Saturday April 14, Toronto:  Protest at Queens Park 

[free-them] together with Walk With Me Victim Services Canada and concerned citizens, plans to protest at Queen’s Park to advocate for the government to draft new prostitution legislation that can stand a constitutional challenge.  We need laws that protect victims of trafficking!  Take a stand for freedom by joining the protest:

When: Apr. 14, 2012 at 12 noon – 3 p.m.

Where: Queen’s Park, Toronto, ON

Friday April 27, Toronto: Dinner & Theatre Production Presented by Sex Trade Survivors

Sextrade101 presents “Your Lucky Day” A FREE dinner & theatre production.

Together we’ll reveal the sex trade through a community arts exploration of the life, times and challenges of the prostituted. The audience will interact with us, finding ways to change tough situations.

The play will present problematic scenarios that end in a dilemma to deliberately provoke the audience into taking action. The audience members can stop a scene in which a character is being oppressed in some way.  In this way, we gain insights into potential alternative behaviors and problem-solving strategies, and share ideas for negotiating difficult relationships and avoiding / overcoming risk.

Honourary guests include The Crown who argued against the decriminalization of Ontario’s prostitution laws and MP Joy Smith.  Seats are limited, please RSVP now via facebook or the email above.

The Justice Summit, May 5, Ottawa:

Some people struggle remembering much from their childhood.  I am not one of those people.  My first memory brings me back to the age of 3, and I recall vivid details about many life experiences from that point forward.  Being raised in Finland and Ethiopia for the majority of my childhood years, I am grateful for the exposure I had to different ways of living.  Though I was unable to process much of what I saw around me in Ethiopia due to my age, I have the opportunity now to go through many of the mental snapshots from those years and process them as an adult.

Addis Ababa Traffic. Photo credit: Sameffron - http://www.flickr.com/photos/sameffron

One of these snapshots involves our car stopping at traffic lights in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital city. A swarm of children would often bang on the windows, begging for money.  This shocked me when we first moved there, but eventually I developed the hurtful skill of not looking into their eyes but acting as if they did not even exist.  Such situations are difficult to navigate through as an adult, let alone as a child.  These memories still haunt me.

Many of those kids were the same age as I was.  None of us has chosen what country we would be born in or how much money or opportunity would be available to us.  We all probably liked stickers and toys and climbing trees.  We all needed love and a parent to set healthy boundaries.  So much between me and them was the same.  But we were separated by a window pane.

I recently read a heart-wrenching article on the prostitution of children in Ethiopia.  It talks about how traffickers will go into impoverished, remote villages and purchase children for under $5.00 from families who either do not know what is going to happen to their child in the city, or are too desperate to care.  Often children would run away from their homes due to abuse or lack of opportunity and take a bus to the Mercado Bus Station in the heart of Addis, where predators would then exploit their vulnerability and sell them into the sex trade.  I remember buying a black leather backpack, which I still have, from that same Mercado.  There I was as a 10 year-old, negotiating a price for a backpack – my only concern being that a higher price would prevent me from buying candy later – while girls my age in that same market were negotiating a price from men who were going to use and abuse them – their concerns being disease, or pain, or beatings from their pimp if they did not bring in enough cash.

Mercado, Addis Ababa. Source: http://www.tourdust.com/blog/posts/a-day-in-addis-ababa

One of the only times I felt truly unsafe in my years of living in Addis was when I decided to walk home at dusk from my horse riding lessons instead of waiting for my dad to pick me up.  Our house was only a 10 minute walk away, but I remember feeling the eyes of men on me as I began to run, their whistles and comments chasing after me as my heart pounded in my chest.  Yet this was what many children my age endured on a daily basis.

Why me?  Why them?  As I say grace over my meals, I truly feel that I am receiving grace.  There are so many in the world whose lack of food on the table drives them to do desperate things.  There are so many children who are driven into horrific situations because their parents are abusive, or so broken themselves that they can’t even begin to understand how to care for another human being.

