The Joy Smith Foundation has been working for years on helping end human trafficking and now they're offering a workshop to educate parents. 

The founder, Joy Smith, is putting on these workshops virtually all across Canada. Some of the events are geared towards parents and others are for youth. 

"Human trafficking happens in every district and often people who haven't been touched by it don't understand what human trafficking is," says Smith who will do the presenting. "I explain to adults what it is, how the traffickers lure their kids, and I talk a lot about online luring, especially during the pandemic."

The local workshop for Manitobans is on February 9 at 7:00 pm. While the event is free, parents interested in the workshop must pre-register for it.

"I'm a Christian myself, and one thing in Christian circles that I've found is that a lot of Christians don't like to talk about it. I try to take the blame and shame away, from the families and victims, because the blame and shame should be on the shoulders of the predators themselves."

With children and teenagers spending more time on the internet for school with the pandemic restrictions, the opportunities for predators is much greater.

"Sometimes porn comes up within one click of a button. I'm going to tell them about how the kids are lured and the kids are innocent. Sometimes parents are very angry that kids see this, but they may not realize that they never had anything to do with this."

Smith's son was in the Integrated Child Exploitation Unit and his job as a Police Officer was to find the victims who were lured over the internet. That is what got Smith involved in helping end the heinous crime. 

"I have to tell you it is so quick what happens to these kids. In the Christian community, they're so reluctant to talk about it. But this is not the fault of the children, it just pops up. Parents have to talk to their kids about this."

Seeing and hearing about these incidents isn't an easy task for Smith and her team, but her experience allows her to educate parents in hopes the cycle can stop. 

"I don't want anybody to have to see what I see. You don't want anybody to have their children in the middle of this horror show."

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