A former Winnipeg MP who began a foundation against human trafficking said the Sound of Freedom is so real, it “triggered” “flashbacks” of interventions of which she had been a part..Joy Smith launched the Joy Smith Foundation in 2011 to prevent and fight human trafficking..The Winnipeg Conservative MP (Kildonian-St. Paul) tabled the government bill The Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act in 2014 to ban pimping, purchasing sex and advertising for those sales..In an interview with the Western Standard, Smith said despite her best efforts, the problem of child sex exploitation continues to grow. Following the pandemic, the misuse of children online “increased exponentially” and remains “egregious,” she reported..“Traffickers have been very skillful at luring young people online, whereas they used to do it solely at sports events, or go where the kids are in the malls,” Smith said..“And there's been a marked increase in boy trafficking.”.Smith said most victims trust no one and are afraid to approach law enforcement. Even so, her foundation gets calls “every day.”.“We work hand-in-hand with the police and we spend a lot of our time trying to get to survivors. We've worked over 7,000 cases in phone calls we get and interaction we get with the survivors and their families,” she said..“When we give presentations, people reveal themselves. They'll quietly come up and tell us and then we'll follow through with them because they don't want anybody else to know. And we go to a lot of schools. We do a lot of educating youth how to protect themselves against traffickers.”.Smith’s interest in the issue began as a teacher when she found out one of her students was out of class and on the streets..When she found out why it happened, she searched for months to find the girl, but in vain. In recent years, Smith launched a campaign at traffickingsigns.ca so that people could recognize when someone has been trafficked. .“If they come in with expensive jewelry, or designer clothes; and if they drop their friends, their regular friends that they've had for years, those are red flags that parents should pay attention to."."A change of attitudes at school and this new circle of friends that the parents don't know, is very common,” she said..Some teen girls don’t even know they are being trafficked..“They don't see it. It's called the Romeo effect. The boyfriend tells them how much they love them. They make promises of being married in the future, they have to get money for a house," said Smith.."And then they start suggesting these things. ‘So if you could just do this for me, we earn a lot of money fast and get together sooner. Nothing wrong with it, you've got a beautiful body.’”.“They target the very young, because the very young are so gullible and so vulnerable because they haven't had life experiences. And so they trust this person that was so nice to them and they feel they've fallen in love.”.Smith said she has been present for five rescue operations that involved law enforcement..In one case in Ontario, police invaded a farmhouse where girls had been cattle prodded and water boarded. Watching the Sound of Freedom brought some of those memories back..“It did trigger me in the movie. It was a good movie. My heart was racing,” Smith said..“I really loved the movie. I advise anybody to go and see it. But just be aware, it happens in Canada just that way. But the thing that struck me is it was that one cop who was so moved by it, and his wife, that he pushed through barriers to rescue those kids.”.Smith said victims often get moved between provinces, states and nations, which is one reason her foundation works closely with Canadian and US officials..She called agent Tim Ballard, played by Jim Caviezel in the movie, “a true champion,” but said victims need courage too..“Out of Toronto, I was looking for a victim and she was walking down one of the streets and I went right up to the trafficker and I grabbed her hand and she wouldn't come with me."."And I couldn't understand that. But I found out later that the trafficker beat her because news came to me that she was being trafficked and she needs rescue. So the traffickers really scare them. They threaten them, ‘You don't tell the police, you don't tell anybody.’”.One massage parlour employee went from fiercely opposing Smith to asking for her help..“We were shutting down the licensing of a body rub parlor where one of the girls called me and just swore at me and everything, said I'm taking away her money. And then I asked her if she's okay. And she said, Yes, nothing ever happened to her. ".“She made about $10,000 a month. She had no education, so I knew what she was doing. And then two weeks later, she called and said, ‘Mrs. Smith, can you help me get out?’”.Smith said the movie rightly portrayed tactics of traffickers, such as renaming the children, or telling them no harm will come to their siblings if they do what they’re told..She said her foundation fully endorses the movie, unlike Media Matters and Rolling Stone, which have connected Sound of Freedom with QAnon conspiracy theory..“They’re very foolish people. They should never dismiss the story that can happen to their own families. And you know what? I've had people say that to me and then call me up, “Can you help me? I think my child has been trafficked,” Smith said..“Don't worry, I'm a well educated person, I have five degrees, one of them a masters. Do you think I would spend my whole life in this where I get paid nothing? I'm a volunteer on my foundation. Always have been. Do you think I would do that if this was nothing?”.Smith said anyone can make a difference on the issue if they have the fortitude..“The people who get into it, it's hard. It's hard. You're compelled to do it. This isn't something I would have set out at the beginning for my life, but I had to do it because my heart was touched,” she said..“Every parent, every child, every grandparent, every community leader should learn about human trafficking and how it happens to protect their own families."."It takes a nation to stop human trafficking, it really does.”