I still struggle with why I have been given so much, while so many children in the city I have so many fond childhood memories in are living lives of absolute horror.  Where are the girls who were forced to sell their bodies on the same day as I bought my backpack at the Mercado?  Are they servicing men in the oil fields of Sudan?  Have they been sold to Saudi Arabian families as house servants or sex slaves?  Are they even alive?

As I sit here in a comfortable coffee shop listening to Michael Buble and drinking a warm cup of tea, I can’t help but wonder.

One thing I do know – I have been given a stewardship and a responsibility to love others.  And not in the emotional, “fuzzy” sense of the word, but in the live-sacrificially-give-generously-act-courageously sense of the word.  My husband and I are still trying to figure out what this looks like, practically, in our daily lives.  I refuse to waste the opportunity I have been given to make a difference in this world, if only to honour those I ignored for years on the other side of the window pane.

For those of you know who know me, please hold me accountable to this.

I recently saw a short film called SOLD that I wanted to share with Hope for the Sold readers.  The story is told through the eyes of a young journalist named Maya, who has inadvertently gotten captured into a human trafficking ring while doing an investigative article on the treatment of illegal immigrants in America. It offers a glimpse into the fearful moments, arduous travels, and split-second decisions that sex trafficking victims experience in captivity.  John Irwin – who wrote, directed, and produced this film – was willing to answer some questions for me about his work.  Watch the short below, followed by my interview with John.

How did you get into writing and directing films?

I started in Computer Science at Virginia Tech despite my weakness in math. I had a dream of making video games some day, thinking I might be able to tell stories and carry out my ideas through them. I went to a church on campus and during the service, they played an announcement video that someone from the church had made. It was a spoof on Mission Impossible and Run Lola Run and had all kinds of special effects…digital muzzle flashes, explosions — Yes, all were cheesy but my mind was blown.

Up to that point, from what I had perceived, the video-making world was divided. In my world, video-making was reserved for parents shooting Christmas mornings with a rickety VHS camcorder. The other world was across the country, where a lucky few would be given millions to make huge hollywood blockbusters. I had no idea that I, a young guy with a few bucks, could go out and create action scenes with gun fights, explosions and light sabers. Immediately, I switched majors to Communication and Film Theory and started living out my new dream, making dozens of mini short films with a Digital 8 Camera I purchased at Best Buy.

If you could describe yourself as a filmmaker in 5 words, what would they be?

My favorite part of being a filmmaker is that you are forced to question yourself, constantly figure out your opinions and your truth, then attempt to communicate it. I still feel like I’m at the beginning of my journey… maybe in a few years I’ll be ready with 5 snazzy words!

Why do you think film is a powerful way to tell a story?

To be able to (completely) fabricate worlds out of your imagination and then place characters in those worlds, then try to steer the audience’s journey- who they should love or hate, offering new and fresh perspectives on the world through your characters’ eyes… is pretty cool.

What inspired you to make “Sold?”

Four years ago, I was searching for a story that hadn’t been widely told. I stumbled upon the heart-wrenching topic of human trafficking. At that time, movies like “Trade” and “Taken” hadn’t come out yet and after doing a lot of research, I couldn’t believe that for the third most profitable organized crime in the world, there wasn’t much spoken about it. When I was trying to figure out what would interest me the most about a story taking place in this horrifying world, it seemed like the most effective and interesting point of view would be from the victim.

It seems like many movies about the topic are too quick to tell a version of the sex-trade story where the white male hero, saves the helpless girl from being kidnapped just before her virginity is taken from her (which in the land of movies, is apparently the end of the world). For me, I just thought it would be more interesting if the lead characters were strong and smart Latina women who only have their wits to help them survive in a situation where they don’t belong. I thought that would be enough to drive the story. I wrote a feature version and decided to write the short that could act as sort of a demo to build momentum for the feature.

What has been the biggest challenge about making this film?

For the short, it was a challenge to fit a complete dramatic story in 12 minutes without it feeling rushed, especially one that surrounds such a sensitive topic. I wanted to raise awareness with the short but I also just wanted to make a good thriller, I didn’t want people watching to feel like they’re being preached at.  Production-wise, It was a whole lot of fun actually making it happen. The biggest stress was just trying to keep the budget as low as possible since about 85% of what we had to spend came out of my pocket.

