SASKATCHEWAN — The province is expanding its fight against human trafficking through a new partnership with Canadian country music star Paul Brandt and his anti-trafficking initiative #NotInMyCity, bringing specialized investigative training to frontline law enforcement agencies across Saskatchewan.
The Government of Saskatchewan announced it is providing $100,000 to #NotInMyCity through the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence to support advanced training led by the International Association of Human Trafficking Investigators.
The training will be delivered this fall to Saskatchewan RCMP, municipal police services, marshals, highway transportation officers and Indigenous police agencies. Officials say the sessions will focus on improving investigative techniques, strengthening victim-centred approaches and enhancing co-ordination between agencies responding to trafficking cases.
Human trafficking remains one of the fastest-growing crimes in Canada and often targets vulnerable youth, women and marginalized people through manipulation, coercion and exploitation.
According to the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking, the majority of reported trafficking victims in Canada are women and girls, while many cases involve victims being trafficked within Canadian borders rather than internationally.
In Saskatchewan, law enforcement and community organizations have increasingly warned about the role transportation corridors, online exploitation and organized criminal networks can play in trafficking activity across the Prairies.
“Human trafficking has no place in Saskatchewan, and our government is taking concrete action to stop it,” Minister responsible for the Status of Women Alana Ross said in a news release.
“By investing in specialized, survivor-centred training for frontline officers, we are strengthening our collective ability to identify trafficking, support survivors and hold offenders accountable.”
The province said the funding builds on Saskatchewan’s ongoing investments into programs addressing interpersonal violence and abuse. Saskatchewan currently spends more than $70 million annually on initiatives tied to victim supports, housing programs, awareness campaigns and legal services.
The partnership also continues Saskatchewan’s growing relationship with #NotInMyCity, which hosted its national Maddison Sessions anti-trafficking conference in Saskatoon in 2025.
The conference brought together frontline investigators, prosecutors and law enforcement agencies from across Canada to share intelligence, investigative techniques and survivor support strategies.
Brandt founded #NotInMyCity in 2017 after he and his wife Liz were deeply impacted by witnessing human trafficking conditions during a trip to Cambodia years earlier.
In an interview, Brandt said the experience changed their lives permanently and exposed them to the reality that trafficking was also happening in Canada.
“We learned that human trafficking is alive and well and a major issue here in Canada,” Brandt explained. “So we started #NotInMyCity in response to that and it grew rapidly.”
Brandt said many Canadians still misunderstand what trafficking looks like.
He noted people often associate trafficking with kidnappings or international crime syndicates portrayed in movies, when many Canadian victims are manipulated through relationships, trust and coercion.
“What they should really be thinking about is trust, because it’s such a violation of trust of a person,” Brandt said.
“Many victims don’t even understand that they’re being trafficked. They think that the person that’s trafficking them is their friend or that they’re in a relationship with them.”
The organization has expanded significantly over the past decade, evolving from a grassroots awareness campaign into a national initiative involving airports, transportation industries, hotels, police agencies and community organizations.
Brandt said one of the organization’s major goals is ensuring frontline agencies across Canada are working together in every way possible.
“Investigators are working with a no borders approach across the country for the first time in history over the last four years,” Brandt stated. “We are very grateful for the support of the Government of Saskatchewan.”
Justice Minister and Attorney General Tim McLeod said the training partnership represents another step in Saskatchewan’s broader anti-trafficking efforts.
“The funding being provided here and the training it will deliver are a continuation of that relationship and a firm example of the work Saskatchewan is undertaking to eliminate human trafficking in our province,” McLeod said in a news release.
Community Safety Minister Michael Weger added that strengthening co-operation between agencies is critical to identifying trafficking cases and supporting victims earlier.
Brandt also pointed to success stories already emerging from #NotInMyCity’s awareness training programs across Canada.
He recalled meeting an airport security worker in Fort McMurray who recognized his organization’s yellow rose symbol while screening passengers.
“She said, ‘I took training a month ago and two weeks ago I identified a victim and I knew what to do,’” Brandt recounted.
“This is the kind of story that we are hearing more and more across the country.”
The organization’s free online awareness training is available publicly through its official website and is designed to help Canadians recognize signs of trafficking and understand how to respond safely.
Brandt said public awareness remains one of the biggest challenges because many Canadians still do not realize trafficking is happening in their own communities.
“When it comes to human trafficking, it’s everybody’s responsibility,” he said. “When we have awareness and we put it into action, we can actually end child exploitation and human trafficking.”
