Saskatchewan RCMP seeks help from public to address human trafficking

It has been almost a full week since human trafficking charges were laid against two men in rural Saskatchewan and many are still asking how something like that could happen.

The alleged incident was said to involve restaurants in Tisdale and Elrose and involved a woman from Bangladesh who was forced to work 10 to 12 hours a day in several restaurants. She stayed in a dark, wet concrete basement when she wasn’t working.

In the days following the announcement from police, people in the province have learned that while these incidents aren’t common, they can happen.

Supt. Glenn Church, the officer in charge of the RCMP’s Saskatchewan Enforcement Response Team, told Gormley the best way police can track these cases is typically from tips given by the community.

“I think that citizens know their communities better than anyone else and they know the people that they’re hanging out with,” Church said Tuesday. “I believe that if you see anything or hear anything out of the ordinary, that’s probably an indicator that something might be (up).

“The best way is to do a little question-asking yourself and if you truly believe someone might be trafficked, you should reach out to your local police agency.”

With those tips, Church says police are able to get their investigation off the ground and piece things together.

Church noted those types of incidents differ on a case-by-case basis, but he notes there are some groups who are more vulnerable to fall victim to these types of things.

“We’ve seen circumstances such as this particular case across Canada and the United States already as well,” he explained.

“Oftentimes — and it’s very unfortunate — what we see is people trying to get to Canada (and) use legitimate immigration tools looking to get to Canada and then when they arrive, they’re exploited on their arrival either by those claiming to provide them work or those that supported their arrival in Canada.”

He notes that children, women, new Canadians and Indigenous women are all vulnerable to these types of situations.

Church noted that there has been an increase in human trafficking and that more resources are starting to be put towards it.

“We’re just starting to learn more about human trafficking as the prevalence increases. As an intelligence community in the province – ourselves, the RCMP and the province – we’re starting to focus some of our priorities and resources more specifically on human trafficking,” Church stated.

“What our intelligence is saying is we’re seeing a lot more on the sex trafficking and labour trafficking side in Canada and in Saskatchewan.”

Church added police are still trying to learn why human trafficking is on the rise.