What has been the most encouraging response you have received so far?

When people have come up to me after a screening to let me know that they didn’t have a clue that this type of thing was going on, gives me a lot of encouragement. Those same people are usually shocked to learn that it’s not just happening overseas, that it’s happening everywhere, including America.

Aside from the trafficking element, I just want to tell a story well, and it always makes me feel good to hear from people if they liked the film. Everything I direct is such a learning process for me and this one was a huge one. I can’t wait to tackle the feature with everything I’ve learned from making the short.

In the process of making this film, what have you learned about human trafficking that you did not know before?

As I was writing the feature script, I did a lot of research and reading about the sex trade to keep the story as realistic as possible. I’ve been fascinated and horrified to learn about all the methods traffickers use to lure and trick girls into captivity, and once there, the made up debts that are placed on the girls that only increase over time. The traffickers make threats for the safety of the girls’ families back home and use other forms of intimidation to keep the girls from trying to escape. What really makes the issue of human trafficking so overwhelming is just how many people across the globe are taken and sold every day.

Human trafficking is a growing billion dollar industry that is intensely difficult to fight because it is so lucrative and the risk of getting caught for traffickers these days is very low in most countries. Some quick facts that I’ve come across, that blow me away:

Over 100,000 U.S. children every year are forcefully engaged in prostitution or pornography. The UN estimates that nearly 4,000,000 individuals are trafficked each year, 50% of which are children.

When will the feature length film be released?

We’re still trying to raise support for the feature version of Sold. We’ve received a lot of wonderful feedback and interest for the project in general but it’s been a challenge finding people who want to support the project financially. If you’d like to be part of the project, or even get updates, feel free to go to the film’s website and click on the “Join Mailing List” link on the bottom of the page. You can also email me from my website.

John, thank you for making such a powerful short film and sharing it with us.  It serves as a powerful reminder that sex trafficking is a horrendous form of organized crime that is happening all around the world, even on North American soil.

To those who just watched this short film, what did you think?  What did you think of how it ended?  What does a film like this tell us about what victims go through?

Last week on Friday, Bill C-310, which many of you asked your MPs to support, was expected to pass through its Third Reading.  Through the first stages of the Bill, there had been unanimous support from all parties, and all parties had expressed that they would support the Bill in the Third Reading. However, this is what I received from MP Joy Smith:

Today (Friday) , Bill C-310, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (trafficking in persons), was expected to be adopted unanimously by the House of Commons at Third Reading and sent to the Senate. However, at the last minute, the NDP prevented debate on Bill C-310 and delayed the Bill from passing until the end of May.

“I am absolutely stunned by this,” said MP Joy Smith. “Bill C-310 will strengthen Canada’s efforts to combat human trafficking and this should not be a partisan matter. I have worked so hard to secure the support of all parties and have appreciated the support of all MPs for this Bill up until today.”

“At each stage of this Bill, I have reached out to members of other parties,” stated MP Smith. “In advance of today’s Report Stage and Third Reading, I spoke with the NDP and Liberal House Leaders to secure their support for Bill C-310 to be adopted today. They assured me that they were fully supportive of Bill C-310 being adopted today. Then, about 10 minutes before debate was to begin, I was shocked to find out that the NDP would be opposing Bill C-310.”

“What is most astounding is that the NDP have been fully supportive of Bill C-310 at Second Reading and Committee stages. They have even jointly seconded this Bill,” says MP Smith. “My heart sank when I watched as they stood, smiling and shouted ‘NO!’ when the Speaker of the House sought consent.”

As a result of today’s actions, Bill C-310 will be voted on next Wednesday, and will drop to the bottom of the Order of Precedence instead of heading to the Senate.

“I don’t have any answers as to why this happened,” said MP Smith. “I would invite Canadians to write or call NDP members for an explanation of why they would vote against such an important, bipartisan Bill and deliberately hold it up.”

“Today, modern day slavery exists in all corners of our globe and our resolve to eliminate it must only grow stronger,” said MP Smith. “In fact, only yesterday, a judge handed out the toughest penalty for human trafficking in Canadian history for an egregious case of forced labour.”

