WATCH ABOVE: Officials in New Brunswick are on their way to developing studies and a provincial strategy combating the human trafficking of girls and women in the province. Global’s Laura Brown reports.
FREDERICTON – A New Brunswick group is working with the province and police agencies to develop a strategy to deal with the issue of human trafficking and determine how much of an issue it is in New Brunswick.
Partners for Youth has launched the three-year project with the help of $200,000 from Status of Women Canada.
Partners for Youth CEO, John Sharpe, says they know young New Brunswick women are being lured into prostitution, but they don’t know how many.
“If someone’s driving in a car and they have drugs in the car and they get pulled over they get charged for possession,” Sharpe said.
“If someone’s driving in a car and they have a 14-year-old girl in the car and they get pulled over, there’s no charge for that. There’s no safeguard. “
He says a big part of the project will be to gather the data they need to address the problem.
Martine Stewart of the New Brunswick Working Group on Human Trafficking says in most cases young women and girls are being lured out of New Brunswick to the sex trade in Quebec or further west.
Norm Bosse, New Brunswick’s child and youth advocate, says he’s not dealing with any specific cases of human trafficking, but if it’s happening elsewhere, then it’s likely happening in New Brunswick as well.
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