February 22nd, 2025 is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.
Alberta’s government held a press conference in Calgary today to “reaffirm its commitment to combating this unthinkable crime.”
Mike Ellis, the province’s Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services, notes “human trafficking leaves lasting scars on victims, survivors and communities, we are taking a strong stance against traffickers.”
Canadian country musician Paul Brandt – who is also the founder and CEO of #NotInMyCity and co-chair of the Alberta Centre to End Trafficking in Persons – states “proactive initiatives like this from the provincial government will bring agencies and partners together to provide critical trauma-informed programs and supports.”
The Central Alberta Child Advocacy Centre in Red Deer is one of 19 organizations that will be splitting $5.5 million dollars in provincial grant funding. The money will support the work of those organizations to stop human trafficking and empower survivors.
Mark Jones, CEO of the Central Alberta CAC, points out that in order for us to connect the dots we need to get everybody pulling on the rope in the same direction and that is a saying that Sheldon Kennedy uses all the time. He says “when you have people like Paul Brandt and the Sheldon Kennedys of the world lend their names to what we are trying to do to make a better world and a better Alberta for kids, it’s been great to be a part of. You know what, I think Alberta is leading the way in so many ways. We’ve got great leadership from lots of people and we just have to continue to do that because child abuse and that is not going anywhere we just have to make people aware of it and then eventually – hopefully – one day we can have people not doing terrible things to kids.”
Jones suggests going online to centralalbertacac.ca for more details about education and prevention, as well as about the important work the Central Alberta Child Advocacy Centre does in this region.
