Episode Two: Surviving and Knowledge Sharing with Stephanie Harpe

In Episode 2 of Stolen Voices, our host Nicole Robertson is joined by Stephanie Harpe for a powerful conversation centred on survival, resilience, and the importance of knowledge sharing.

Stephanie Harpe is a survivor, advocate, and dedicated voice in the fight against human trafficking and violence impacting Indigenous communities. Drawing from her lived experience, she has become a strong leader in raising awareness, supporting others on their healing journeys, and working alongside organizations to create safer, more informed communities.

In this episode, Stephanie speaks candidly about her experiences, the realities of exploitation, and the critical role that education and community connection play in prevention and healing. This conversation highlights the strength found in storytelling and the responsibility we all share in listening, learning, and taking action.

Stolen Voices is a podcast from G4 Justice that centres the voices, experiences, and solutions surrounding Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) and human trafficking.

For inquiries or to connect with the show, email StolenVoicesThePodcast@gmail.com

New episodes are released twice a month on Wednesdays.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:08

Welcome to Stolen Voices, the fight against human trafficking in First Nation communities. I'm your host, Nicole Robertson. This podcast was created to shine a light on the realities of human trafficking, impacting First Nation people across Turtle Island and to honor the survivors, advocates, community leaders, and frontline workers who refuse to stay silent. Our conversations come from a place of truth, respect, and responsibility. Many of us working in this field, whether through community engagement, frontline response, survivor support, or research, know that human trafficking doesn't happen in isolation. It is connected to colonization, systematic racism, poverty, exploitation, and the long-standing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirited peoples. Today's episode features someone whose voice has become a powerful force in this fight, a woman who turned her lived experiences into a movement for change. Stephanie Harp is an internationally recognized Indigenous human rights advocate, survivor, musician, and a fierce warrior in the movement against human trafficking and MMEIP, missing, murdered, and exploited Indigenous People. She's a proud member of the Fort Mackay First Nation and has spent years raising awareness about exploitation, violence, and systematic neglect through keynote speaking, community training, government, advisory roles, and international platforms. Stephanie's work is trauma-informed, survivor-led, rooted in cultural strength. She supports families and communities navigating the impacts of trafficking and violence, and she is known for her unwavering courage to speak the truth, even when the truth is difficult for others to hear. She has dedicated her life to saving others, and today she joins us to share her story, her knowledge, and her message of strength and survival. Stephanie, thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

For listeners who may be new to your work, can you share what first moved you into the advocacy um role of human trafficking and MMEIP?

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Yes. So for something that has affected my whole life since I was born. First of all, that's what really changed my whole life. When my mother was murdered in Edmonton in 1999 by a man who stalked her across the country, she escaped him in another province. She came back home and uh he found her and he took her life. Um that uh really navigated my my life into a deeper, darker place after that. I didn't want to live anymore. And um, so I was uh downtown involved in with organized crime syndicates, and I was also uh, you know, um uh running around with um people on the streets and you know, gang members were a part of that as well. And um these are things I cannot really uh put a name to for my safety, but I have been very fortunate to survive all of that and and to have seen what uh levels of survival look like on ground level on streets, and um so that was something that really um affected me in in such uh such a way that I uh had to find my way back. I had to find my way back out of the darkness. I um had you know um my own survival experience. Um I was um with uh with this guy, and I had just newly met him, and we wanted to go party, as they say a lot, and um I was using drugs at the time, and um yeah, he tried to murder me. I had a side satchel and a pair of nickel nail clippers, um, saved my life. Um so as I took those nail clipper, the cleaner that you clean you clean your nails with, as I took that out and had it in my hand and struck him in the neck and he jumped off of me. I ran. I ran for my life. I ran so fast, I ran out of my shoes.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

