Human trafficking has been an ongoing issue in the City of Toronto and the Malvern area of Scarborough in particular, but now Toronto police officers are being recognized for their efforts in tackling this scourge.
Four Toronto Police officers were recently recognized with Heroes Beyond the Badge Awards for their efforts in empowering young women to resist becoming victims of human trafficking.
Constables Jessie Oldfield, Kathleen Petersen, Melinda Mantle and Claudia Bednarczyk were presented with awards at a ceremony on July 16. The officers were recognized for their role in organizing and expanding the Young Women Empowerment Workshop.
This year’s workshop took place over three days in May at the Toronto Zoo and helped 109 youth participants learn about healthy relationships, how to recognize human trafficking, promote their own self-worth, make their own choices, and speak up for themselves and others.
Six years ago Constable Mantle heard rumours in the Malvern community about girls being groomed as sex workers. Alongside Constable Peterson and community partners she decided to approach girls in the community directly to educate them about the issue so they could protect themselves.
Today their work has expanded to include many community partners and social service agencies who work together to deliver online and in-person education sessions for youth, parents, community workers and educators.
Despite these ongoing efforts, the trafficking of teenage girls in Toronto continues to be a problem. In August, Toronto Police announced the arrest of two people on charges relating to human trafficking.
It’s alleged that Tyrique Harmer, 22 of Hamilton and Maria Toth-Taddeo, 21 of Toronto used a “combination of deception, coercion and control” to traffic a 14 year old girl and a 17 year old girl. The teens were transported by the accused to different hotels to meet clients for sexual services. The accused created and administered on-line ads for sexual services for the girls and took all the money they earned.
According to the Government of Ontario, the average age of recruitment into sex trafficking is 13 years old and approximately 58% of police-reported human trafficking cases in Canada occur in Ontario.
