'Local youth are being involved and targeted': Perth County OPP to host anti-human trafficking event

The Perth County Ontario Provincial Police and the Avon Maitland District School Board will hold a free community event at Mitchell District High School Tuesday evening to address human trafficking.

Open to all, the event will feature guest speakers Melanie Knights, the executive director of Bridging Gaps Anti-Human Trafficking, who will share her lived experience, and OPP Detective Sergeant Ashely Horton, who will discuss warning signs, risk factors and local trends.

“Across Ontario, an increasing number of victims are being recruited for the purposes of sexual and labour exploitation,” a media release read in part. “Throughout Ontario, police are seeing an increase in traffickers who are recruiting potential victims from small towns and transporting them using major highways to various destinations. Human Trafficking victims are often extremely vulnerable and rarely identify themselves or their trafficking situation to police or authorities.”

Community support organizations, including Victim Services Huron Perth and Optimism Place, will provide resources on-site.

Organizers hope the event will highlight the growing threat of human trafficking in Ontario’s small towns, where they say youth are increasingly at risk.

“What was once seen as a 'big city problem' is now common across Ontario, and Canada,” the release read. “Local youth are involved and are being targeted. Parents, guardians, coaches, teachers, and anyone with young people in their lives need to know warning signs, and what you can do about it.”

Doors open at 5:30 p.m.; the event runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.