Fact: Traffickers will also use manipulation, threats, and other types of abuse to control the survivor and force them to stay in the trafficking situation.
Fact: Many traffickers are known to survivors. They may be romantic partner, family or friends. Exploitation can begin through relationships with people the survivor thought they could trust, making it harder to recognize it and get help.
Fact: Sex trafficking is one form of human trafficking but there are other forms including labour trafficking, and forced marriage.
Fact: Survivors do not owe anyone the details of their experience and should never be pressured to share. Everyone’s healing process is unique.
Fact: Healing from trauma is not linear. It is an ongoing journey with good and bad days, where each survivor has their own rhythm and process for healing.
Fact: Survivors are not defined by their experiences. They are multidimensional individuals with their own strengths, identities and experiences beyond trafficking.
Fact: Human trafficking affects people of all genders, including men and 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals.
Fact: Human trafficking occurs across Canada in both urban and rural communities.
Fact: Some survivors may use substances as a coping mechanism or may have begun using while being trafficked. Harm-reduction has been found helpful to create a safer environment for people who engage in substance use along with providing non-judgmental support.
Fact: A slip is not the same as a relapse. Recovery and healing is not all-or-nothing experience, and experiencing a hard day does not mean a survivor has failed.
Fact: Getting medication prescribed for mental health issues or accessing counselling can be helpful for many survivors. Looking for help is a sign of strength and each individual is different in what works for their healing.
Fact: Leaving a trafficking situation is more complicated as survivors can face different barriers to leaving. They may fear for their safety, lack access to basic needs like housing or food, they may feel a sense of shame and guilt, or be manipulated in other ways into staying.
Exiting a Trafficking Situation #
Traffickers use different tactics for control and manipulation such as isolation, making the survivor depend on the trafficker, abuse, including emotional, psychological, financial, and physical. They create a situation where the survivor may feel attached or a sense of bond with their trafficker, despite the violence. Survivors are often left feeling powerless, under their trafficker’s control and unsure of how to leave or who to go to.
Survivors also experience personal, systemic, and social barriers to exiting a trafficking situation. Personal barriers to exiting include feelings of shame, stigma, trauma, mental health and substance use issues, and lack of awareness of supports available to them. Systemic barriers include poverty, lack of affordable housing, having a criminal record, navigating systems that are often not equipped to help survivors of human trafficking or are not trauma-informed and cause more harm, and discrimination from service providers.
Society can also create barriers by discriminating against survivors and lacking understanding on human trafficking. Survivors may also no longer have contact with or have bad relationships with their support networks and family because of their traffickers isolating them. This can be another barrier for them to exit as they may feel that their families and friends will not be there to help. Traffickers are aware of the barriers survivors face and will use these as exploitation and control tactics (Centre to End Human Trafficking, 2021, p. 37-40).