About Cry Not
Human trafficking is the business of stealing freedom for profit. In some cases, traffickers trick, defraud or physically force victims into selling sex. In others, victims are lied to, assaulted, threatened or manipulated into working under inhumane, illegal or otherwise unacceptable conditions. It is a multi-billion dollar criminal industry that denies freedom to 24.9 million people around the world.
Compass Rotary Youth – No Trafficking.
CRY NOT is a volunteer organization formed by two recognized and respected groups within the Dufferin Caledon community. The Rotary Club of Orangeville and Compass Community Church were both moved to action when made aware of the threat of Human Trafficking in their area. Neither party felt qualified to undertake the involved follow-up work that can be required with Human Trafficking victims. Both parties however, did feel strongly about their ability to bring awareness of the threat, tactics, symptoms and resulting devastating personal effects of Human Trafficking to the greater Dufferin Caledon communities.
Compass Community Church has been serving the Dufferin Caledon communities for almost 160 years. Compass is a multisite church, located in Orangeville, Shelburne and Grand Valley and is committed to the spiritual transformation of people, families, and communities. At Compass, we want to be known by love and reflect the love of God in all we do. Some of our community focus has been working with single parents, women’s shelters, addressing issues of poverty, refugee settlement, summer day camps, school breakfast programs, and the local food banks. Consistent with our vision, we care deeply about our community and see Human Trafficking as a critical issue that impacts youth and families and one that we want to bring greater awareness to in our region.
The Rotary Club of Orangeville is part of Rotary International and is the longest established service club in the area. It was started in 1937. Orangeville Rotary has through fund raising, direct labour and coordination with others, worked to complete numerous community projects and events. Some of these are Rotary Park, Skateboard Park, Splash Pad facility, Ribfest and support of Headwaters Health Care and the Orangeville Food Bank. Its motto of “service above self”, speaks to its commitment to help others . Youth work has always been a focus, and to learn of Human Trafficking as a threat to our community, immediately brought forth a response to alert people to this danger.
Both of the creating parties of CRY NOT realize that working with others can be more effective than individually, so they have come together as CRY NOT, short for COMPASS ROTARY YOUTH – NO TRAFFICKING.
CRY NOT receives and expects no grant money and is totally volunteer driven, open to include other volunteers who wish to assist. Our objective in this awareness program is to work with and fully support those professional agencies also committed to the fight against Human Trafficking.
Some Canadian Numbers
Note that statistics do not accurately depict the magnitude of the issue, because most cases are never reported
%
Victims of police-reported human trafficking are women and girls
%
of all victims are under the age of 25
%
of those victims are under the age of 18
%
victims of human trafficking knew the person accused of trafficking them
%
trafficked by a friend or acquaintance
Source: Statistics Canada https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/200623/dq200623b-eng.htm
Just An Ordinary Girl
Segment from Beaten, Branded, Bought and Sold
Toronto Star Documentary-December 2015