Jeez.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

I ran out of my shoes. I'm screaming, and it's in the dark, and this is off Yellowhead Trail here in Ebmonton and more of the industrial area. I know he was a trucker. Uh uh, you know, he was he was someone who drove truck for a living. And um he was also a man from a another country, and um, you know, I ran towards that gas station and uh screaming and crying, someone trying to kill me, someone trying to kill me, please phone the police. They phoned the police, and during their conversation, they asked, what nationality is she at the end of the conversation. And back then we said um Aboriginal or native, and that's what I was saying. I'm I'm I'm native, I'm native. And um the phone was hung up, I sat there. The guy was doing everything he could to calm me down. Um and they left me there, they never came. So that was a really long walk home in my bare feet, knowing that this is how it is, knowing this is how I'm I'm I'm viewed, knowing that um the guy could have come back to get me, you know. So that was a long walk home in my shoes, uh, without my shoes. And I just thought to to as I I'm looking down, walking, I just I said, I I have to change something. I can't this, I just I'm alive. I'm lucky to be alive. I have to change something. Something's gotta give. I can't keep doing this or I'm gonna die. Um after that, um, my I I I I thought I found a good guy. He was um he tried to um he put a ring on my finger. He he he really tried to you know get me close to him. Um and I said yes, that I would marry him. We were engaged, and uh he was involved with some serious, very serious, dangerous people. I didn't know our lives were at stake because of this drug debt that he had, and he exploited me for a short time here in Edmonton. And so from that survival, I kept running away, running away, but he would beat me really, really brutally every single day. I still have injuries and scars and and and things I have to deal with on a daily. Um, and uh so, you know, and that was too, you know, that was too close of a call to where I'm I'm close to death again. Um so I was really fortunate that the police actually did do their job, and they know that he was he was hurting me and he was controlling me and exploiting me, and the police um actually did charge him, and that's how I got away. And after that, um I met my now husband, and we've been together. This this was this is all happening maybe 26 years ago. We've been together for about 26 years. Now we changed our lives, and that was it. You know, I I I I made a choice not to keep surviving, I made a choice to start living, and um, and that's what brought me here today.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Thank you, Hi, you know, for sharing uh very, you know, intimate details of what's occurred in your life. And I know, you know, from speaking with others in our community that um there's been many high-profile cases in the media that come to mind about a trucker up in Edmonton, it also brings to mind, you know, some of the men that are in uh our women's lives, indigenous women, you know, um that are stuck for you know many reasons. And if you could give them some kind of, you know, um how they got, how you got out, you know, I know that that's something that a lot of our our um you know a lot of our women and uh two spirit and others that uh they deal with on a day-to-day. And maybe if you can give some words of advice how you got out.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

