Sudbury-based group developing court education videos for human trafficking survivors

Faith Greco · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 09, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: July 9

A Sudbury-based enactment that supports quality trafficking survivors is producing a caller video bid to assistance radical navigate Ontario's tribunal system.

Angels of Hope Against Human Trafficking has received implicit $280,000 from the Law Foundation of Ontario to money the project. Cristina Scarpellini, the group's laminitis and enforcement director, said the videos volition assistance survivors recognize their rights and what's progressive successful the ineligible process.

She said galore survivors accessing services inquire what the ineligible process volition beryllium similar erstwhile trying to clasp perpetrators to account, and she tells them how court tin beryllium particularly "re-traumatizing" during cross-examinations.

"I privation them to beryllium much comfy and prepared for these questions and beryllium alert that you cognize opposing counsel. This is their occupation to do. This is to transverse analyse the unfortunate oregon subsister and unfortunate blasted and shame to get their lawsuit disconnected connected these charges and not to instrumentality it personally, though it's highly hard," Scarpellini said. 

The videos, acceptable to beryllium released successful English and French successful July 2027 volition beryllium led by survivors who person already been done the tribunal system.

"Survivors are the experts successful this," Scarpellini said. "They've lived done it, truthful they're the champion ones to explicate this to different survivors."

The task is being developed successful concern with Timea's Cause, a survivor-led enactment based successful confederate Ontario. Founder Timea Nagy was trafficked from Hungary into Canada erstwhile she was 21.

'Court process was agelong and painful'

Nagy said she was trafficked for 3 months, successful hiding for a twelvemonth and went to police a twelvemonth aft that. 

In the end, she spent six years progressive successful tribunal proceedings. 

"The tribunal process was agelong and painful, and astir importantly, adjacent astatine the champion effort of the constabulary officer, I truly hardly understood fractional of it, however it works, and astir often, I felt benignant of lost," Nagy said. 

Nagy said the extremity of the video bid is to forestall disorder for different survivors truthful they tin recognize what's happening astatine each measurement of the ineligible process. 

"That way, they consciousness much empowered to marque informed decisions erstwhile it comes to facing their traffickers oregon perpetrators successful court," she said. 

Scarpellini said the Angels of Hope primitively focused connected northeastern Ontario, but present supports survivors crossed the province. She added that Sudbury remains a hotspot for quality trafficking by transgression organizations. 

"After the amerciable cause trade, quality trafficking is the 2nd astir lucrative market," she said. "It's not going anywhere."