Sault Ste. Marie airport staff training to spot signs of human trafficking

The Sault Ste. Marie Airport has joined a list of airports throughout the country that offer training to staff to help them recognize signs of human trafficking.

The Sault airport has partnered with an organization called Not In My City, which aims to raise awareness about human trafficking, and helps people prevent the crime.

A report from the federal department released in 2021 showed a growing increase in police-reported incidents between 2009 and 2019. Police reported 511 incidents of human trafficking in 2019. And that number represents only the cases police knew about.

Country music star Paul Brandt, founder of Not in My City, said airports are an important place on which to focus, as over the years they have become integral parts of transportation corridors.

There are a number of signs that employees – and the general public – can look out for, Brandt said.

“Those signs in airports a lot of times end up looking like a person who is travelling without documents, and someone else is controlling their documents,” Brandt said.

“Maybe they're travelling without any baggage at all. Or there seems to be a person who's with them all the time who doesn't let them answer for themselves if they're asked a question.”

The feedback from both airports and people has been positive, so far.

“We're actually hearing from survivors that are talking to us about how important programs like this are and how it could have helped them when they were in the same situation,” Brandt said.

Terry Bos, president and CEO of the Sault Ste. Marie Airport Development Corporation, said he hopes the training will be helpful for his frontline staff.

“If we can even stop one person from having to go through [trafficking,] it'll be a success,” Bos said.

Bos said after seeing presentations about human trafficking, and hearing from other airports about strategies to help curb the crime, he was motivated to provide the training program for staff.

“Whether that's the airline counters, our security staff, car rentals. Anybody that works in the terminal,” Bos said.

“Certainly we plan to make [training] available to all our staff,” Bos said. “The more people that are aware of what to look for, it can only be better for airport and for the safety of all people.”

“It's scary what is happening out there. And if we can help stop it, certainly we're going to do everything we can to help to stop this.”

Certainly we're going to do everything we can to help to stop this.– Terry Bos

Bos said until now, there hasn't been specific training for airport staff focused on human trafficking.

As part of the partnership, there are also now signs at the airport, sharing information with the public.

Sault Ste. Marie is the eighth airport in Canada to partner with the group Not In My City to provide the training, and the first in northern Ontario.

Lincoln Louttit, manager of corporate communications with the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service, said the social media movement – #notinmytown has become the program's tag line – has also helped create awareness around human trafficking.

“It's all about proactive public education, public awareness, showing people what some of the warning signs may be of someone who is a victim of human trafficking,” Louttit said, noting that it's important to create an atmosphere that's comfortable to report these types of crimes.

“These types of investigations are very sensitive and victim-oriented and obviously we need the cooperation of victims and witnesses in order to have successful investigations,” he said.

“So it can be very challenging to identify evidence and witnesses when it comes to these cases.”