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ry much not the norm ... most of
the time it was a process of psy-
chological manipulation and co-
ercion,” Dr. Noble said.
That’s why the initial interac-
tion between a victim trying to es-
cape and an authority figure such
as a police officer or medical staff
is “crucial,” the report said.
“During this contact, they have
a unique opportunity to inter-
vene, develop a relationship, and
provide referrals or support,” it
noted, adding that out of mistrust
of authorities or fear of the traf-
ficker’s retribution, victims are of-
ten reluctant to say anything.
Some who were interviewed
said they felt the police were non-
responsive or judgmental, leav-
ing them feeling betrayed. One
survivor told the researchers she
was hesitant to turn to police after
an experience she had with them.
“I was raped in my apartment
and it was because I would not ac-
cept this guy as a client. Did I call
the cops? Nope, because I know
what would have happened: ‘AreIt often takes years for women
and girls who have been sex traf-
ficked in Canada to escape their
traffickers due to psychological
manipulation, violence and at
times a lack of faith in police and
the justice system, new research
shows.
In many cases, it will take a
traumatic event – such as having a
friend murdered.
The findings are part of a na-
tional research project supported
by a team at Covenant House, the
country’s largest organization
helping homeless, trafficked or
vulnerable young people. Re-
searchers conducted interviews
in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto,
Niagara Falls, Thunder Bay, Mon-
treal, Halifax and St. John’s with
201 people who support survivors
and 50 individuals who have been
sex trafficked.
The study found that most vic-
tims are sex trafficked domesti-
cally. In Montreal, participants
said victims were often moved to
other parts of the country, where
Quebec culture is considered “ex-
otic.” Others were moved to towns
and cities with industries such as
oil, fishing or tourism.
Some survivors reported being
physically detained and threat-
ened with physical violence, said
Amanda Noble, the head re-
searcher at Covenant House and
an assistant professor at the Uni-
versity of Toronto. But most often
it was psychological manipula-
tion that kept them from fleeing.
“There was one survivor that I
interviewed that was chained in a
basement. Others were kept in
rooms or houses, but that was ve-
you sure you were raped? Are you
sure it wasn’t a client that just
didn’t pay you?’ ”
The report said encounters
with police tended to improve
when there was a unit dedicated
to sex trafficking or when officers
had received special training.
Other recommendations include
having specialized Crown attor-
neys and judges preside over sex-
trafficking cases; adding lessons
about the dangers of sex traffick-
ing to school curriculums; and
improving training for health-
care providers to recognize the
signs of it.
The study has helped inspire a
new awareness campaign called
“Shoppable Girls.”
“We are attempting to mirror
the notion that the traffickers re-
ally just view these young wom-
en, daughters, sisters, as shoppa-
ble, buyable things,” said Julie
Neubauer, the manager of Cov-
enant House’s anti-human traf-
ficking team. “People often talk
about how sex trafficking is underour noses...Iwanttobring it
where it actually is, which is right
in front of our faces.”
The campaign includes the sto-
ry of a survivor who is sharing her
experience publicly for the first
time.
The 26-year-old said she had
just begun university in Toronto,
her mental health deteriorating,
when she first engaged in sex
work. She was out walking when a
car started following her. A man
propositioned her, and not want-
ing him to follow her to her resi-
dence, she gave in.
“That resulted in sex work be-
coming kind of this very infre-
quent alternative form of self-
harm for me, as a way of coping
with everything else I was experi-
encing,” she said.
It was also how she met her
trafficker. One night, a man sug-
gested they work together and
split the proceeds. Feeling “numb
and apathetic,” she agreed.
The relationship quickly grew
violent. He would choke her, slap
her and slam her head if she dis-
obeyed him. After about two
years of trafficking her, he raped
her.
The next day, after meeting
with her psychiatrist, she was ad-
mitted to a psychiatric hospital.
After asking them for help, her
doctors and family made a plan,
and she told the police. Her traf-
ficker faced numerous charges,
including exercising control over
her for the purpose of exploita-
tion, receiving material benefit
from her exploitation and sexual
assault. After a two-year court
process, he was acquitted of all
charges.
“It’s extremely upsetting and
definitely has taken a lot of work
on my part to start to be okay with
that. I’m not always okay with it,”
she said.
Since escaping her trafficker,
she has returned to university.
She said she hopes other victims
speak up.
“I stayed silent. I didn’t say any-
thing when it was happening to
me. It really took an effort of a lot
of other people to get me out of
what I was experiencing.”Escapingsextraffickingcantakeyears,studyshows
"ewresearch{indsmost
victimsaretra{{iced
domesticallyand
arecontrolledmainly
throughpsychological
manipulationrather
thanphysicalviolence
JANICEDICKSONOTTAWA
AmandaNoble,left,CovenantHouse’sheadresearcher,andJulieNeubauer,manageroftheanti-human
traffickingteamatCovenantHouse,areseeninTorontoonFeb.11.CovenantHouseisCanada’slargest
organizationhelpinghomeless,traffickedorvulnerableyoungpeople.GALITRODAN/THEGLOBEANDMAILPeopleoftentalk
abouthowsex
traffickingisunder
ournoses...
