‘Modern day slavery’ happening locally: MPP
A round-table discussion to raise awareness about human trafficking is going to be held at The Venue on Monday.
Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes Brock MPP Laurie Scott, the Ontario Progressive Conservative critic for women’s issues, is hosting the event.
She has also hosted a similar awareness day in Lindsay, because she says human trafficking is a local problem.
“It is modern-day slavery – and it’s happening right here in Peterborough and in Lindsay,” she said.
The event takes place Monday at The Venue on George St.
It’s going to feature Simone Bell, an Ottawa woman who was trafficked in her early 20s. She now works with police and health care workers to save girls and young women.
Bell will be joined by members of Peterborough County OPP as well as Victim Services of Peterborough Northumberland.
From 1 until 4 p.m., there will be a session for people who work to try to rescue girls and women who are being trafficked.
Then from 7 to 9 p.m., there will be another session for the general public. It will be free and Bell will speak for 60 minutes.
She will tell her story, which starts when she was 21 and began dating a man who trafficked her for four years until she escaped.
Scott says that’s often how it works: girls and young women are lured, sometimes online, and then are manipulated and coerced into sex slavery.
It’s happening in cities, towns and suburbs across Ontario, she said.
“We can’t ignore it anymore,” Scott said. “The average age of these girls is 14 ... It is child abuse.”
Scott has been working to curb human trafficking for several years, and recently reached a major goal.
Her private member’s bill received Royal Assent in May. That means her bill – called Saving The Girl Next Door – is about to become law.
It is expected to proclaim a day of awareness of human trafficking in Ontario.
It will also make it possible for a protection order to be taken out directly against the trafficker, similar to a restraining order, which would keep the perpetrator away from the survivor.
It also creates a new tort or civil action, making it possible for the survivor to sue their trafficker for damages.
“It’s a big victory,” she said of her bill achieving Royal Assent. “Now we have people talking.”