Krystal Snider sees many types of sex workers in her day-to-day crusade to help protect Niagara women from human trafficking.
“I have met lots of women who love what they do,” the program manager of the St. Catharines YWCA told ThoroldNews. “They are empowered by it.”
In her role training professionals across Canada how to help women who are trafficked, “I talk about sex work on a spectrum,” she explained, “from those who love what they do, then those who are engaged in sex work for survival, or trying to pay their way through school (though given other opportunities, they would not engage in that), and then there are the trafficked workers. If you have been trafficked, you have been raped.”
Vulnerable teens and women are targeted and “groomed” by human traffickers to make them rich in Niagara’s flourishing sex trade.
"It’s pitched as the fastest-growing crime, but I don’t buy that," said Snider. "It’s been around forever. Lots of people make money from it. The impact is far more reaching than you’d think.”
If a woman is involved in trafficking other women, “she is usually being trafficked herself,” she explained. “If you bring girls in, you may not have to have sex yourself.”
Snider has learned to shift her mindset from “saving” to supporting trafficked sex workers.
“A big part of my training has been” the realization that “you can’t save anybody. It’s very layered, and complex. There’s no simple solution to such a complex problem. Often, the (trafficked) women get pregnant and have addictions issues so they have visitation problems” with their children. Meanwhile, “the traffickers still have visitation rights.”
She said she's "excited" to join forces with the dedicated Human Trafficking Unit created recently by the Niagara Regional Police Service. According to NRP Staff Sergeant Paul Koscinski, of the Special Victims Unit, the new unit “is a change to how the Service responds to the investigation of human trafficking.”
The unit will be made up of two investigators working out of the Special Victims area, he explained, with a mandate of directly focusing on investigating human trafficking offences—the difference being that up until the creation of a dedicated unit, human trafficking offences have been assigned to investigators who were also responsible for the investigation of other offences.
“This change will allow us to enhance investigative outcomes for victims/survivors of human trafficking and to improve engagement with our community partners.”
“I think with the (new) unit,” said Snider, “we will continue to highlight trafficked individuals and see increases in charges laid and people who are matched with supports right away. Studies show that it takes seven or eight times to exit (the sex trade) successfully.”
“We in Ontario charge more women than in other provinces,” she continued. “They did a sweep in 2016 and charged a bunch of women with sex work. Sometimes they can make it safer for the women with increased police presence and sometimes it can drive them farther underground."
Snider said prior to being hired by the YWCA nine years ago, she worked at the Sexual Assault Centre, “so I’ve always done this type of work. At the YWCA, we’ve seen a drastic increase in women fleeing trafficking and seeking shelter. This could be a result of the fact that folks know we have shelter, but I’m concerned at some point, we may run out” of room, she said, adding that a safe house is needed.
The YWCA “is not funded to do any human trafficking,” she stated. “It’s sort of my side full-time job. I’m a program manager, and under my portfolio is shelter for chronic or episodically homeless people and skills development, which includes employment and addictions counselling,” among other services.
“Most things come down to resources. I feel really positive about the way Niagara is responding to the issue (of trafficking). I don’t know if other places are as collaborative as Niagara.”
Six Niagara municipalities passed bylaws to commit funding for training in human trafficking recently, with Thorold contributing $5,000 to train its fire department. “Welland has expressed interest and Port Colborne, which has some of the highest (trafficking) numbers, may be coming on board,” said Snider.
Shortly after being trained, Thorold firefighters identified a case of trafficking.
“We get really positive feedback from the firefighters,” who Snider believes “are less intimidating than police, so they are in a good position for prevention.”
Intervention includes asking, “Does this person want to leave?” and “Where can they go?”
Upon discovery of trafficking, firefighters contact Victims Services Niagara.
“They have great volunteers that operate 24 hours and practical funding for immediate needs for these folks,” said Snider, “and they can bring them to shelter. It would be great to get EMS involved, and to have an action plan that works nationally. Hotels and motels may get training in preventing trafficking" as well.
Selling sex is illegal for people aged 18 and younger, she noted. “Age 16-plus you can consent to have sex with anyone you want.”
Koscinski reported that “Two additional school resource officers will work in our Community Engagement Unit and support our successful program that is already operating in the area high schools. Officers work with school administrative staff and to create positive relationships with the youth and to support resolving issues as they arise.”
While these measures will help, Snider feels “We can do all the reactive stuff and bring preventative information into the schools but if we don’t fix women’s inequities, trafficking will always be a necessity,” for some women, many of whom have been abused, are disabled, Indigenous, women of colour, or from the LGBTQ community. “Until those barriers have been lifted,” trafficking will continue, she stated.
Awareness of trafficking is key to prevention, said Snider, who assisted in developing a training program in Moncton last fall, and has done presentations at Brock and McMaster University campuses.
“We have survivors who come speak about their stories. Sometimes it’s healing to tell their stories."
YWCA Canada is a national movement, she continued. “There’s a national hotline to call, but we need a standardized protocol because this is a crime that goes across the country.”
Two new officers will be “dedicated to foot patrol in St. Catharines,” said Koscinski. “This initiative goes to the core of community policing. Our officers will be present, visible and approachable to members of the community. They will be able to speak, hear about, and address issues in the downtown.”
The NRP has also added two investigator positions in the Niagara Sexual Assault Unit.
According to Koscinski, “This was done in an effort to address the workload represented by increasing complexities of criminal investigations from the initial call to the police to assisting the Crown Attorney's Office with prosecution, and in rare instances Dangerous Offender applications, which go well beyond the traditional investigative process and can be very lengthy and time-consuming. It has for some time been our experience that investigative and court processes have become more complicated, and unlike the prioritization of investigations as they are reported, investigators may only be assigned to one trial process at a time and because of preparatory commitments and time spent in court are otherwise unavailable.”
“Trafficking is absolutely a big problem," Snider concluded, " but there are still lots of good people and good things happening in the world.”
She can be reached at 905-988-3528, ext. 3237.
Human trafficking resources are posted online at www.kristenfrenchcacn.org