Sure. I think that's really important uh question. Thank you for asking that. Um so the steps that I took were I was being very sneaky about having my stuff leave the hotel room that he had me trapped in. So it's very strategic. Um, so I had talked the the owner of the hotel, they knew what was going on. They tried to help. It just, you know, it just kept, you know, they tried to help, and I just told them if they could please have a box. So over the fence, there was a there was um our our hotel room was here and there was a fence around it, and we were in the corner, and that's where I and that's where he moved us. I thought he was gonna kill me. Um, I know people had died in that hotel room before. So I was really, really because he moved us from the front of the hotel to the back corner of the hotel around this fence. So I was just deathly afraid at this point because I kept trying to run away. He and that's why he moved us. Um, so I had asked the hotel person to leave a box outside of the of the um fence and just to keep an eye on it. So I slowly started putting my stuff and throwing them over the fence into this box, and then she would come and take this box to the front desk and hold it for me. And then I would say, okay, can you put the box out? So I'd slowly, slowly started to take my stuff out of there so that he wouldn't notice. Um, because when I was with him, he destroyed everything I had. I really didn't have very much left. I had lost everything. And um, you know, there was one time where I had everything. Um so he destroyed a lot of my stuff. So I just wanted to have some fragments of my life to take with me when I do run away again. And I kept running away. I kept running away, I kept running away. I was too scared to charge him. Um, I think that's the biggest mistake is I should have charged him. I should have charged him, and I should have kept charging him, and I should have had a protective order, and I should have done all these things that I I couldn't do because when you're on the street, um like you say something, then you're labeled, and that's dangerous too. So that was really difficult, very, very difficult. Because um, you know, I just wanted to make sure that you know I'm I'm I'm still safe, even even if I was still surviving, even if I did go back to jail, like I'm not gonna be, I'm not gonna be hurt. So that there's a big uh uh balance there. And many of us know of this. Now, I should have done and made those those better choices, but here's the thing. If someone would have educated me better, now back then we didn't have these resources, we didn't have these people, we didn't have people that really cared about indigenous people. It's different now, right? So now um I really I I really hope that you know police and RCMP are are um informing you of what you can do, charges you can lay, process you can make, protection that you can have, right? I'm just hoping that they're doing that, but at the same time, there's no trust there, right? I know some some uh handful of great RCMP, I know a handful of great uh Emmitton police service. The rest of them I can't, I don't trust. I can't. It's that's hard for me because I've had police help me and I've had police hurt me, right? I've had RCMP help me, and I've had an RCMP officer stalk me, right? Over the years. So that's that's really hard. That's really hard. So this this is the thing, is like what we're realizing is the colonial spaces aren't gonna do what we need them to do. We're we're finding that out now. It's 2025, they know what the problems are, they're going to profit off the suffering of our people. So we um what we need to do as indigenous people, we need to be informative and protecting each other. That's what we should be doing. As Metis people, Inuit people, First Nations people. If we keep fighting with each other, we're never going to be safe. Lateral violence is the is has to be addressed in all of this. If we loved ourselves and if we loved each other and showed a strong nation, it would be totally different. It would be totally different. But we are spewing our trauma all over each other. So I think what the greatest thing is, is just we we need to really dive deep and be empowered in our safety, right? Um, we need to be empowered of it, empowered in it, we need to be educated in it, we need to know what our options are, and we need to take self-initiatives, like knowing basic self-defense. You know, I put my kids in taekwondo, so my children are the first Indigenous children to be national taekwondo champions of Canada, right? Right? So my daughter, I've seen my daughter take down three guys when she was 13. So I know she's gonna be safe, and I know that you know, that's that's it's a that's a really good thing. And then also with the the new things that are happening when it jeopardizes our safety, these are things that we have to do, and we have to do a lot of it ourselves, and we need to do self-registry um as well. So we need to have a really good pick of ourselves, high definition, especially for our loved one that is that is surviving out there. And we need to have pictures of our teeth, our scars, our um tattoos. Um, we need to take a hair follicle and put it in a in a plastic bag, don't touch it with your fingers, but you know, and and and we need to have all of this self-registry um because we can't trust the colonial spaces to do their job. So we we need to do this. These are things that we need to do. And um, we need to be assertive when we charge, we need to be assertive in our protection, but when they're re-releasing, right? And we see all these horrible things where they're they're just re-offending, re-offending, re-offending, and they're releasing them. You know, that's that's a that's a big worry. So a lot of the crimes that are against indigenous people really don't fit, you know, the sentencing. It really doesn't fit. It doesn't fit. So that shows us a lot of not only what they do, but what they don't do, right? So we have to remember this country has always had an agenda against us and that that's still alive and well. So we need to do things ourselves and for each other and really protect each other and know that I can phone 211. Here's the thing I can phone 211 if I see human trafficking. I know this because I trained them, right? So a lot of people need to know what are what are places they can report to, what are safe spaces that they have. This is the this is the biggest thing. And I've told um everyone across the country I'm at 88 First Nations, I'm at 23 Metis settlements, and you know, I'm gonna be going up north here soon. And I've told everybody you need to have the list of your murdered missing and you're exploited. You need to have that list. Every leader needs to be a leader and collect that. Okay. And then we need 24 hours secured, safe space in every nation, every Metis settlement in every Inuit community to protect children and to protect our people. Because right now we can't, there's no place for us to go. And when it comes to human trafficking, there's 15 beds in the province of Alberta. That's a problem. That's a problem. Yeah, and and then and then where do we go? Like, here's the thing: where do we go? If I'm gonna go report or whatever, or something happens, like, or I'm intoxicated and they throw me in the drunk tank, or I go to the hospital and 24-hour emergency, they're gonna let me sit there and die like they did with that indigenous man in Winnipeg in the wheelchair. They're not, you know, so it's hard. It's hard. So that's what I mean. We need to have our own people's backs, we need to swash our beefs, we need to come together, we need to stop with the fighting and the lateral violence because as long as we fight with each other, we let them win. Right? So the fight isn't between you and I, the fight is out there with the people that fail us every day. So that's what we need to do.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

Thank you for that. Oh, that's there's so much truth and everything that you know, I just I'm just happy that you've you've laid out some resources and some good knowledge um and truths. Um, you've spoken about the connection between trafficking, colonial violence, and resource extraction. From your perspective, as um coming from the heart of the oil sands of at Fort Mackay, that's uh surrounded by um what Fort McMurray. Um, what are the links between all of these issues?

