Western Standard - July 29, 2023


Human trafficking survivor April Eve Wiberg speaks


Episode Stats


Length

4 minutes

Words per minute

136.17511

Word count

591

Sentence count

42

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Find out more about Elder Leonard's journey to self-liberation from sexual exploitation and trafficking. Elder Leonard shares his experience of being trafficked and sexually exploited, and how he was able to escape the sex trafficking trade.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
00:00:00.240 Loving a survivor is not easy.
00:00:03.320 Our healing journeys can be messy, filled with often out of nowhere triggers, responses
00:00:10.080 and flashbacks.
00:00:11.900 We are much like an onion with many complicated layers.
00:00:16.600 17 years ago I was self-liberated from sexual exploitation.
00:00:22.280 Before then I almost spent a decade of my life being sold in cities across western Canada
00:00:27.120 and the United States in cities such as Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Saskatoon, Vancouver, Las Vegas
00:00:35.580 and New York City.
00:00:38.180 When I was first targeted and groomed I was taught to hide my indigenous identity because
00:00:45.020 I was told that the sex buyers, if they found out about this, that I would be more likely
00:00:50.980 to be beaten, robbed, raped or murdered.
00:00:55.780 It was in New York City where I was being sold by an organized crime ring.
00:01:00.140 I had almost succumbed to the violence and exploitation until a good friend who knew what
00:01:06.060 I had been involved in, but who was also involved in the illicit drug trade, bought me a one-way
00:01:12.120 plane ticket back to Canada.
00:01:15.880 Today I know that if I did not leave New York City when I did, that I would have died there,
00:01:22.840 most likely becoming a Jane Doe, a murdered indigenous woman with no one to come find or identify 0.86
00:01:29.840 me.
00:01:31.560 Because of my childhood and intergenerational trauma, I was hurt, insecure and angry.
00:01:37.640 I was disconnected from my family and my culture and I did not know my worth.
00:01:43.120 I was taught by my pimps and exploiters that all I had to offer were my looks and my body.
00:01:49.880 It was just a few years ago that I thought I was not even worthy of wearing a ribbon skirt
00:01:54.540 like the one I'm wearing today.
00:01:58.920 Because of what had happened to me.
00:02:01.920 Today, however, I know that I am sacred and I now know my true worth.
00:02:07.740 Human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is organized crime.
00:02:12.420 Yes, some may be more organized than others.
00:02:15.680 However, the effects of sexual exploitation and the complex harm it causes its victims is
00:02:21.800 very serious and can be deadly.
00:02:24.980 The groomers, the pimps, the profiteurs and the buyers must be held accountable for these
00:02:29.800 harms.
00:02:30.800 According to Alerts 2022-23 Annual Report, over a 12-month period, a trafficker was arrested
00:02:39.300 every 12 days in this province.
00:02:43.280 As long as the demand is high, there will be more and more victims.
00:02:48.140 The time for talk on this issue is over.
00:02:51.920 Let's take action together.
00:02:54.280 Here are some ideas.
00:02:56.480 Address buyer demand.
00:02:57.980 No buyers, no business.
00:03:00.900 Focus on efforts on healing, recovery, justice and prevention.
00:03:06.560 The average age of an online child exploitation victim is 13.
00:03:11.920 Learn to spot the signs of targeting and grooming.
00:03:15.840 An act of exploitation employee survivors, believe survivors, help amplify our voices like the
00:03:24.320 center of sexual center to end all sexual exploitation and not in my city does. 0.91
00:03:30.520 Keep working together.
00:03:32.020 Involve survivors, our families and our communities.
00:03:35.980 Harness the power of social media.
00:03:38.920 Inclusive campaigns regarding the cross-border nature of this issue involves CSIS, the Canadian
00:03:49.400 Security Intelligence Service and the FBI.
00:03:54.360 And for our two-spirited relatives, our men and boys, they too are being targeted and groomed
00:04:00.620 and exploited.
00:04:02.160 We know that men and boys are also being groomed to become buyers and profiteers.
00:04:08.360 This needs to be addressed.
00:04:10.680 Again I want to thank Elder Leonard again for your prayer and your blessing.
00:04:14.280 And thank you for being here today.
00:04:16.400 Hei hei, Kenanis Compton.
00:04:17.400 Hei hei, Kenanis Compton.
00:04:18.400 Hei hei, Kenanis Compton.