The scenario is all too common: They travel from city to city, set up shop in hotels and begin placing their “escort” ads online. Sometimes they’re in towns for weeks; other times, just hours.
“One only has to look at http://www.backpage.com and look at the local advertisements that are out there to see that there are, on any given day, 20 to 30 who are advertising sexual services within the Kingston area,” explained Sgt. Brad Brooker of the Sex Crimes Unit at Kingston Police.
Sgt. Brooker says the majority of the women are involved against their will: Victims of human trafficking recruited with money and then controlled with drugs and alcohol.
READ MORE: 2 arrested east of Toronto in human trafficking case involving teen girl
An all too common story at 1000 Islands Addiction Rehab Centre in Rockport, Ont., according to the facility’s head counsellor, Braedt Alcorn.
“This is real life and these girls have gone through very traumatic things that no one would ever wish upon anyone.”
In September, the rehabilitation centre will dedicate four beds to victims of human trafficking, funded in part by a provincial grant and in partnership with Victims Services Leeds Grenville.
The centre’s CEO Chris Fagan, who also has dealt with drug and alcohol addiction himself, says he hopes the beds will give the girls a chance to escape the trade and kick their addiction to the curb.
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“When I first heard of human trafficking I would think, you know, Asia places like that. I never thought it was actually happening in my backyard,” said Fagan.
According to the Ontario Strategy to End Human Trafficking website, 65 per cent of human trafficking cases across the country originate in Ontario. The site also suggests the majority of human trafficking survivors in Ontario are Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
Police say these so-called pimps often target communities along the 401 corridor mainly because they’re easy cities and towns to get into but more importantly to get out of.
READ MORE: Ontario man charged with human trafficking, assault
Locally, police are turning to a new type of technology: A license plate scanner that officers could use in the parking lots of hotels and motels to glean more information about their suspects, explains Brooker.
“It would be giving us insight as to who’s staying at the hotels and whether there are possible wants or what we call hits on CPIC those type of things would come up immediately. It may draw our attention to someone who is staying there or could help further investigations that are ongoing.”
In June 2016, the Ontario government committed $72 million to its anti-human trafficking strategy.
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