American researcher says Native women being trafficked in Minnesota

American researcher Christine Stark says Native women from communities in Canada, including Thunder Bay, are being trafficked on ships in Duluth harbour. Stark was one of five women who interviewed 105 Native trafficked women in Minnesota for the report “Garden of Truth: The Prostitution and Trafficking of Native Women in Minnesota.” Stark talked with Jody Porter of the CBC, saying “The women and children — and I’ve even had women talk about a couple of babies brought onto the ships and sold to the men on ships — are being sold or are exchanging sex for alcohol, a place to stay, drugs, money and so forth. It’s quite shocking.” Stark said there is an excessive amount of trafficking between Canada and Minnesota. Porter reports the trafficking has gone on for decades and others have heard the stories. “We know that it’s happening between Winnipeg and Thunder Bay, and there have been reports of it happening in southern Ontario across the U.S. border,” said Kezia Picard, the director of policy and research with the Ontario Native Women’s Association. Stark had disclosed some of her study in an article for the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Aug. 3. She writes, “In contrast to the myth that prostitution is a freely chosen profession: 92 per cent of the women in our study want to escape prostitution, a number similar to other national and international results, 98 per cent had been or were homeless, 79 per cent had been sexually abused as girls by an average of four perpetrators, 84 per cent had been physically assaulted in prostitution, 72 per cent suffered traumatic brain injuries in prostitution, 52 per cent had post-traumatic stress disorder, a rate equivalent with combat veterans.”