Human trafficking is a severe human rights violation.
Traffickers prey on vulnerability — people who are most vulnerable often have little to no resources.
We know victims often don’t come forward on their own. They may fear physical or psychological coercion, mistrust authorities, have a language barrier, don’t know how to find help, or in some cases, may not even realize they are being trafficked. Many community members also have misconceptions about what human trafficking truly involves. We can’t address this issue alone—we depend on our partners, who in turn depend on us, to ensure that victims and survivors receive the resources and support they need.
Critical supports
By offering nuanced, trauma-informed care, we support survivors in escaping their abusers and beginning their journey toward self-determination.
Education creates safer spaces
Educating our community about trafficking increases the number of victims and survivors who seek our help. Building strong partnerships enhances our community’s ability to address this hidden crime effectively. Access to evidence-based research improves our ability to identify and assist victims and survivors.
We are committed to this work because we believe a brighter future is possible — a future where Alberta is free of human trafficking. We think that’s a future worth striving for.
Human trafficking is the act of forcing, coercing, or deceiving an individual into selling sex or labour for the personal gain of another.
Traffickers undertake ACTIONS using MEANS for the PURPOSE of exploiting someone. If one condition in each of the categories is met, the result is human trafficking.
Human trafficking is a severe violation of human rights that tears away our universal right to autonomy and self-determination. Human trafficking can take on many forms including Sex Trafficking, Labour Trafficking, and the Trafficking or Harvesting of Organs.
Human Trafficking in Alberta
Human trafficking charges have been laid in rural communities as well as major urban centres in Alberta. People may be trafficked for labour and/or sexual exploitation. Traffickers may be intimate partners, employers, recruiters, family members or organized crime groups.
Critical Supports
Internal trafficking involves the exploitation of residents of a country. According to the Government of Canada, those more likely to be at risk of trafficking include “persons who are socially or economically disadvantaged, such as some Aboriginal women, youth and children, migrants and new immigrants, teenage runaways, children who are in protection, as well as girls and women, who may be lured to large urban centres or who move or migrate there voluntarily” (National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Persons, Government of Canada 2012).
Where Trafficking Happens
Traffickers often move victims across and into major urban centres to evade law enforcement and prevent victims from forming friendships or retaining family connections.
Who Commits the Crimes?
Some convicted offenders of human trafficking internal to Canada were found to be affiliated to street gangs known to law enforcement. In many cases, convicted traffickers formed bonds with their victims.
Internal human trafficking victims have been recruited through the Internet or by an acquaintance. Victims are often groomed, manipulated, and coerced to provide labour or sexual services. Control tactics employed by traffickers to retain victims in exploitative situations include social isolation, forcible confinement, withholding identification documents, imposing strict rules and limitation of movement, as well as threats and violence (Human Trafficking in Canada: A Threat Assessment, RCMP 2010).
Do you think you may be a victim of human trafficking? Get Help.
International Trafficking
International trafficking involves the crossing of borders. In these cases, victims are brought into Canada for the purposes of exploitation.
How International Trafficking Happens
A set of interrelated “push” and “pull” factors contribute to trafficking in persons. “Push” factors may include extreme poverty, unemployment, lack of education, inadequate social programs, gender-based inequality, war and conflict situations, and political unrest in countries of origin. “Pull” factors may include a globalized, free-market economy that has increased the demand for cheap labour, and goods and services in many countries. Victims may also be “pulled” into trafficking through the promise of money and what is seen as a better life (Department of Justice Canada).
Do you have questions about human trafficking? Contact us!
“Human Trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit."
– United Nations, Office on Drugs and Crime