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Well, the links between all of these issues is um just uh pain. It's pain, it's the trauma, it's the linking issue between everything. Everything. If I loved myself, I would never put myself in unsafe situations. I would never do drugs, I would never um put myself in a dangerous situation dating uh a man. I would stay in public places, I would be very strategic. I wouldn't let them pick me up at home. I wouldn't let people know where I live on social media, I wouldn't let people know where I work. I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't do these things. Like we need to like people don't understand, especially kids. They're online, they're on Facebook. Um, they're you're letting people know where you are. You're you're telling everybody everything. Like there should be more online protection and more online um uh security there and more of an education. Um so that's that's the linkage, is is that we're not safe. And here's the other linkage is that we're seen as disposable. Yeah. And that that's that's I think is the the the the most sickening and horrific fact. Yeah. Is that's what it is that that you can get away with it, that you can get away with it. It doesn't matter what you do to us, and and um, you know, it it just it just shocks me. It just shocks me that they can just get away with all these horrible things and uh Tina Fontaine and Colton Bushy and uh Cindy Gladiew, and you know, I've sat at a table with Cindy's mom, you know? So I Nina Quaterpat, right? Nina Quaterpat. No one talks about Nina, who was taken from West Him into Maul, a little girl, you know, raped and and brutally murdered by other kids, you know, and and here's the other thing, the horrific fact is that we have kids killing kids. We have kids luring kids into human trafficking as well, teenagers, right? You know, um young young kids being trafficked as well. So, you know, it's uh um these are these are the the facts.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

Jeez. You know, I um think of some of the misconceptions like you just you know listed. And when you see people outside of our communities um talking about trafficking, you know, they see it as maybe you know, the there's a lot of misconceptions, let's put it that way. Um what would you say is is, you know, maybe the top three uh Misconceptions about human trafficking.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Human trafficking is not fictional. It's not fictional. It's not just in the movies. It's not something that uh that is it's it's um it's it's right close to you, right? So people don't understand. Human trafficking is at least twelve blocks or thirteen blocks away from you in some form every rich direction that you go. So we talk about our directions, every direction there is a survivor, right? And the other misconception is that oh, this isn't happening to children. Yes, it is happening to children. This is happening to children, where we have foster parents taking their foster kids, selling them for sex in hotel rooms on the weekends, in the evenings. And another misconception is um just because you don't see it doesn't mean it ain't there. Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing crimes in Canada, it is everywhere, it is everywhere. I've been in meetings where we're talking about this, and there's survivors at the table. I, you know, so when uh people need to think of it this way when you go and you get up every day and you go to work, someone is a survivor there. When your child wakes up every day to go to school, there is a child surviving there. Right? When I go to the mall, there's gonna be at least maybe 30 people that are survivors there, right? You have to the misconception is because you don't see it, it's not there. Daytime people do not see nighttime survival. You have to remember that. Right? That's the that's the biggest thing. So where do nighttime survivors go? Exactly what we just talked about earlier. Yeah, right? So they can't they can't go to those spaces that they'll they they die in cells, they die at the hospital, they die in these places. We have we don't have the right place to go. And when it comes to our traditional ways, where's our night lodges? Yeah, where's our night lodges? Where's our 24 hour safe secure space? You know, where are the extra beds that need to be? We're spending all this money like in the wrong places, and it's it's frustrating. It's frustrating, but again, that's a preventative again. So we have to be, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:41

Yeah. So when you're talking about even like the mall and stuff like that, you know, I often you know wonder, um what are some of the like the warning signs or risk indicators to encourage you know, people that are listening, um, and leaders to pay attention to, you know, like what could we be doing, you know, as even uh parents and stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_01 25:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

So so it's really important that we understand that if you're out there and you're not aware, you will be targeted. Plain and simple. If you're out there and you're indigenous and visual visual visually indigenous, you're in danger, right? So it's a it's a that's that's that's what it is. Um and with the online learning and grooming right now, we don't even have people talking about sex tortion enough, right? So when sextortion is happening to a lot of our young people and they're they're they're they're it's contributing to the suicide epidemic here, um uh it's it's it's horrific. It's just it's really sad. So when a young person is online and sends pictures of themselves or videos of themselves sexually or nude, and the the perp gets those um and researches that kid, finds their social media, finds their parents, their their family members, and says, I'm taking these pictures in this video, I'm gonna send it to your family if you don't keep sending me these. And some of the kids, if they have online PayPal or Pay Account, um, they they make money from it. So that's a very dangerous thing as well. And when we have the average age of children by 10 or 12, that's when they get the phone, right? So we're not like as parents, we are not sitting down with the these these kids and saying, before you're allowed to have this phone, these are things that you need to know the dangers, right? And also, uh, parents and and children, parents, do not let your child lock you out of their phone. Do not ever let them lock you out. You they if they're under your roof, you need to know what is happening, what conversations are being said, and and the luring is even through video games as well. So when we have Roblox, 10-year-old boy lured from Roblox, meets a male man here in Edmonton, brutally raped. The guy gets gets gets caught, and the sentence doesn't fit the crime. It's disgusting. It's disgusting. This is horrific. That poor boy, that those poor that poor family, you know. He's playing a video game. Now, when Roblox um is not being accountable, by the way, a lot of these things online and a lot of these apps all have messenger for a stranger to get a hold of your child, and we're not educating all these kids enough about it. So I I do age appropriate all of this, all of this, all of this. I have to age appropriate it all because how dare us keep it away from children when they're surviving it.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

