What a night, and what a burden.
Did you know that the definition of “poignant” is “painfully affecting the feelings”? I did not. A lifetime of reading left me with the impression the word meant “moving,” more or less, but the definition makes no difference between a positive or negative emotion. A poignant moment can lift you up, or leave you feeling the weight of the world.
I was invited to attend the Fort Frances and Area Human Trafficking Coalition’s Dinner and Documentary night, held at the Métis Hall on Friday, February 21, 2025. The evening promised a meal, a documentary and a keynote speaker, all dealing with the terrible truths of human trafficking in Canada. The documentary was one put together by the Joy Smith Foundation. Smith is a former politician, at one time the MP for Kildonan-St. Paul in Manitoba, and has made it her life’s work to battle and spread awareness human trafficking. The documentary featured interviews, first-hand accounts from those victimized by, fighting against, or involved in human trafficking. To say the documentary was eye-opening is something of an understatement. To see the faces of those who have found themselves caught by someone they trusted, someone who they thought had their best interests at heart, only to have their humanity sold away from them, and to see that there is no functional difference between them and any number of people you or I know in our own lives, is a haunting thing.
I know that human trafficking can happen to anyone. Statistically speaking women, and Indigenous women in particular, are more likely to be victims of human trafficking. The documentary drives home that, yes, it can, and does, happen to anyone, and along with the guest speaker of the night, Cynara Vondra, it drove home that, yes, it can, and does, happen right here, in our own communities.
We are not immune, and we are not exempt from these realities, Vondra told an audience that had been completely absorbed in her speech. She shared her own story of being drugged, kidnapped and sold here in the district, and the details are harrowing. She is a survivor of an ordeal not many would be able to face, and she fights to make sure no one else has to deal with such a reality.
But we all have to step up to join this fight as well. It’s no good to say, “it won’t happen to me,” and to turn away. It might not happen to you, but that it happens at all is too much to allow. Seek out resources. Learn the signs of trafficking. Speak out when you see something that doesn’t feel right. Only by working together can we put an end to this heinous industry, and only then can we truly, proudly, say “it doesn’t happen here.”
– Ken Kellar
