Covenant House launches anti-sex trafficking campaign

TORONTO –  Covenant House is launching a $10-million fundraising campaign that will be earmarked for a new anti-sex trafficking plan.

The campaign, titled “Just like a girl you know,”  chaired by Suzanne Rogers, will provide a broad range of specialized services and educational programs that are both preventative and also help support victims escaping sex-trafficking trade.

“From your daughters, to nieces and family friends, this can happen to girls just like a girl you know,” said Rogers, adding that the world’s current online environment makes it very easy for predators.

Bruce Rivers, executive director of Covenant House said Wednesday the organization has already raised more than $6.5 million.

The campaign will initiate a training program for teachers as well as hoteliers, cab drivers, “individuals who may be unknowingly facilitating the trade,” Rivers said.

“On the service front we are embarking on a 24-7 emergency response in partnership with the police and other organizations in the community,” he said.

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“The police need to focus on the perpetrators. The rest of us need to help the victims move forward with their lives.”

Toronto police say in the past two years, they have investigated 319 cases, arrested more than 120 pimps and laid 828 charges.

Cassandra Diamond, an advisory member of the campaign, was formerly involved in the sex-trafficking industry and said there is a tremendous need for more services to help trafficked persons.

“I managed to leave my situation on my own but I needed counselling and I had to get that myself. I was also very fortunate that I had a family that had taken me in,” Diamond said.

“Covenant House’s plan has the right range of supports for girls and young women that they will need throughout the various different stages of recovery this journey is extremely hard. It’s often taking more than one try to exit the sex trade. I believe that most important, this initiative will give more trapped persons a better chance at reclaiming their lives.”

READ MORE: Canada’s largest LGBTQ youth transitional housing facility opens in Toronto Feb. 1

Mayor John Tory was on hand at the campaign’s announcement Wednesday morning and said sex-trafficking is a big problem in Canada’s biggest metropolis, Toronto.

“Thirteen hundred children are reported missing by the RCMP annually who are believed to be involved in trafficking around the country,” Tory said.

According to Covenant House, it is estimated that 71 per cent of trafficking cases involve domestic sex trafficking and 63 per cent of those trafficked were Canadian citizens in Ontario.

One year ago Covenant House announced a new housing program to help protect young female victims of sex trafficking.

“All the  people who end up victims of this are somebody’s daughter or somebody’s sister or somebody’s coworker or somebody’s schoolmate,” Tory said.

“I am a father of one daughter and a grandfather of one granddaughter and it could be any of our children and grandchildren who can end up in this situation.”