239 charges laid against 28 people in Ontario human trafficking cases | Toronto Sun

The statistics were released on national Human Trafficking Awareness Day on Wednesday by the IFJS which sees 21 police services from around the province, including Toronto, join forces to tackle human trafficking.

Of the 239 charges, 72 were for human trafficking and 167 were additional charges.

Det. Insp. Jordan Whitesell, who is the Ontario Provincial Police IJFS lead, acknowledges these charges are “a drop in the bucket, it is just the tip of the iceberg” when it comes to the widespread problem with Ontario accounting for 60% of human trafficking cases in Canada.

“That's a key part of the crime – it thrives in the darkness and it's very difficult for an average person to detect,” said Whitesell.

“Some of the things that I might (suggest as indicators of trafficking) is somebody travelling with a lack of or limited luggage. Not having possession of their own identification or money. The person might seem afraid or anxious. Another person might be controlling the individual's conversation. Physically, often, there's signs of trauma, and fatigue are on the victim's face.”

Other IFJS stats include conducting 65 investigations with the victims ranging in age from 12 to 47-years-old and the accused ranged from 18 to 44-years-old.

“Human trafficking victims span all walks of life and multiple ages,” said Whitesell.

“You know often will think of human trafficking in the context of sexual exploiting trafficking but we also have labour trafficking so modern day slavery where someone is working off a debt bond.”

According to 2021 Stats Can numbers the median length of time to complete a human trafficking case is 382 days.

All victims were provided services and support through the OPP IJFS Victim Specialist or local victim services and Whitesell says they don't have to go through criminal investigations and or prosecutions if they don't want to.

“We can be a conduit to put them in touch with victim support, in the event that they don't wish to proceed with a criminal prosecution,” he said. “We can just be a conduit to help them get out of the life.”

Whitesell says if you or someone you know is being trafficked, call the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking's national hotline which is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 1-833-900-1010.

There's also resources available for victims and survivors of human trafficking at canadiancentretoendhumantrafficking.ca.