So when we have a young girl as as young as 12 being taken from BC and sold in Fort McMurray, she's she's ordered, you know, uh, and and there's a big sting in bust, and she busts a Jamaican trafficking ring that have been selling children in Canada for 25 years. Right? So that needs to be talked about. So I age appropriate this information. Um, right now I'm working with Treaty 8, we're doing uh 5 to 10 um education and all of this, and body parts and body boundaries, and what you call your body parts, because in court, if the child does not um um say what their body part is properly, the abuser and the sexual abuser or rapist um can can get away with what they did to the child because they didn't name the body part correctly. That's so we've seen this happen in court before. I've been court supports for many families on many different levels, and um, so we have to we're doing that, and then we have from 10 to 17. So we're working on that right now. But I work with the Downing Renjak Fund. They want me in schools across Canada, so I've been in many schools, but um, and also uh, you know, I'm still in schools doing braided journey programs and things like that. So we have to age appropriate this information because it is happening to them. This is happening to children. Um and um the younger, the more money it is as well. So the other thing contributing to not just human trafficking, but we're not talking about organ harvesting. Um, so that's the leading reason why we have so many missing young people, because it is a very, very um, it's like um minerals, it goes higher and higher up in demand financially every single year. Now I've been doing this work for 16 years. A heart used to be, you know, $150,000. Now it's a million. Right? So people don't talk about this truth either. This is contributing. So this is why we got so many young people at the malls getting drugged, right? We have them being followed, and we teach them what to do in the mall. I've done safety audits here at whenever there's a kid grabbed, um, whatever location, like for instance, here at Kingsway Mall, a young 10-year-old girl was grabbed by um some guys. It was very, very calculated. It was right near a uh exit, and um, so we had to go and do a uh uh safety audit, right? And the the the mall didn't allow me. It doesn't matter, and they should have. They should be doing these safety audits, they shouldn't be having protocols put in place, and they didn't. They they don't want to, you know, they don't want to ruffle, they don't want people to know. So I went there with a bunch of indigenous youth and we ran through that whole mall.

SPEAKER_02 30:48

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

So that's what I'm saying as grassroots. This is the impact of the grassroots, because we just get it done.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

We just get it done.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

I'm so happy that you are taking up this fight and bringing people with you because that's where it starts at the grassroots and what you're talking about, because you know, it's it's we're living in a time that is there's so many things that have uh come forward, you know, that is super dark, and these things have happened before, you know. Um, I was a former reporter and you know, had done some stories. Um I essentially what started my work in that area was I lost my friend when I was 15, um, the late Neil Stonechild, uh, during those starlight tours in Saskatoon. And um, you know, I know a lot of what you you speak about, and that's the thing is that, you know, as an advocate yourself, you know, when we talk about the need for like culturally grounded safety strategies, what does like that look like? Because I know that culture has literally saved my life and the creator, of course, like through our ways of being. Um, you know, what what does culturally safe, you know, anti-trafficking work look like to you?

