“I was offered a job in (a brothel), I had to support my kids," she said. “I thought anywhere would be better than home."

After three years though, MacLeod went to police and told them about the murder.

As a result, Craig James Nickason pleaded guilty to Jason Petrie’s murder after his arrest in 1995 and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 14 years.

MacLeod was convicted of attempting to obstruct justice but didn’t serve any prison time.

She remained in the sex trade business for the next 13 years.

MacLeod said she didn't have family to turn to and she didn’t have a strong education that could land her a “normal job” that would support her children.

After numerous incidents with customers that included many physical assaults, MacLeod began to look for an exit strategy in 2008.

“You say ‘no’ and the violence was insane,” she recalled. “It’s totally degrading and the shame was kicking in. I was suicidal.”

MacLeod found a way out of the sex trade industry through her oldest daughter, who looked to religion and began praying for her mom.

A group of her daughter’s churchgoer friends took MacLeod under their wing.

MacLeod sought to pay it forward. She founded Rising Angels with the hopes of providing the “hundreds” of prostitutes in Peel with a way out and proving help re-integrating them into society. The organization is now helping dozens of women across Ontario.

“Brampton is one of the biggest hubs for human trafficking and pimping,” she said.

An Alliance Against Modern Slavery Ontario Coalition Research Initiative report called the Incidence of Human Trafficking in Ontario found 551 cases in Ontario between 2011 and 2013.

In the first few months of 2012, of the 60 human trafficking cases reported in Canada, 31 were Peel Regional Police investigations.

Last year, the Government of Canada announced Peel police will get about $1,260 annually to help women who want to get out of prostitution, according to the force’s annual report.

But, quitting prostitution doesn’t end with simply leaving the business, MacLeod said.

She continues to get counselling and suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from her time as a prostitute.

“I wanted to have something in place that was available for women who want to get out or who don’t have the support to get out (of the sex trade),” she said. “It comes at you and eats away at you slowly. You don’t understand the damage it has done until you walk away.”