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Traffic slowdown for Human Trafficking Awareness Day (8 photos)

Event coincides with launch of Indigenous anti-human trafficking project, says organizer

Songs from an Anishinaabe drum group cut through the air Thursday evening as traffic was slowed to a crawl at the intersection of Highway 17A and Highway 17B to mark Ontario’s first annual Human Trafficking Awareness Day.

Motorists traveling through the intersection were provided with information pamphlets, while Indigenous supporters stood by the intersection holding a number of anti-human trafficking signs.

“There is a presence in Sault Ste. Marie, but it’s not tolerated, especially by the Aboriginal community,” said Patricia Lesage, who now serves as an ‘anti-human trafficking Indigenous-led project lead’ for Sault Ste. Marie. “Our girls are trafficked out of the Sault Ste. Marie area and brought down to Sudbury, mainly the Toronto area.”

Lesage says that tonight’s traffic slowdown - which was coordinated by Sault Ste. Marie Police Services and Anishinabek Police - also serves as the launch of an Indigenous anti-human trafficking unit, that is a joint effort between:

  • Missanabie Cree First Nation
  • Batchewana First Nation
  • Garden River First Nation
  • Nimkii Naabkawagan Family Crisis Shelter
  • Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians

The anti-human trafficking project will be housed in the offices of Missanabie Cree First Nation in Sault Ste. Marie, with some frontline and support workers situated in Garden River First Nation, according to Lesage.

As part of the project, the group will also work closely with Ontario Provincial Police, Sault Police Services, Anishinabek Police and Batchewana First Nation Police.

“We work in conjunction with the police force to assist and give any information toward an investigation,” Lesage said.

Batchewana First Nation chief Dean Sayers, who stood with the group at the traffic slowdown, said the issue of the trafficking of Indigenous peoples is a symptom of something much larger.

“Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay are, I guess, at the focal point in the Great Lakes with really high incident rates of human trafficking, and I’m hearing different stories around people being kidnapped, being held and forced into the drug trade, sex trade,” said Sayers. “It’s just so unfortunate that we’re still dealing with these symptoms of colonization today.”

“We are a beautiful people, we are a valuable people, and I’m really looking forward to working with all the parties, including the governments of Canada and Ontario in trying to eradicate human trafficking.”

According to the ministry of community and social services, Indigenous women and girls are one of the “most targeted and over-represented groups that are trafficked” in Ontario.

“It worries me very much,” Lesage said. “We don’t want to be like our brothers and sisters in the Thunder Bay area, and I think with our collective efforts of support, that we can show our presence, work on the prevention and intervention and aftercare to support those who have been victims of human trafficking.”

The public is encouraged to contact Eva Dabutch at (705) 254-2702 or the RCMP Human Trafficking Coordination Centre at 1-800-387-0020 if anyone is in need of services or support as a result of human trafficking in the Sault Ste. Marie area.


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James Hopkin

About the Author: James Hopkin

James Hopkin is a reporter for SooToday in Sault Ste. Marie
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