SPEAKER_01 32:31

Well, it's uh this this all starts with a a lot of like the sexual assaults. Okay, so I've been I've been to like I said, 88 First Nations, and I have sexual um um sexual abuse uh addressing and structure, not one nation booked it. So if we're in if it I think it's the sexual abuse that really hurts and leads into a lot of this. And um, you know, and when we have these resources in our cities and in our towns and stuff like that, a lot of it is not culturally based. So when our people go to these spaces to get help, we don't feel we don't feel anything. You know, as soon as we get to that area where someone's speaking our language or someone's visually visibly indigenous or someone's like like is is uh uh uh caring and and is uh and they lead by love, that's a big thing. Because as survivors, we read a lot of energy. We read people very, very well. So when I walk into the room, I'm gonna know by this person's energy that I'm in a good place. I'm in a good space. Now, if they start speaking their language or my language, I'm even gonna feel safer. It's just a it's just a natural, like you said, a natural thing that comes and warms us up like a fire, right? So that'd be nice if they had a fire too, because we just need that warmth. We need those traditional ways. And you know, we have the tear burning ceremony with the fire, you know, that's really healing. I've been um uh the watchmakers are passing that um ceremony on to me because they know the families need it, right? Um, and you know, as a spiritual person who's been visited by spirit, you know, having a star, an orb, a star in my home, right here in this hallway, right through this door. When I was when I asked for it, it was sent to me. Now, when I've been on this path, it's been too designed, it got too big. It was just too like wow, you know you're on your path when. So when the spirit world starts evolving and and creators start sending, and and it's a whole other thing. So we just did um a gathering for families of missing loved ones because they don't get enough help. So we just did that together. So what that star taught me was that was my mother, my mother's a light, right? That was my mother, she is a light. So what that visit taught me was I came up with star therapy for missing families with that, you know, because not waking up every day not knowing, I just I can't imagine. I just I can't. I just I want to do everything I can for them because they get the least amount of resources. So I did star therapy, talked about my visit, talked about how how with indigenous people, dreams, and visions and visits, we don't know which is which because we're so connected, so strong culturally and spiritually. And then we had George Desjolais come with his big dome that fit 22 people, and he did traditional star teachings. Wow. And then we had Carrie Thomason come in, who is the indigenous missing person's navigator, and asked ever they asked every question, what were their rights? What can they do? What's the process? What can now be done? What can they further do? I mean, everyone uh left there fulfilled, and and and when that's when you know you've done your job, is you've you've you've fulfilled them, you've give them everything that they need to function a day by day, because functioning is is that's what it is when you're you don't know what happened to your loved one. So so you know, things like that uh culturally, connected, uh, spiritually. Um, I think it's really uh needed right now because of the the risks and and the state of mental health right now for everybody. So I think cultural and spiritual needs to come in even stronger. And with Western medicines and pills are not the answer. We've had our traditional medicines here forever. We need to explore that way more than ever now.

SPEAKER_02 36:57

Absolutely. And um, you know, when I was just mentioning, I just want to make make it you know known that um me myself, um I would consider myself a survivor of losing a bunch of friends growing up with them and to to things that were preventable, you know. And um, like you, you know, had decided to um, you know, just decide to to do things differently. And I went to school and just completely, you know, of course there was bumps along the way. And um I try now, you know, with certain family members to be that support. I know that in you know the urban, especially, it's hard to find that support mechanisms because there's not a lot, especially if you're coming from like a family that you know that's so fragmented because of a lot of intergenerational trauma. There's you know, been that um there isn't that support. So looking at, you know, you've you've done some international work, you've spoken at the United Nations. How does Canada compare in its response to um human trafficking, but specifically indigenous trafficking?

SPEAKER_01 38:24

It's uh it's vacant and empty. So I was on a national human trafficking uh meeting, and one of the major presenters in the middle of the country, I won't name names, but uh the one of the major people that are doing the work in the middle of this country, one of the hottest spots in the country um as well, um had their box of indigenous and their box of Hispanic and their box of Asian, and all these were empty in their presentation. After I had met all of them in a room in Edmonton here, gave them my card, told them who I was, how I could help, and how I contribute. They didn't even talk to any of us on the ground. And everyone that they had were all people that are researching on pedestals in offices, you know, all that kind of stuff. There was hardly any ground level, anything, anything. And um, you know, they were thinking, okay, because we went to a part uh a massage parlor and we rescued these people, yeah, we've done our job. It's it's a whole other thing than that. Um so the other thing that is a leading contributor, and we've talked to criminals, we've actually talked to criminals, we've actually talked to human traffickers, we've actually got these answers from them directly. And when it came to men murdering and and and sexually violating women, it was pornography that that led them there. So the average age of a boy to get a phone is about 10 years old. So when they're 10 years old and they they press on that porn button, all they ask is that are you over 18? You know, it can't be like this. This is all strategic, by the way. You know, there should be more safety preventables, but there's not going to be. They don't want us well, right? They don't they be so that these sinister things that are happening keep being done by sinister people, right? Um and when it comes to um, you know, um uh examples of crimes against indigenous people, well, the sentence doesn't fit the crime. So when so when these light sentences are are released to the public by the media, you're basically telling Canadians that you could chop up an Indigenous woman and just do two years. Right, right, that's what it is, that's what it is, that's the danger, that's what it is. You're basically telling people, sick people, and we're in an overpopulated world right now where mental health is an issue at a at and in history, in history right now. Yeah, so that's the danger, and and everyone's watching all these crime shows, crime shows, crime shows here in Canada, um, all over the world, and you're giving sick people ideas, right? Yeah, so when Netflix had their most popular show, was was before Dahmer. I couldn't turn on Netflix without seeing his face. Yeah, so then the drug and then the druggings went up three times as high. Three times as high now because it gave all those people those ideas. So now I have to do drug training. I have to I have to do all that and warn people and warn kids because I've been got I've gotten phone calls from kids that have been drugged and woke up brutally raped or didn't wake up at all or are taken into human trafficking uh that way. So or or taken and sold for their organs, right? This is what's going on. So and it we we we need to be aware, we need to be looking out for one another, and we need our 24-hour safe spaces. That's this is what we need, and we need the beds, and we need the beds, you know. I um I tried to do a uh uh I tried to go to hotels to try to see what they can do, what they want to help. We're trying to do all these things, but you know, we're going to these places where they profit off of human trafficking, right? So then the other thing too is why this isn't getting fixed is who are the buyers? Imagine who the buyers of children, imagine who they are. They're different levels of people, right? And who are they? Well, it's the farmer, it's it's the guy, uh the trucker, it's the it's it's sometimes um a higher-up official, it's sometimes people who were supposed to protect us, it's sometimes people who were supposed to be serving us, right? These are powerful people that are taking part in this. It's it's very strategic and very generational and very sometimes um ritual.

