Durham students gather for human trafficking symposium

Human trafficking is one of the fastest-growing crimes in Canada and in Durham.

High school students from around the region gathered in Oshawa Monday in support of human trafficking awareness. It’s all in conjunction with victims of crime week.

Karly Church, a survivor of human trafficking, says it started in her early 20s.

“They saw my vulnerabilities, they saw that I was homeless, they saw that I was in a new city with no family or social supports at that time and I had a serious drug addiction, so I was an easy target,” said Church.

Church spoke to a group of 200 high school students about her experience in the sex trade and the importance of curbing the growing crime.

“I’m a big believer that education is power and I often wonder, if someone came into my high school and talked to me about what human trafficking looks like and described that for me and the warning signs, would it have actually happened to me?” said Church.

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Church was one of many speakers at the inaugural Antidote to Human Trafficking Youth Symposium.

Karen Hernandez attended with her mom.

“It’s good to have somebody with me and so I can listen and ask her more about it and what she knows,” said Hernandez, a Grade 12 student.

“I think it’s important that the younger they know, even though it’s a hard thing to talk about, we need to acknowledge it and do something about it,” said Alicia Hernandez, Karen’s mom.

So far this year, Durham police have made 27 human trafficking arrests, resulting in over 160 charges — almost as many as in all of 2018. At this point last year, 11 arrests and 53 charges had been laid.

“I think that’s a credit to our awareness to the public as well as victim services getting out to the high schools, getting out to parents and at-risk youth and actually speaking to them about the problem,” said Det. Dave Davies of the Durham Regional Police Service Human Trafficking Unit

“We have actually been evaluating how much people know about consent and we want to make sure of that to enhance their understanding so that they are fully engaged,” said Carly Kalish of Victim Services of Durham Region.

Funded by Justice Canada, Victim Services hopes to make this an annual event. It’s designed to help end the supply because if young people say no, there’s no market for human trafficking.

As for Church, she hopes her message spreads to more than just this group.

“I want them to know that they’re not alone and I want them to know that there is supports out there if this is happening to them,” said Church.