Bill C-310 amends the Criminal Code by adding the current trafficking in persons offences [s.279.01, s.279.011, s.279.02, and s.279.03] to the list of offences which, if committed outside of Canada by a Canadian or permanent resident, could be prosecuted in Canada. The Bill also adds an interpretive aid for courts to provide greater clarity of the definition of exploitation in s.279.04 of the Criminal Code.

Since introducing Bill C-310, MP Joy Smith has presented petitions containing 1000’s of signatures from Canadians calling for the adoption of the legislation. Many organizations have also lent their support for this legislation, representing stakeholders such as law enforcement, victim’s services, and non-governmental organizations.

The NDP decided to act in a partisan manner with Bill C-310 and needlessly delay it OR the NDP made a grave procedural error.

Regardless of what the reason was, the NDP’s actions halted the debate and passage of an important human trafficking bill that the Conservative, Liberal, Green, and Bloc parties were prepared to debate and support.

Note: The NDP could rectify this by offering to move Bill C-310 back to the top of the Order of Precedence by trading one of their Private Members Bill spots with Bill C-310.

My husband Jay and I wrote to several NDP MPs, asking them why they blocked debate on this bill, as we wanted to understand what happened.  We have waited for several days and not received a reply.

TODAY there will be a debate on this bill in the House of Commons.  If the Member of Parliament that represents you is part of the NDP party, please contact them today and ask them to support this bill. Ask them also to grant a position change with one of their private members bills and move Bill C-310 to a sooner vote for the 3rd reading.

I don’t know what happened here.  Some anti-trafficking bills are more controversial, but this one had unanimous support.  I think the NDP made a procedural mistake.  You can read this great article about the NDP’s decision to get more info.  You can also contact MP Joy Smith’s office with any questions: 613-992-7148 or joy.smith.a2@parl.gc.ca.

Update: C-310 just adopted at Report Stage with all in favour. Could have been sooner if it had not been blocked earlier, but grateful it is now to the next stage!  I will update this post once I hear more.

Over the Christmas break I, like many others, fell in love with the Hunger Games trilogy.  Set in the future, it describes a society in which one region rules over and exploits the others, and every year two children from each district are chosen to fight each other to the death in a reality-show type manner as the entire nation watches.

To be honest, I was hesitant to write this post from fear if it coming across as cheesy or jump-on-the-bandwagon-trendy. But as I watched the movie on the weekend, one component in particular reminded me of the experience of sex trafficking victims.  (I promise not to give anything important away for those of you who have not seen the film yet!)

As these children and teenagers are ripped from their families and forced to commit murder for the sake of entertainment, they must do so with smiles on their faces.  Each is interviewed before cameras for all of Panem to see, and to increase their chances of survival they must make the crowds love them.  Not unlike gladiator games during the Roman empire.

This was the hardest part of the story for me to stomach.  Forcing someone to kill is one thing.  Forcing them to look like they want to takes it to a whole new level.  Forcing someone to have sex is one thing. Forcing them to appear as if they want to is beyond cruel.

Yet this is exactly what victims of sex trafficking experience, as most of them are “broken in” and trained to appear desirable for the men they are forced to service.  Most johns want to believe that the woman or child they are paying to abuse is delighted to be there.  When a victim is threatened with beatings, harm to their family, or electric shocks if they do not perform with a smile on their face, it becomes very risky for them to misbehave.  They must change themselves to save themselves.  

It explains why some victims who have been in the trade for a while can be manipulated into recruiting other girls with the promise that they will be freed as a result.  It’s about survival, about making it out alive. Unfortunately, the shame that is attached to it prevents many victims from returning to their families even if they manage to escape.

It saddens me that there are people in this world who are willing to strip a person of their dignity, their values, their livelihood, their dreams, their personality.  These things, which are the most intimate components of being human, can get buried so deep as a result that it becomes almost impossible to retrieve them.  Betraying yourself to save yourself comes with a high cost, and those who recover forever live with scars.

We must stand in the gap and prevent people from ever being forced to experience this.