SPEAKER_02 43:34

Jeez. You know, I what comes to mind is I think everyone's watched just recently The Reckoning, and it took uh what 50 cent 20 years to bring down um PDD. And um, anyways, I was watching that and I thought, you know, someone with that status and money and all that kind of stuff. Stuff, you know, and for the other person that brought him down, it's like it took him 20 years to do that. Just imagine if you don't have that kind of agency or you don't have that kind of, you know what I mean? Clout or money and all that kind of stuff. It's like, but it makes people realize it's possible. And look at this, look at this person, look at how disgusting, you know, uh how he he lived, you know, what he was doing, all these kind of things. You know, he is grooming young girls, you know, uh at like 18, even below that age. So what do you have? What kind of messages do you have for for them to hear today when we're speaking about like grooming indigenous youth?

SPEAKER_01 44:52

Well the the the the one thing that indigenous people are looking for that sometimes we've never had is love. Is a home a loving relationship, right? Um so that's where they they they they know where they can they can really plant it in is when the guy says, Oh, I love you, right? I love you, but you have to do this for me. I love you, but we don't have any money right now, so you can do this for us. They'll use this kind of language to make them think that they're together, that they're a unit, that no, that they they they have to realize that because I'm indigenous, I need to be aware. Because I'm indigenous, I can't trust so much. It takes a longer for me. I have to do this in a certain way, I have to be aware and everything that I'm doing. Um, I have to be in control. And with our people who are not in control, they're in the most danger. The ones that don't love themselves, they're in the most danger. Because those hunters hunt the broken. They hunt the broken. So if this kid has no family, if this kid is in poverty, if this kid is suicidal, if this kid doesn't love themselves, if this kid is letting them know that you know I'm broken. Um, they have to be careful of that. Um, when you're online outpouring yourself, they're that that that's how they're gonna get you. Oh, this kid is really hurting. Oh, this kid is really telling everybody that they're broken. Oh, this is the one I want. This is the one I want. You have to be very, very careful to uh again protect yourself from whatever post you're gonna make, everything you're gonna say publicly, you know, leads to something, could lead to something very dangerous. So, um, and then the offer of gifts is a big one. So the offer of gifts. I have this for you. If you just met up with me, I can give you this Xbox one, and that's happened many times. Um, so we've had um you know, last resort videos where parents set up their kids online and then have a van pull up. I don't know if you've seen these, but kids are going and meeting strangers online. So we have this these guys um that uh do these videos um where they work with the parents to set up the kids to come and meet the guys, and then the parents jump out and in what the hell are you doing kind of thing? You could have just been killed or raped or murdered just now. Um they've had to do these videos because we have kids meeting strangers online almost, I guarantee you, every day. Every day they're they're meeting someone, they're meeting someone, they they they'll even trick them and and use um you know technology, make their voice altered, right? Oh, I am a kid. Let's go play, I'll meet you at the park. And then it's a it's a it's a guy in a van. Or it's a woman. Uh you know, here's the thing a human trafficker doesn't care what sex you are. So we have to remember too that when it comes to child sexual exploitation, little boys are higher demand than little girls now, right? So roles are changing. Roles are changing. So males and little boys don't even know the dangers that they're in, right? They they it it's ridiculous. I mean, I work in two of the hottest spots in Alberta, which is Fort McMurray and uh Samson Cree Nation, and the highest rate of murdered menacing are males, right? So that's that's new information that a lot of people don't know about, right? So when it comes to children, it's everywhere, it's everywhere, it surrounds them. But if we're not having these talks with them and we're not checking their phones, and you know, we're not, you know, um, we we have the tracking through life 360, we also have angel scents um for our kids with disabilities. But here's the thing we are not vulnerable people, but the vulnerable ones are the ones who can't make the choice children with disabilities and children with mental health issues. What are we really doing for them? They are 12 times more likely to be controlled, to be abused, to be financially taken uh advantage of, to be lured, to be groomed, raped, murdered, controlled, sold. 12 times more likely. I just finished training CNIB for the blind. You know, my my son has mild autism. I know of a uh a kid who met someone on Tinder, 18 years old, met some girl on Tinder, went to go meet her, they've never seen him again, never seen him again. So these are dangers that that that uh just what are we doing for the people with disabilities? So even the people who are non-verbal or autistic people that are non-verbal, you teach them a sign, you teach them a sign, whatever that sign is. I was hurt, I was touched, right? You teach them that sign. You know, these are things that have to be done. I don't think we're we're really tapping into what we need to do for people with and children with disabilities. We're not doing enough. And here in Alberta, we have the largest resources for children with uh disabilities. We have all the funding for them here in this province, then all the rest of Canada is Alberta. We need to do more.

