WATERLOO REGION - Girls as young as 12 are being exploited into sex trafficking, says the new anti-human trafficking support worker at the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region.

Since January, Nicky Carswell said she's been referred to 40 girls, all of whom are now between 14 and 17, are living in the region and were recruited into sex trafficking. Two of the referrals were teenage boys.

"They are telling me they started back when they were 12 years old," she said.

Carswell said many of the vulnerable girls are forced and manipulated into providing sexual services against their will.

The men who coerce them are "Romeo pimps" who pose as boyfriends and gain the girls' trust and love.

"These guys are smart, skilled and looking for vulnerabilities," she said. The men range in age from 18 to 24.

"It's not prostitution. It's exploitation," she said. "There is difference between sex work and sex trafficking."

Carswell said 70 per cent of sex trafficking in Canada occurs in Ontario, most of it in hotels and motels along the Highway 401 corridor.

One local girl was trafficked in hotels from Montreal to London, she said.

In 2015, Waterloo Regional Police reported 27 instances of human trafficking in the region - 26 involved sex trafficking and one was labour trafficking.

In 2017, police charged 14 people for sex trafficking offences.

Last year, the sexual assault support centre was among various agencies given provincial funding over three years to assist sex trafficking survivors. The local agency received $370,455 for programming and hired Carswell to help the young women.

Sara Casselman, the centre's executive director, said there is also additional funding through the region - $171,160 - to assist with housing and help the young women pay rent.

Casselman hopes to hire another support worker to hold workshops and bring community awareness to the issue.

Carswell said the support program is trying to help the young girls set up a life that will allow them to live a different lifestyle.

"They need a place to live. They need to feel safe," she said. "We are trying to instil hope."

Carswell said traffickers use social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat to find girls and reach out to them in private chats.

She said many of the girls have low self-esteem and are made to feel glamorous when "riding in cars with boys" and going to parties, they receive gifts of clothing and cellphones and get their nails, hair and eyelashes done.

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Some girls are fed drugs in the grooming process, making them even more dependent on their trafficker, she said.

The men are sneaky and want the girls to be afraid of them, said Carswell. In one case, a girl was told by her pimp that he knew her mother's running route and that her sister was pregnant to ensure she complied.

Carswell said it takes at least eight meetings with survivors to get them to trust her and understand that she is trying to help.

Assistance includes counselling, finding housing, getting to the doctor, and often dealing with family and children's services.

Carswell said the young women have severe trauma and fear, and are coping with addiction and mental health issues.

"They are fairly hardened," she said.

Carswell said girls used to be "branded" with tattoos, but the practice appears to be used less because the tattoos can be used as evidence in court.

The centre says it could use canned goods, pasta, peanut butter, soup and toiletries such as shampoo and conditioner to give to survivors. Items can be dropped off at the 300-151 Frederick St.

lmonteiro@therecord.com

Twitter: @MonteiroRecord