Hotline launches to help end human trafficking

Multilingual phone line helps victims and enables reporting of crimes

A NATIONAL CHARITY has launched the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-833-900-1010 (www.CanadianHumanTraffickingHotline.ca). The hotline has French and English receptionists as well as confidential translators in 200 languages. It is operational 24/7, 365 days a year.

“This hotline will provide critical resources to victims and survivors, and will help law enforcement dismantle human trafficking networks across the country,” says Barbara Gosse, CEO of The Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking.

“People find it hard to believe, but human trafficking is a real threat to vulnerable individuals across this country,” says Gosse. “Law enforcement officials and survivors tell us that the statistics grossly underestimate the number of individuals, many of them children, trapped by this human rights abuse. We all have a moral and an ethical obligation to make a positive difference, and the hotline is a vital step in this process.”

People can contact the hotline “if they are victims or survivors of forced prostitution or forced labour, think they might be or think someone else might be,” according to its website. The hotline will also field tips, answer questions and forward information, when appropriate, to law enforcement. “The EFC commends the Centre for their tireless work in launching the hotline,” says Julia Beazley, director, public policy of The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. “It will be an invaluable tool in connecting victims with services across the country. It’s also a valuable tool for concerned Canadians to alert authorities to situations that look suspicious.”