From Thursday, September 6 until Saturday, September 15, LSTAR member Stan Burditt (pictured at centre), who is also founder of M.A.S.T. – Men Against Sexual Trafficking, departed on the “Walk for Freedom” – a trek from London, Ontario, to Queen’s Park in Toronto.
Stan was walking to raise awareness about the crimes of human sex trafficking that take place every day in Ontario and also to lobby the provincial government for a better legislation and more resources for law enforcement, non-governmental organizations and other groups working against this horrendous crime.
“Being well aware of the enormity of the problem of underage girls being trafficked for the sex trade in Ontario we wanted to put an end to this,” explains Stan. “We feel that the provincial government is far behind other jurisdictions in its dedication to fighting this problem. There is also a significant amount of labour trafficking happening, as witnessed by the recent Opapa case in Hamilton.”
The journey covered about 21 kilometres every day and stops were made at City Hall in Woodstock, Bartford, Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga, and at Queen’s Park in Toronto. A petition, signed by hundresd of Ontairo residents, asking for a better legislation and more funding for the fight against human trafficking will soon be presented to the Provincial Government. Awareness raising events were held along the way in Woodstock, Burlington, and Missiiauga.
On Saturday, September 15, the “Walk for Freedom” joined with 800 other walkers from the “Freedom Walk” who marched up University Avenue in Toronto to Queen’s Park, accompanied by members of the Toronto Police Force on bikes and motorcycles. The “Walk for Freedom” received substantial media coverage along the way and many more Ontarians are now aware of the problem of sexual trafficking.
