Chelsea’s Recap: Human Sex Trafficking & Online Exploitation in Waterloo Region

Human Sex Trafficking and Online Sexual Exploitation in Waterloo Region
Review of February 2021 Chelsea’s Virtual Series and Links to Watch

Chelsea is back! Click here to learn more and find information on the ongoing school and community tour.

Girls as young as 12 are lured into sex trafficking in Waterloo Region. All 8 events in Chelsea’s Series were offered for free. This series was in partnership with the MT Space and the Anti-Human Trafficking Program at SASCWR who reported a 27% increase in requests for support since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. These services are free, confidential, and non-judgmental. Awareness of the problem is the first step towards action.

Chelsea’s Story will be returning online in 2022! Stay tuned for a public performance run coming to your screens on February 22-26th, 2022 and will be touring virtually to middle school classrooms in April 2022 and beyond. If you are interested in Chelsea’s Story coming to your school, please contact pam@mtspace.ca.

See RAP Sheet on Human Sex Trafficking

We received funding from The Kitchener Waterloo Community Foundation’s  Community Fund and Weiland Family Foundation Fund to produce the play Chelsea’s Story in Waterloo Region in 2021. This play and surrounding activities built awareness and developed skills in preventing Human Sex Trafficking in our community. Partnering with MT Space and The Sexual Assault Support Centre we were guided by a working group of engaged citizens and community experts. This powerful play will be touring various school boards in Ontario. If you are interested in Chelsea’s Story coming to your school, please contact pam@mtspace.ca. For more information about the play scroll down below the following links.

Chelsea’s Story was part of a larger awareness campaign of 8 events over 7 days including three play virtual play readings of Chelsea’s Story, 2 panels, 2 workshops, and 1 film screening of Honey Bee. All events incorporated conversations, question and answer periods, or other interactivity with audience members. In case you missed these events, we’ve uploaded videos of some of the panels and Q&A sessions. To view this portion of these events, please follow the links below:

Human Trafficking In Our Communities: A Panel Discussion

Reflecting on Chelsea’s Story: An Upstream Conversation

Honey Bee: Information and Panel Discussion
Honey Bee Panel Transcript
If you would like to watch the film Honey Bee, it will be available on the CBC network. The film is also available for purchase through iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, and Vimeo On Demand.

This series was created to support the Chelsea’s Story project and upcoming tour, through which all three producing organizations will continue to raise awareness around sex trafficking and online sexual exploitation in Waterloo Region and the rest of Ontario. If you are interested in Chelsea’s Story coming to your school, please contact pam@mtspace.ca.

Chelsea’s Story

Chelsea’s Story is based on a true story. It centres on a group of three students who discover the diary of a 15-year-old girl named Chelsea, who is targeted and groomed by a man posing as her boyfriend to be trafficked for sex. Chelsea’s Story was written by Sean McGrath from Alter Ego Creative Solutions in the UK for people as young as 12 to understand what trafficking is about and the ways in which those who are vulnerable, particularly girls and young women tend to be targeted and groomed. The production is of particular interest to three different groups:

The play has been seen by over 10, 000 young people & thousands of professionals in the UK, and over 1000 here in Waterloo Region and has proven highly effective at covering:-

For adult audiences it also:-

This play is written as a tool for them to understand and recognize exploitation, what to do if they see it and how to keep themselves and their friends safe. We had the opportunity to show it to 450 grade 7 and 8 students in 2019 and they were really engaged both with the play and in the after performance talk back. Feedback for the teachers and parents at other shows was also very positive. In 2021 Chelsea’s Story was presented online as part of the week long Chelsea’s Virtual Series alongside various panels, workshops, and a film screening of Honey Bee. Performances of Chelsea’s Story will be touring to various schools across Ontario.

More information and resources from the 2021 series and Chelsea’s Story project can be found here: Human Sex Trafficking WR Project Infographic Final Report Chelsea’s Story Project 2019 and 2021 Honey Bee Panel Transcript

#KnowTheSigns | #EndHumanTrafficking | #ChelseasStoryWR

Email Julie if you have any questions.

Partners and Supporters

Events were produced by the MT Space, Sexual Assault Support Centre Waterloo Region, and the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council

Events were sponsored by the Kindred Credit Union, and the Kitchener Waterloo Community Foundation’s: Community Fund and Weiland Family Foundation Fund

Funded By:

Events were supported by various promotional partners including:

Why is Awareness important in Waterloo Region?

This project began in 2019 where SASC-WR, the Registry Theatre Company, and The Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council engaged with other community partners to launch a series of initiatives to raise awareness of HST in the Waterloo Region.  Since then, there has been a marked increase in 12 and 13-year-old children seeking services for human sex trafficking in our region. Our local Anti-Sex Trafficking Coordinator feels that awareness raised, especially by the play Chelsea’s Story and supporting activities, have helped victims access these services sooner.

The Waterloo Regional Police Services reports that in the first 8 months of 2019 they opened 75 investigations of sex trafficking in this region. This is up from 26 cases in 2017. We know that most sex trafficking cases are never reported to police and so the issue is significantly more prevalent than we can see. With the average age of victims being 12 and 15, we feel that it is essential that we equip children and caring adults with an understanding of exploitation, how to recognize it, how to stay safe and what to do if it happens. The Play Chelsea’s story had been written expressly for these audiences.

Ontario has the highest level of human sex trafficking in Canada, with an estimated 70% of all human trafficking activities taking place in this province (Stats Can 2016). Waterloo region has become attractive to trafficking because of the ease by which sex traffickers can transport victims over the 400 series of highways. Human sex trafficking is hard to track and is largely going undetected and under-reported.

Human sex trafficking is the sale of humans for sex. It involves deceit, force, coercion and control of a person by threats of emotional, mental and sometimes physical violence for sexual exploitation and forced commercial sex. This includes forced prostitution and sexual performance including exotic dancing and the production of pornography.

Human sex trafficking is not sex work which is a consensual transaction between adults. Human sex trafficking is not the same as human smuggling which is the illegal service of bringing people into the country unlawfully. The vast majority of sex trafficking in Canada are domestic, meaning that victimized individuals live in and never leave Canada.

MENU