Human trafficking victims find a friend in Miss Canada
LANGLEY, BC - Tara Teng is convinced that God wants her to help combat human trafficking - and in particular, to make Canadians aware that even they are not immune from this modern-day form of slavery.
It is a message the 22-year-old, third-year education student at Trinity Western University has been taking to classrooms, churches and community groups across the Lower Mainland.
"Almost every single time," Teng says, "I'll have a 15, 16-year-old girl come up to me afterwards crying and say, 'This happened to me. I just didn't know what it was called, but people tried to sell me for sex.' It's more prevalent than we think."
In its first-ever assessment of the problem in Canada, the RCMP disclosed last fall that 36 cases were before the courts, and that most of the victims were either Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
Teng's campaign received a major boost last July when she was crowned Miss British Columbia, the first Christian to receive the honour. In January, she became Miss Canada.
As a result, Teng has been able to appeal directly to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
"The next day, we got a letter from him saying that this is something that is on his heart as well," she says. "I would like to see even more, to be very honest, from him as the person entrusted with the responsibility to protect the Canadian people."
What Canada needs, say anti-trafficking advocates, is a national coordinated strategy that both adequately punishes the offenders and rescues the victims.
Even so, Teng is encouraged by the positive response from people once they learn the truth about human trafficking. "It's just inspiring to see people really become passionate and rise up and actually do things," she says.
In March Teng led Freedom Week, a series of events across Metro Vancouver designed to raise public awareness through dramatic arts, testimonials by Canadian victims of human trafficking, a prayer gathering and a rally and march.
"It's God's cause," she says. "If it was me doing all of this, it would have fallen apart a long time ago. And that's the most encouraging thing about it, that God will see that modern-day slavery ends. We're just coming alongside and being obedient."
In September, Teng will start an internship at TWU's Laurentian Leadership Centre in Ottawa. But beyond her studies and her reign as Miss Canada, she says she has no clear sense yet of what God is planning next for her.
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