You can read more about this week’s events in Tuesday’s post.  I’ve had a lot on my mind the past few days and will be writing a more reflective post on this issue soon.  Stay tuned.

Yesterday was a big day in Ontario regarding prostitution laws.  The Ontario Court of Appeal, the province’s highest court, legalized brothels based on the argument that “Ontario’s current anti-prostitution laws place unconstitutional restrictions on prostitutes’ ability to protect themselves.”

If you are new to this issue or want to understand today’s ruling in simple terms, here is a summary of what has happened to date.

Pre-September of 2010:

According to the law, prostitution itself was legal but everything surrounding it was illegal.  For example, it was illegal to:

1. Communicate for the purposes of prostitution  - ie. soliciting on the street

2. Live off the avails of prostitution – ie. pimps living off the money they receive from exploiting women and children, or someone in the trade paying for their child’s education with money from prostitution

3. Keep a bawdy house - ie. operating or working out of a brothel, which could include residences used by groups of women

Leading up to September 28th, 2010:

Dominatrix Terry-Jean Bedford and ex-prostitute Valerie Scott (along with Amy Lebovitch and their lawyer Alan Young), launched a constitutional challenge of Canada’s anti-prostitution laws. In simple terms, they wanted prostitution and everything surrounding the actual act to be decriminalized.

September 28, 2010:

The Ontario Superior Court ruled in favour of their proposal by striking down the three anti-prostitution laws.  This meant it was no longer illegal to keep a bawdy house (brothel), communicate for the purposes of prostitution, or live off the avails of selling sex.  The federal government appealed the Ontario Superior Court’s decision, in effect reversing it until it was looked at again by the Ontario Court of Appeal.

March 26, 2012, Ontario Court of Appeal:

Five judges found that banning bawdy houses and living off the avails of prostitution were unconstitutional, but agreed with the Crown that the open solicitation of prostitution should be illegal. What exactly does this mean?  It means that those in the sex trade can legally run or work out of brothels in Ontario, as well as hire drivers, bodyguards and support staff.  From a legal standpoint, it makes prostitution just like any other taxable profession.  Bodyguards and staff can legally be hired as early as April, but the brothel ban is still in effect for up to a year, giving the Crown the chance to appeal.   This would mean that the case will go before the Supreme Court of Canada.  Whatever they decide will be the ultimate decision and will affect the entire country, not just Ontario.

Dominatrix Terry-Jean Bedford stands to celebrate the Court's decision Monday. Photo source: Kevin Van Paassen, Globe and Mail

There is no question that Canada’s prostitution laws have not made sense or protected women.  The fact that prostitution itself has been legal while everything surrounding it has been illegal makes for poor lawmaking.  New prostitution laws are absolutely necessary, but that is where my agreement with the pro-sex work group ends.  They want the laws changed so that the entire industry is decriminalized, making the sex trade a fully legal.  But there are many, myself included, who want the laws changed so that women can be empowered to leave the trade, as the majority of those in the sex trade desperately want out but have no exit strategy.

Terry-Jean Bedford and her group assume that they are the only ones who will be affected by the Court’s ruling.  They assume that most working in the sex trade have chosen to enter it willingly and that this will empower them to work like any other tax-paying citizen.  But here are some of my concerns:

It is not the law that makes prostitution dangerous.  Prostitution is inherently dangerous. Even when it is legal or “high end,” women are encouraged to have panic buttons and learn skills that get them out of life-threatening situations.  Is this the type of industry we want to promote as a career choice for young girls?  Terry-Jean Beford herself entered the trade as a teenager, manipulated by an abusive boyfriend.  There are definitely some who make a decision as adults to prostitute themselves, but it is incredibly naive to think that most enter in this way.

Global studies have demonstrated that whether prostitution takes place indoors or outdoors, many women experience post traumatic stress disorder as a result of being in the trade.

The ruling allows those in the trade to hire bodyguards, drivers, and support staff.  For the small minority who is able to call the shots, this could arguably make them safer.  However this provision does absolutely nothing to protect the unfortunate majority which includes trafficking victims and those who are manipulated and controlled by pimps.  Though the Court clarified that no one can live off the avails of “exploitation,” now pimps and traffickers can pose as drivers and bodyguards, giving them a legal loophole to continue exploiting women and children.

