Belleville identified as departure point in national sex trafficking report

A new report into sex trafficking in Canada contains a shocking revelation: Belleville is one of the main departing points for victims who are herded to western Canada and Edmonton.

The 30-page, exhaustive investigative report, commissioned by Thomson Reuters news agency and the Globe and Mail, provides new insight into the fate of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and the connection to Belleville.

City police are aware of the sex trafficking in their backyard.

“Belleville police recognizes that, as a community located along one of Ontario’s busiest transportation corridors, our region can be impacted by crimes that cross municipal and provincial boundaries, including human and sex trafficking,” said Belleville police communications co-ordinator Lauren Wilkinson, in response to a Quinteist email asking for comment on the Belleville connection to the sex trafficking trade.

“The Belleville to Edmonton route referenced in the article is one of several transportation corridors identified through data analysis.”

Indeed, the report found that Ontario and Quebec are key areas victims originate from, often those in poverty, are homeless and/or who are addicted to drugs, on their way west.

According to the report, the main corridor is Toronto to Vancouver, followed by Edmonton to Fort McMurray, Alta., and Calgary to Edmonton, then the Belleville to Edmonton route.

The report reviewed thousands of online sex advertisements over the past 10 years, particularly those ads that offered Indigenous women or girls. The customers are often men who are doing work, such as in the oil fields of Fort McMurray, and are away from home.

Meanwhile a national inquiry into the number of missing and murdered Indigenous was estimated at 4,000 as of 2019, according to the report.

“The Belleville Police Service remains committed to identifying victims, holding offenders accountable, and working with provincial, national, and community partners to address human and sex trafficking,” Wilkinson said. “While we cannot comment on specific ongoing investigations, all reports are assessed and investigated appropriately.”

The proximity of the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory to Belleville would seem to factor into the local situation.
Neither Chief R. Don Maracle or acting Tyendinaga Police Chief Nathan Leland could be reached for comment by press time.