Trying to limit human trafficking in North Bay

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“There’s nothing else on earth that could be worse than a police officer showing up at your door to say your daughter is dead,” according to North Bay Police Sgt. Brad Reaume.

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Reaume broke the news to Leah St. Jean’s parents.

The North Bay police sergeant was tasked with the task after being informed by Toronto police that the 32-year-old was shot and killed in a Toronto apartment in January 2021.

Her alleged killer is on trial for second-degree murder, and police have alleged that St. Jean was trafficked.

Human trafficking happens everywhere and North Bay is not immune to this crime, according to local police.

A new task force initiative to combat human trafficking was announced at North Bay Police Headquarters on Thursday evening.

This was done under the auspices of the North Bay Community Drug Strategy.

Leah St. Jean’s parents were special guests during the announcement.

Lloyd St. Jean told The Nugget he traveled to Toronto to try to save his daughter. However, he admitted he felt helpless trying to extricate her from the clutches of her alleged trafficker.

“When I went there (to Toronto), she told me she worked in a storage unit or something. I found her in a hotel room. “

Lloyd then asked his daughter what the story was, as he said it was clear she did not work in a storage unit.

“I thought you were making storage lockers.”

Lloyd said his daughter replied “Well dad, he (his alleged trafficker) makes me work on the streets”.

Lloyd said he put his daughter in his car and was ready to drive her home (to North Bay) where she was facing drug charges, but that trip never happened .

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Reaume was aware of the situation with Leah St. Jean, having dealt with some of her drug charges in North Bay.

The police sergeant says he was aware of her situation in Toronto.

“We learned that she had been trafficked about six months earlier (at the time of her death).”

North Bay police, Reaume said, were ready to go to Toronto to bring Leah home.

“We actually had an extraction team ready to go to Toronto, pick her up and bring her home. Our police department was prepared to do so if we learned of her whereabouts. Unfortunately, no one called.

The task force’s goal is to prevent another case like Leah St Jean from happening again.

Reaume said the goal was to enter transportation areas as well as hospitality areas, to use the eyes and ears (to see those people) who would frequent and stay in hotels.

Reaume wants people to contact the police if they see suspicious activity.

“People can contact the police, victim services or the National Human Trafficking Hotline if they comment on anything suspicious or suspected to be related to human trafficking. Quite quickly, this investigation could conclude with the verification of a license plate and the search for a name. Without this notification, without being aware that people are in this frame, they go unnoticed, they are ghosts. »

Constable Darcy Wall, a 16-year veteran of the North Bay Police Department, investigated some of these cases locally.

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Wall offers some advice on what to look for in human trafficking situations.

“Hotels and airbnbs are where a lot of this activity is, hotels are a bit more regulated, so it’s easier to get cooperation there, to get access to the information we need Many times a human trafficker will move the victim from one hotel to another, they will change nights and that’s why we need access to some things to help us, like check-in information. We can then put it all together to corroborate that information to see if the breach took place.

Wall says the police need help solving these types of crimes.

“People who work in hotels are helpful to us because they see it, they comment on it on reservations. They say there is alleged prostitution here. They see a constant stream of people coming into the Hall.

Constable said hotel cleaning staff can play a huge role.

“They clean the rooms afterwards, they see the evidence, so it’s important for us to have a good partnership with the hotels.”

“I don’t think it’s talked about enough,” said Const. det. Matti Primeau, member of the Anishinabek Police Service.

Primeau said perhaps other police calls for other alleged crimes could have been related to human trafficking.

“What have we missed, because human trafficking is hidden in so many other incidents. A missing person could be someone who is being trafficked. A domestic violence incident could be someone being exploited by their pimp or trafficker. Even a traffic stop, where something is a bit off (could be traffic). How do we identify these things, because we’ve probably encountered them and haven’t been able to identify them.

Primeau said that while 4% of people living in Canada are Indigenous, they represent 50% of the victims of trafficking in the country.

The initiative will also see thousands of information cards placed in area hotels to help people working or visiting to notice any activity they may believe is linked to human trafficking and to contact the police.

West Nipissing will also be part of the Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force.