Iwanttobringit
whereitactually
is,whichisright
infrontofourfaces.JULIENEUBAUER
MANAGEROFCOVENANT
HOUSE’SANTI-HUMAN
TRAFFICKINGTEAMHowever, CN says layoffs are im-
minent at companies across the
Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario
unless the track reopens.
“We’re in Day 11 and this has
been long enough now. We hope
the federalgovernment and the
OPP intensify their negotiations
to bring this blockade to an end
in a forthwith fashion,” said Sean
Finn, CN’s senior vice-president
and chief legal officer.
There’s growing frustration at
the railway as nearly $350-mil-
lion worth of freight is being
blocked daily on the company’s
tracks. Along with shutting down
the entire CN network across
Eastern Canada, Via Rail has can-
celled nearly all its trips until
Wednesday. The passenger ser-
vice says nearly 94,000 tickets
have been annulled.
CN has warned that chemicals
for water treatment plants, crude
oil, perishable food, jet fuel and
the cornucopia of Canadian man-
ufacturing is stalled on rail sid-
ings across the country.
“There’s a right in Canada to
protest, but we don’t think that
right extends to shutting down
the backbone of the Canadian
economy,” Mr. Finn said. After
the protests end, he added, it
could take up to a month to re-
store full service.
After the emergency cabinet
session in Ottawa, where most of
the senior ministers in Mr. Tru-
deau’s government were present,
attention shifted to the West
Coast. Carolyn Bennett, the fed-
eral Minister of Crown-Indige-
nous Relations, and her B.C.
counterpart, Scott Fraser, met in
Victoria and the two agreed to
asking for a joint meeting with
the Wet’suwet’en hereditary
chiefs to discuss their concerns.
“We agree that dialogue is the
best and preferred way to deal
with these issues,” the ministers
said in a joint statement. “We ac-
knowledge that this is a difficult
time for Indigenous and non-In-
digenous peoples and are deter-
mined to work with all our part-
ners to find the solutions.”
At the blockade near Tyendi-naga, demonstrators emerged
from one of their camps along
the CN line near Belleville, Ont.,
Monday afternoon to briefly
speak to media. They declined to
comment on Mr. Trudeau’s meet-
ing or any other issues, except to
reiterate they were both protest-
ing against Canada’s historical
mistreatment of First Nations
and that they wanted to preserve
nature for future generations.
Chief Donald Maracle of the
Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte
said, as he had last week, that the
protesters were acting on their
own and spoke for themselves.
He said in a telephone interview
that he was waiting for news
from the federal government, as
well as from Wet’suwet’en hered-
itary chiefs, to understand how
all parties could come to a resolu-
tion.
Supporters continued to drop
by the Tyendinaga’s main camp
Monday, delivering everything
from coffee to a fresh pot of ham-
burger soup. The visitors includ-
ed a family of Mohawk descent
who, like the demonstrators,sought action on Indigenous
rights and environmental protec-
tions. “We’re young people and
it’s our future. Everything that’s
happening – we’re the ones who
will end up dying,” Jayden Per-
saud said.
Angela Lammes, who lives
nearby in Milford, said she came
to support her neighbours.
“We totally agree with what
they’re doing,” she said, holding a
sign that read “We Are All Fam-
ily.” “Canada’s got to get behind
them and support them,” Ms.
Lammes continued.
OPP officers hung back several
hundred metres from the camp
near a main road, stopping by the
camp twice, briefly, which they
said was to check on safety. “Ev-
erything is still peaceful,” OPP
spokeswoman Sergeant Cynthia
Savard said.
Elsewhere in Ontario, protes-
ters had blocked the Thousand
Islands Bridge for several hours
midday Monday, blocking the
crucial U.S. border crossing. Sgt.
Savard said the bridge had reo-
pened by midafternoon.Blockade:ViaRailsaysalmost94,000ticketshavebeenannulledowingtoprotests
FROMAThere’sgrowing
frustrationatthe
railwayasnearly
$350-millionworth
offreightisbeing
blockeddailyonthe
company’stracks.
Alongwithshutting
downtheentire
CNnetworkacross
EasternCanada,
ViaRailhas
cancellednearly
allitstripsuntil
Wednesday.Mr. Harrington, who left the Pre-
mier’s Office in August and set up
a consulting company in Novem-
ber, said he is following all the
rules. He said he received clear-
ance from the Office of the Integ-
rity Commissioner to advocate on
behalf of Janssen, saying the eth-
ics watchdog has asked him to
seek guidance when taking on cli-
ents.
