PACT Nookimis Grandmothers inaugural International Bridge Walk Against Human Trafficking
By Lynne Brown
SAULT STE. MARIE—Human trafficking, sexploitation, along northern corridors is real. It’s dangerous and dirty, chocking on abuse and trauma. Human trafficking has sucked the life out of many young women, girls, boys, especially from northern First Nation communities. The invasive toxicity that found root in the greed & dehumanization in organized crime continues to snatch unsuspecting young people, fill them with a wretched concoction of drugs, and throw them to the wolves.
Human trafficking is the subject of an upcoming walk across The Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge. On Saturday, October 1, on Lake Superior State University (LSSU) grounds, Sault Michigan, the inaugural ‘International Bridge Walk on Raising Awareness of Human Trafficking’, led by Persons Against Crimes of Trafficking (PACT) Nookimis Grandmothers, will take place through ceremony and purposeful action. PACT is a non-profit organization based in Ottawa, Ontario.
The walk is approximately 8 kilometers long, beginning at LSSU (Parking Lot A North) moving to The Friendship Centre (East St.), Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
Rain or shine, PACT Grandmothers, and a gathering of people from First Nation communities along the north shore(s), several community agencies, and like minded individuals, from both sides of the (international) border will take intentional footsteps against human trafficking and sexploitation.
“PACT Grandmothers began with ‘Project Northern Outreach’, an off-shoot of PACT Ottawa’s human trafficking awareness initiative,” shared Marly Day-Bateman, PACT Grandmother. “The focus on outreach in Manitoulin Island and the North Shore came from a relationship between Ojibwe Grandmother & Elder Isabelle Meawasige of Serpent River First Nation, and PACT Ottawa co-founder Sheila Smith.”
“This is our first public event. About a month ago, we met with the [Sault Ste. Marie] City Police at the Resource Centre on Gore Street. Different organizations were there as well, and we shared who we were, and what we are doing. Chief Keetch was very interested. Our purpose is to educate,” stated Day-Bateman. “PACT Grandmothers have an Eagle Staff. We bring it with us wherever we go. Our Eagle Staff Carrier is Alison Recollet-Simon.”
“There is an alarming rate of our girls being swept into human trafficking. There are so many of our youth that have gotten lost. And it’s happening here, in our northern communities,” stated Day-Bateman.
“Not everyone reports a person as ‘gone missing’,” added Day-Bateman. “For example, in urban centres like Winnipeg or Thunder Bay, it may not immediately be known that a person is missing. It could be quite some time, from when a person has gone missing, to when they are reported as missing.”
Issues of poverty, transiency, mental health, and fractured families contribute to a dynamic where a person can be swept into the dark hole of human trafficking, and that information not readily be known.
“They’ll be shot full of drugs and never heard from again,” said Day-Bateman. “And once they are on the drugs, they put them out there. People that are in this [human traffickers], are continuously moving them from place to place.”
“We [PACT Nookimis Grandmothers] hold sacred bundles, and we use them when we get together. This is part of a traditional way for us to come together and pray for our progress; for the work that we do. Some of our grandmothers are pipe carriers. It’s coming from a spiritual aspect when we get together,” stated Day-Bateman.
“We’re doing this work because it is the right thing to do,” added Day-Bateman.
If you would like to learn more about the International Bridge Walk for Raising Awareness of Human Trafficking, visit: PACT (Nookimis) Grandmothers Facebook page or visit the PACT website.
To register for the International Bridge Walk, please contact: Kathleen Eshkibok at 705-575-3374; Marly Day at 705-971-3146; or Keinna Masta, 906-259-0085.