Public Safety Canada releases awareness campaign around human trafficking

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on February 27, 2025.

A public awareness campaign has been launched by Public Safety Canada titled “Human trafficking isn’t what you think,” highlighting various forms of the problem and sharing tools for potential victims.

According to Public Safety Canada, the act of human trafficking involves recruiting, moving, or holding victims to exploit them for profits. This is usually for sexual reasons or forced labour.

“Traffickers can control and pressure victims by force or through threats, including mental and emotional abuse and manipulation,” states PSC.

A short online video with only soft piano music and visuals depicts a male slowly grooming a female throughout their relationship only to sell her to an unknown person. The video has no verbal audio but ends with this statistic, “Almost 1/3 of victims in Canada were trafficked by a current or former intimate partner.”

The online awareness campaign also shares information on how traffickers control their victims and how to identify potential warning signs as well as why some people are at higher risk than others.

Include several online resources as well as get help now tab for anyone who is, or knows a victim or survivor of sex or labouring trafficking.

For more information you can visit publicsafety.gc.ca and click the “News” tab.