Part 1: Hundreds gather in Peel, the heart of Ontario’s human trafficking network, to hunt for answers

I listen to the murmur of voices as people file into the Information Centre at the University of Toronto Mississauga campus. The conference, the first of its kind, is looking to frame the issue of human trafficking through the lens of public health. Family Services of Peel, the host of the conference, wants the issue declared a public health crisis in the region. 

A quick look at the statistics explains why. 

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I spent the past few days with hundreds of stakeholders, experts, survivors and policy makers during a Global Conference on Human Trafficking and Trauma. This is the first of a three-part series I put together out of the two days of reporting.

Often lost in statistics, arrest reports and confusion about the nature of sex trafficking is the very real and human story of a level of violence and suffering – sexual, physical, psychological — that a seasoned researcher tells a packed conference room “has touched my heart so deeply.”

I also designed the graphics to go along with this series.

Published on July 2, 2019 in The Pointer - Brampton