New research highlights tragic intersection between the disappearance of Indigenous women and human trafficking in Canada

Thomson Reuters (TSX/Nasdaq: TRI), a global content and technology and company has issued a new report which identifies the urban areas of Winnipeg, Edmonton and the Prince Albert-Regina-Saskatoon triangle as having concentrations of Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) cases in Canada*. Ontario, particularly the Greater Toronto Area, and Edmonton indicate high amounts of both disappearances and sex ads featuring Indigenous women.

Thomson Reuters leverages its proprietary data, technologies and unique subject matter expertise to help inform multi-stakeholder efforts to tackle human rights crimes. It is committed to sharing best practices and identifying areas of collaboration to fight human trafficking.

The research used geospatial analysis to uncover trends of disappearances and sex ads featuring Indigenous women and girls across Canada to examine connections. The concentration of both MMIW cases and sex ads (which are indicative of human trafficking) in urban areas highlights efforts by traffickers to trap women and girls into trafficking, often with offers of employment or financial assistance as they migrant to cities. 

Despite being only 5% of the population, Indigenous women and girls account for over 50% of trafficking victims. The significant over-representation of Indigenous women in human trafficking and disappearances prompted this research**. 

Analysis in “Missing and Stolen: Disappearances and Trafficking of Indigenous Peoples in Canada” identified 185 cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) from 2010 to early April 2024:

• In 124 cases, or 67%, the victim is still missing.
• The average age of the victim was 30.

Urban areas were found to have a large proportion of cases despite being distanced from tribal lands. The data found the highest proportion of MMIW cases in Alberta and Manitoba.

• 25% of cases in Alberta
• 21% of cases in Manitoba
• 17% of cases in Ontario
• 15% of cases in British Columbia
• 13% of cases in Saskatchewan
• The remaining provinces comprise of the last 9% of MMIW cases.

Among cities, Winnipeg accounted for 14% of all disappearances, Edmonton 8% (10.5% including the broader metropolitan area) and the Prince Albert-Regina-Saskatoon triangle accounted for 10% of all disappearances. 

While some cases of MMIW may be unconnected to sex trafficking, or that an Indigenous woman featured in a sex ad was never officially considered missing, research and anecdotal evidence suggest the two may be closely linked.

For instance, in one case, an Indigenous woman who went missing in Ontario was identified a short time later as being advertised on an escort website more than one hundred kilometres away. It highlights the swift transition from disappearance into human trafficking.

The “Missing and Stolen” analysis collected 3,485 sex ads posted in Canada that claim to feature an Indigenous woman or girl between 2016-Present:

• 57% of sex ads were posted in Ontario
• 21% of sex ads were posted in British Columbia
• 18% of sex ads were posted in Alberta
• The remaining provinces accounted for the last 4% of ads put together.

Cities like Edmonton and Ottawa show significant connections to the US sex ad ecosystem, where contact information on Canadian ads matches those in U.S. ads, highlighting the fact that trafficking is a borderless crime.

“Human trafficking has a tragic human cost. The correlation between geographic hotspots and victim experiences across cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and the sex ad ecosystem in Canada warrants further exploration to help protect women and girls, as well as helping survivors gain justice” said Heather C. Panton, Senior Advisor, Social Impact & Human Rights at Thomson Reuters.

“Technology plays a critical role in prevention, detection and prosecution efforts to tackle human trafficking. We’re committed leveraging our tech for good to provide insights which can help us collectively address this human rights crime”, she added.

Through this research Thomson Reuters has identified several key areas for action to discuss with law enforcement, non-profits and community groups -

• It reinforces the value of a national database for Indigenous disappearances to enhance the speed and efficacy of investigations. This includes addressing gaps in reporting and ensuring that data is collected from multiple sources, including tribal authorities and activist groups, to get a comprehensive understanding of the issue.
• Integrating sex ad data with MMIW cases can help quickly identify and locate missing individuals featured in sex ads.
• Prioritizing investigative resources in known hotspots like Winnipeg and Edmonton where significant patterns of disappearances and human trafficking have been identified.
• Enhanced cross-border collaboration between Canada and the United States is critical in combating human trafficking.

If you think you might be a victim of human trafficking or think someone else maybe, contact the Canadian Human Trafficking hotline: Call: 1-833-900-1010 or email hotline@ccteht.ca.

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NOTES
* Methodology: Geospatial analysis of MMIW and the sex trafficking of indigenous peoples is an important method of analysis- this is because the problem is inherently geographic, with events happening at a particular time and at a particular place. For MMIW, we collected from a variety of public sources of data on disappearance events across Canada from 2010-Present, a period of roughly fifteen years. Doing so will allow us to assess geographic trends, contextual evidence like ad language, and movement of indigenous individuals that appear in sex ads. Then, set against our collected data on MMIW, we can draw further conclusions about the overlap of the two issues and develop recommendations for future study and investigations.
**Despite being only 5% of the population, Indigenous women and girls account for over 50% of trafficking victims. Additionally, Indigenous women reported three times the rate of violent victimization than non-Indigenous women, and Indigenous women are six times more likely to be murdered than the rest of the population. Sources: Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking, Services and Support for Indigenous Victims and Survivors of Human Trafficking, https://www.canadiancentretoendhumantrafficking.ca/services-and-support-for-indigenous-victims-and-survivors-of-human-trafficking/; Victoria Sweet, Rising Waters, Rising Threats, https://turtletalk.blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/sweet-rising-waters-rising-threats.pdf; Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQI+ People, https://humanrights.ca/resource-guide/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-girls-and-2slgbtqi-people