However, traffickers do prey on people who have been marginalized and made vulnerable because of systemic discrimination.

"We do see girls or gender diverse folks, so members of the LGBTQ+ community being targeted, and women and girls from the Indigenous and African Nova Scotian communities are targeted more often. Again, that's because we as a society have marginalized those communities, and so traffickers feel that they're not going to be looked for, or missed which is not true."

McKinney then spoke about if there was a correlation between missing people and victims who have been trafficked.

"Sometimes there is, sometimes there isn't. So not all missing persons are persons connected to trafficking. Sometimes a person is missing for other reasons. We do know from the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls inquiry that some of those missing persons are murdered. So it's not necessarily tied to trafficking but sometimes it is."

McKinney said there is certainly a connection between historic discrimination toward Indigenous people, particularly Indigenous women and girls, and that members of those communities are being targeted for sexual exploitation and trafficking as well.

These factors together can make a person more vulnerable to being targeted for other types of violent crimes, such as murder. Yet, it would not be true to say that every missing person's case is necessarily related to being trafficked.

There are some laws and policies in place when it comes to fighting human trafficking in courts.

"There are two pieces of legislation that are primarily about the charges of human trafficking, so the Criminal Code, which charges the actual offence of human trafficking, and there are some key charges under that, which is mostly what I deal with," McKinney said. "So it's human trafficking of adults, trafficking of children, and also receiving a material benefit from human trafficking, which just essentially means profiting in some way."

Profiting in ways means if an individual is receiving drugs as a result of the trafficking rent, or some type of other benefits.

"The other charge is destroying a travel or identification document to further human trafficking. So it may be that one of the ways a trafficker might keep hold of someone is by stealing or destroying their identification or passport, which makes it that much harder for that person to get away or be able to find their way back home," McKinney said.

The reason traffickers take identification documents or passports from victims is because they are often required to purchase bus, train, or plane tickets.

"Those are the core offences of human trafficking, and there are similar type offences under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, although I don't handle those offences because they would be handled by the federal Crown attorney's office."

In an attempt to decrease human trafficking, there are measures and resources in place, such as the Trafficking and Exploitation Services System (TESS) in Nova Scotia. TESS is a network facilitated by the YWCA that has stakeholders across the province serving survivors in different capacities.

Some key partners of TESS are the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre, the Indigenous Women's Healing Centre, the African Nova Scotian Social Worker, the Association of Black Social Workers, the Elizabeth Fry Society, and some transition houses.

"The idea is to bring all of us to the table to try to brainstorm ways that we can collaborate and break down barriers for both, not just success in prosecuting the files, but also in supporting (victims) in achieving goals that are important to them."

Although statistics show that human trafficking cases have increased over the years, McKinney said there could be other factors for the rise in numbers.

"It's important to keep in mind that the numbers that we're seeing that are increasing are reported cases. We've always known that human trafficking is one of the most under-reported cases for several reasons, including the stigma associated particularly with sex work and sex trafficking, as well as fear and the trauma bond they form with their trafficker," McKinney said. "But those increase in numbers that we're seeing could also be a reflection of people trusting in that system now to come forward and increased awareness."

She added that an increase in reported cases does not necessarily mean that human trafficking is increasing, but could also mean that people are starting to trust more and reach out.

"Hopefully, that is the predominant reason for it, as opposed to necessarily trafficking itself increasing, it's hard to say, but that is one of the things that myself and our community stakeholders predict to be the reason behind the increase."

There are some apparent signs and a call to action should the public suspect an individual of being human trafficked.

"Some of the things that you can notice is if the person you know has suddenly developed a relationship with someone new-- a new friend or new romantic relationship-- that they seem almost obsessed with. They may talk about that person as being the greatest person they've ever met, or the greatest relationship that they've ever had. And then that person could become slowly more and more isolated."

Another sign is noticing your friend having expensive items that they may not usually be able to afford, whether it's acquiring expensive clothes or purses, to having their hair and nails done. Traffickers may purchase items for their victims to build trust with them.

"Also seeing radical changes in behaviour, so if someone was doing well in school, and suddenly they're not, someone who was social, very involved with their friends, suddenly they're not. Those do not necessarily mean trafficking, but they are some of the signs that we see when we have friends and family reporting it."

McKinney says if individuals suspect or see anything that is suspicious, it is best to call the provincial human trafficking tip line which is active and runs 24 hours, seven days a week.

"The police are not going to be upset. If you call that line because of that suspicion, it's better to trust that instinct and be wrong than not to reach out."

Listen to the full interview below: