The Joy Smith Foundation is Canada’s leading authority on the prevention and intervention of human trafficking and provides support for survivors of this horrific crime. It’s a responsibility we take seriously. Over the years, the Joy Smith Foundation has helped over 7,000 human trafficking survivors and their families restore their lives by reuniting, healing and integrating back into their communities.  

There is hope! Survivors can heal. Families can be reunited. Justice can be served. 

How will the funds being raised by Joyful Ascent: Mt. Kilimanjaro be used?  

Funds raised by this event will:

• Provide educational programs to youth, parents, first responders, educators, human trafficking survivors, community leaders and those working in the justice system, and 

• Assist survivors and their families to restore their lives by getting them the support they need to heal and integrate back into their communities. 

About Human Trafficking in Canada  

Human trafficking can be described as modern-day slavery and often involves the recruitment, transportation, or harbouring of persons for the purpose of exploitation, typically in the sex trade or through forced labour. 

Human trafficking exists in two main forms in Canada: sex trafficking and forced labour. 

Unfortunately, it is a lucrative criminal enterprise and traffickers are actively recruiting every day in Canadian urban and rural areas, and across provincial borders. It’s a growing Canadian problem that goes largely unnoticed. 

It is happening in cities and towns across our country. Every day, at-risk youth and adults are manipulated and forced to participate in the sex trade or labour market. What starts as a seemingly innocent conversation online or in real life can quickly turn into something sinister that affects lives forever. 

It can happen anywhere at any time. Less than a kilometre from where you live today, someone is being lured into trafficking. 

Individuals are lured into the sex trade or forced labour every day in Canada because they are unaware of the malicious tactics used by predators.  

One of the key focuses of the Joy Smith Foundation is the prevention of human trafficking through improved education and awareness. The most important first step you can take toward helping combat this issue is to know the facts. In 2021, the Joy Smith Foundation launched the National Human Trafficking Education Centre to share information on prevention nationwide.  

Knowledge is our greatest protection. The more we know and understand about human trafficking, the more we can do to prevent it. 

Learn to see the signs of human trafficking at traffickingsigns.ca.