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Far from just a Third World problem, human trafficking has hit close to home for Langley families MIRANDA GATHERCOLE
Times Reporter
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Human trafficking is thought of as something that happens only in the world’s poorest countries, but as one Langley mother’s story shows, it’s a serious threat to Canadian youth as well. Miranda GATHERCOLE/ Langley Times
ris started to suspect that her daughter was getting into trouble when she was in Grade 9. Shelby, a straight A and B student at Langley Fine Arts School was suddenly failing her classes, skipping school and hanging out with the wrong crowd. She then began to run away from home to escape the rules of her parents, and would disappear for days at a time. But it wasn’t until a year later when Kris (not her real name) saw the ads on Craigslist that she was forced to admit the truth. Her daughter, age 15, was a victim of human trafficking. Drug-addicted and living on the streets of Surrey, Shelby (whose name has also been changed for her safety) was being forced, through organized crime, to prostitute herself to feed her habit and stay alive. “I realized what she was doing when I found the ads on Craigslist,” Kris said. “Before that we were wondering, because how does a 14-year-old survive on the streets? You hear of kids hopping from friend’s house to friend’s house on the couch, so I thought ‘she has lots of friends, she must be managing.’ But then when you see those ads, it’s in your face. There’s nothing you can do but admit how she is getting by.” Shelby is one of four kids adopted and fostered by Kris. Her birth mom was addicted to hard drugs during her pregnancy. The doctors made it clear that Shelby must never experiment with drugs because she had a high risk of becoming addicted. “She was doing great at the beginning of her Grade 9 year — playing three instruments at the fine arts school, getting A’s and B’s, and doing very well. Then she went and hooked up with the wrong kids, they lured her into experimenting with drugs, and misbehaviour and teenage rottenness,” Kris explained. Each time Shelby ran away, Kris filed a missing person’s report with the RCMP. On one occasion,
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Shelby called and left a cell phone number. Kris Googled the number, looking for an address, but all that popped up were Craigslist ads with nude photos and price lists. “I think in the beginning it really was just regular teenage acting out, trying to find where she fits in the world. But then there are these predators out there willing to take advantage of these girls. She’d take off and sit on the streets with no money, no ID, no nothing, but they don’t care. And it’s all based on deception. In the ads it would say she was 19. She was only 15. These guys are just sick,” Kris said. According to RCMP, 800 to 1,200 people are trafficked in Canada annually. Internationally, that number jumps to and 800,000. This isn’t something that just happens in third world countries. This happens in our own backyards, says Langley resident Tara Teng, Miss Canada 2011 and an international speaker on human trafficking and exploitation. “We know that it happens in Thailand. We know that it happens in the Ivory Coast. But here in Langley? It doesn’t connect with what we think and the images that we see,” she said. “I go and speak at schools all the time and I can’t even count how many times a student will stay behind and linger till the end. She waits until all of her classmates leave, waits until her teachers leave, and then she will come up to me with a trembling voice and tears in her eyes saying ‘this happened to me, but I didn’t know what it was called.’ “To them it’s not ‘oh this is human trafficking’ or ‘oh this is forced prostitution.’ They don’t necessarily know the names for these things and because of that they don’t know how to reach out and get help.” The average age of entry into prostitution in Canada is 14 years of age, but kids as young as 11 and 12 are targeted for grooming. “It almost always starts with a young girl meeting a guy. And we think he’s this dark, brooding, Mafia-type guy but they don’t look like that. This is a nice, charming, handsome young man who is fun. She starts to get isolated from her family, from her friends and from her support network that really cares about her,” Teng said. The story tends to be the same, she said. continued, PAGE 12
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