Those who are pro-prostitution often us the case of Robert Pickton, a BC man who savagely murdered dozens of prostituted women, as an example of why legal brothels would make women safer.  But Angel Wolfe, the daughter of one of the women killed by Pickton, points out that legal brothels would make it more difficult for police to get warrants for sweeps that uncover victims of trafficking and abuse.  Now it is easier to hide trafficking victims.

When you legalize any component of the prostitution industry, you increase demand for paid sex.  This gives the green light for traffickers to increase supply to help meet that demand.  If a “legal” woman refuses a john because he seems unsafe or because she does not like him, where is he going to take his fantasies instead?  Trafficking victims are the ones who will end up with the most abusive and violent men, as their so-called “bodyguards” now have the competitive advantage of their girls being willing to “do anything.”

What bothers me is that I have never heard people like Terry-Jean Bedford or those who are pro-prostitution mention victims of trafficking or exploitation, except in an attempt to sweep them under the rug and disconnect them from the argument altogether.  Are we so blinded as a society that we think we can disconnect prostitution from trafficking and exploitation?  This certainly did not work in Amsterdam or Las Vegas, where trafficking networks run with seamless efficiency due to high demand for paid sex.

Window of Opportunity:

The Crown will doubtless apply for a stay from the Supreme Court, meaning that this decision would be decided in the highest court of Canada.  That will be the final decision for prostitution law in our country. As this Globe and Mail article states:

The landmark decision is binding on Ontario courts and sets up a final showdown at the Supreme Court of Canada next fall or in early 2013.

This means that right now we have a window of opportunity to push our government to change prostitution laws.  The Court’s responsibility is to make sure that laws are not unconstitutional, but the Crown’s responsibility is to actually create laws that are good for society.  This means that we must do everything we can to encourage our Members of Parliament to push our country in the opposite direction – away from a fully legal sex industry that promotes exploitation – and towards laws that protect women and decrease demand for paid sex.

We should be looking at the example of Sweden.  In contrast to legalization or full decriminalization of prostitution, Sweden’s approach has significantly cut down human trafficking levels. It has criminalized the purchase of sex while decriminalizing the selling of it. This has decreased demand for paid sex, reducing monetary incentives for traffickers to set up shop. Because its success has encouraged other countries to adopt it, this approach is now known as the “Nordic Model.” This is the direction we should be headed.  You can read more about the Nordic Model here.

What You Can Do Now:

As my friend John MacMillan has aptly pointed out, Courts are not swayed by public opinion – in fact when the Charter is involved, the role of a court is often to protect the rights of a minority from public opinion.  Petitioning the government is our best course of action right now.  If you want Canada to head in the direction of the Nordic model that prevents exploitation instead of supporting a fully decriminalized prostitution industry, here are three steps you can take:

ONE.  Print this petition, fill it with signatures, and send it to your Member of Parliament at the House of Commons >> Petition Swedish Model.  Don’t know who your representative is?  Find out here.

TWO.  Contact your Member of Parliament and let them know how you feel about this issue.  They need to know that Canadians care and that this is priority.  Don’t know what to say?  Here is an outline. Personalize it and send it to your MP.

THREE.  Hope for the Sold is currently raising funds to make a documentary about legalization of prostitution and its connection to sex trafficking. We believe that film is a powerful way to help sway opinion and change minds, and our hope is that this film will have an impact that will help governments around the world take an approach that prevents trafficking and exploitation as opposed to legalizing an industry that us full of violence and abuse.  Due to the generosity of blog readers, small businesses, friends, and family, we have raised $23,000 to date.  We have $57,000 more to raise.  As soon as we have $80,000 we will hit the road.  Clearly this is an urgent matter, so please consider supporting this project!  All donations are eligible for tax receipts.  Watch our pitch video and support the film here.