“I’m behaving according to the
ethical rules that are in place for
Ontario,” he said.
Duff Conacher, co-founder of
Democracy Watch, said Mr. Har-
rington’s role as a lobbyist target-
ing public office holders he re-
cently worked with is a conflict of
interest.
“It turns public policy-making,
which is supposed to be a public-
interest, merit-based process, in-
to a best-government-money-
can-buy process where influence
can be bought,” he said.
Under conflict-of-interest rules
for former ministerial staffers, Mr.
Harrington is under a 12-month
ban on lobbying Mr. Ford and staff
in the Premier’s Office. However,
he faces no restrictions for lobby-
ing Health Minister Christine El-
liott, her staff or bureaucrats in
the Ministry of Health.
Mr. Harrington’s lobbying tar-
gets are Ms. Elliott, several other
cabinet ministers and their staff,
according to Ontario’s lobbyist
registry. His goals include educat-
ing decision makers about allow-
ing Remicade to co-exist with bio-
similars “to maximize cost-effi-
ciency for taxpayers while main-
taining services and providing
optimal care for patients.”
Michelle Renaud, a spokeswo-
man for the Integrity Commis-
sioner, said the office does not
comment on individual situa-tions. But she said the Commis-
sioner has provided direction to
former Premier’s Office staffers
who became lobbyists on how to
comply with postemployment
rules, which include not seeking
preferential treatment.
Janssen declined to answer
specific questions about its lobby-
ing practices, but spokeswoman
Jennifer McCormack said in an e-
mail that when the company re-
tains third parties to interact with
the government, “those third par-
ties must adhere to our principles
of openness, transparency, hon-
esty and integrity.”
Janssen has also retained lob-
byists at Upstream Strategy
Group since the fall of 2018, in-
cluding Michael Diamond and Pa-
trick Tuns, who had senior roles in
Mr. Ford’s PC leadership bid and
the election campaign. Last sum-
mer, Janssen hired lobbyist Pa-
trick Harris of Rubicon Strategy,
who sits on the PC Party’s execu-
tive. Rubicon is led by Kory Te-
neycke, who managed the party’s
election campaign and is close to
Mr. Ford.
In addition, Ramiro Mora of
CWell Consulting registered to
lobby NDP MPPs for Janssen earli-
er this month. Mr. Mora is a for-
mer senior adviser to NDP LeaderAndrea Horwath.
Janssen is not the only drug
maker that has turned to outside
lobbyists on the biosimilar file.
Pfizer, whose biosimilar Inflectra
is an alternative to Remicade,
hired Loyalist Public Affairs be-
tween April and November. The
firm is headed by Chris Froggatt,
who was vice-chair of the PC elec-
tion campaign and a close adviser
to Mr. Ford.
The stakes are high for Janssen
because of how a new approach to
biosimilars in Ontario is likely to
affect sales of Remicade, the top-
selling drug in Canada by revenue
in 2018. Janssen, a unit of Johnson
& Johnson, sold more than $1.1-
billion worth of Remicade, while
second-place Humira, which
treats the same diseases, logged
sales of about $822-million.
Last year, B.C. and Alberta an-
nounced they would stop cover-
ing Remicade and a handful of
other original biologic drugs, forc-
ing patients withgovernment-
sponsored coverage to switch to
biosimilars.
Biosimilarsare almost like ge-
nerics – less-expensive versions
of original biologics whose pat-
ents have expired. Health Canada
and drug regulators around the
world say biosimilars are as safeand effective as the drugs they
mimic.
Ontario’s Ministry of Health
began consulting on a new biosi-
milar policy in November, and of-
ficials have so far met with more
than 60 stakeholders, a spokes-
man said.
Enforcing wider use of biosimi-
lars could save a lot of money for
the Ontario government, which
spent $1.1-billion on biologic
medications in 2018, almost three
times the $359.9-million it spent
in 2010.
A recent study by the Ontario
Drug Policy Research Network
found that of 3,905 patients tak-
ing provincially funded inflixi-
mab – another name for Remi-
cade – in the second quarter of
last year, only 539, or 13.8 per cent,
were taking a biosimilar version –
despite the fact Pfizer’s Inflectra
and Merck’s Renflexis were sell-
ing for list prices of $525 and $
a vial, roughly half Remicade’s
$987 list price. (List prices do not
reflect the secret discounts that
are now commonplace in the
pharmaceutical industry.)
Janssen has said repeatedly
that it would be willing to lower
Remicade’s priceforgovernment
payers, but only on a confidential
basis.Lobbyist:EnforcingwideruseofbiosimilarscouldsaveOntarioalotofmoney
FROMA