4.  Please stay tuned.  This week I will give you further instructions from the Crown on how to proceed. We MUST be a united front on this issue, and currently there is a plan being formed. Please check back this week to find out how you can be part of this movement.  As my friend Tara Teng says: This is NOT the time to stand by and do nothing.  We have a window opportunity. Let’s use it.

I leave you with this question: do we care more about the rights of women who want to sell their bodies, or the rights of the exploited who desperately don’t want to?  Let’s see the Court’s decision not as a tragedy but an opportunity – as it forces our government to decide where they really stand on this issue.

As awareness spreads, the issue of sex trafficking is increasingly showing up in movies and TV shows. Actress Karen Robinson (Lars and the Real Girl, The Gospel According to the Blues), who plays Detective Ingrid Evans on King – a detective show on Showcase – recently sat down with retired Toronto Police Service Detective Wendy Leaver to discuss the issue of sexual exploitation.  Karen kindly took the time to answer some questions for Hope for the Sold readers as well.

The interview clip below is part of the King Case Files, which are informative short videos accompanying the episodes.  This one goes with the 2nd season’s first episode, which is on the topic of sex trafficking.  Please excuse the very brief bit in a strip club, as I try to avoid images like that as much as possible on this blog out of respect for those trapped in the trade.

What inspired you to pursue an acting career?

I can’t think of any single moment. There were nudges in the general direction – my mother’s natural flair for the dramatic; being the baby of my brood and therefore an attention seeker; Cicely Tyson in ‘Sounder’; and Saturday afternoons in the ’70s spent watching a Jamaican children’s variety show called ‘Ring Ding’ where my beloved Miss Lou handed me my ancestors’ oral traditions like treasure. Canada handed me the possibility.

What draws you to Detective Ingrid Evans’ character?

Her groundedness. Her failings. Her passion for what she cares about. Her limitations. Her lingerie (fingers crossed). Her sensible shoes. She works hard. And then she goes home. So . . . her humanness, I guess.

You recently sat down with Wendy Leaver to discuss the issue of sex trafficking. What was the most surprising or shocking thing that you learned?

How easy it is to find oneself in these women’s position. We, the lucky ones, tell ourselves “they’d leave if they really wanted to”. But these women are threatened, beaten, fear for their families’ safety, and are terrified of the humiliation if they are exposed. They don’t trust the police and they often times don’t speak the dominant language. If I were in their shoes, I’m not so sure I could leave either.

Karen Robinson with Wendy Leaver

What is it like to film an episode about sex trafficking? Does it make the issue seem more ‘real’ because it is being acted out? Did it lead to any interesting conversations on set?

On set, we’re so consumed with telling the story in the most compelling and realistic way possible that there isn’t a lot of time for conversation. What it does leave time for are moments of such clarity in the work that I found myself truly moved by, for instance, Alina’s hope and innocence in her video application to be a nanny, or Jess King’s insistence that Ingrid and she can help women like Alina, women whose dreams of days spent caring for children turn into nightmares of rape and abuse.

What role does film play in raising awareness about injustice?

Few people enjoy being preached at. Everybody has their own stuff to deal with – work, money, kids, relationship, weather, transit, rent, you name it. Stories acted out, if done right, show us our world in an enlightening, edifying, and most importantly for many of these people, entertaining way. These stories, when delivered in a screen format, have the opportunity to reach a huge audience. That’s immense influence.

With a wide-ranging topic like injustice, I think we need to see real people – people who may be like us, our family, our friends, or who may be that person we see on the subway or street, that one we often choose to ignore. Film and tv, and plays for that matter, can lead us to realize that we all want much the same thing – to be seen, listened to, validated. And hopefully that leads to empathy. The ability to see ourselves in another’s shoes.

Karen, thank you for taking the time to share some of your story and thoughts with us.  I am grateful that there are people like you who do not waste their talent, but offer it to the rest of us so that we can be inspired, entertained, educated – and hopefully even provoked to action on the things that strike a chord with us.

For those of you who missed the first episode of King’s second season, you can watch it here.  You can follow the show on the Showcase channel on Wednesdays at 9:00pm.

THIS is what an abolitionist anthem sounds like – let’s join in and BE the movement!