SPEAKER_02 50:31

That's good. Thank you. I want to ask you, uh, in close, what keeps you strong in this work and like what gives you hope for the future, knowing all the things that we just you know discussed this past hour? Uh, you know, it's it's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 50:50

So important, yeah. No, this is a critical time, and all it is is getting out there, being heard, being seen, share your story. Um, get every platform that you can. That's how I started this. I was just, I made myself everywhere. I made myself heard everywhere. That's how I started, right? Um, and uh, you know, when you know what the vacancies are, don't wait around for the opportunity, just get it done. That's what grassroots do. We've done out of pocket for a long time. I'm now getting supports and funding, but that's lovely and everything. But um, and we're in the age of action. It is action, okay? Talking is great, but what's the aftermath of your action, right? What's the aftermath? So from this, this is gonna travel, this is gonna help, this is gonna send, this is gonna reach, right? So that's the action. So everyone has to think, okay, I've done this, I've done this now. What's the action? How am I gonna do this? It has to be put forward, and um, you know, just making sure that um, you know, you used your media platforms. Um, we're doing a documentary right now about the need to include and heal indigenous men and boys. We're doing a uh, you know, a documentary for that. Um, use your art, your talent, whatever that is. Maybe you're not an advocate, maybe you're not a survivor, but you have talents, you have skills, you have ways to to help us. Look at what that is. Do you have time? Yes, I have time. Do I have a skill? Yes, I have a skill. Do I have a gift? Yes, I have a gift. And I'm gonna share that in whichever way I can. And don't be a bystander. You know, we need to have people trained into how they can really help in real lifetime. Um, because I really don't like that, you know, a lot of people just stand there and do nothing. We need to be more trained in what we can do safely for each other. I think that's a real big one. What can we do safely for each other when we're out there and we see these things, right? And report, report, report, be aggressive in your reporting. Report, report, report. Um, charge, charge, charge. You know, do everything that you possibly can. But we need to really, at this point, we need to demand that the legal system be accountable. And what we need is the calls to be implemented into law, not suggestion. That's how we were failed in the first place. Okay. Um, and I think the pro the national action plan, I did two provincial action plans to be contributing to that national action plan, and um we we we we need that and demand uh that they do better. We have to do that. So everyone hold this this uh governmental agenda accountable. That's the biggest thing to do. Hold them accountable, make that change, because until then, we need to keep each other safe. So the biggest thing you can do in your action is love yourself. Once you love yourself, you will love your children, you will love your home, you will love that'll bleed out into your community, that'll that'll rush waters to your people, right? Love has to lead it all.

SPEAKER_02 54:15

I absolutely think that your message is good medicine. It completely warmed my heart and spirit, you know, and I'm so so honored to have shared this uh time with you here on Stolen Voices. Uh Stephanie Harp, how can people get a hold of you if they want to reach out?

SPEAKER_01 54:40

Well, uh right now, uh it would be best through my email, which is Steph S-T-E-P-H underscore harp, h a r-p-e at yahoo.ca. And um, I'm on uh TikTok and and Facebook right now building a website, so that'll be coming out here really, really soon. And um and then check out my band, the Stephanie Harp Experience. We got some new songs coming out. We have a new single out with uh Maria Dunn. And so music is healing for me, and I hope it's healing for you.

SPEAKER_02 55:11

Hi, hi, Nina Naskuman. I'm so so uh happy that you're doing this work. And like you said, there's different gifts that everyone has in our community and the listeners, you know, to get involved and to support uh what Stephanie's doing and the community and looking at ways of trying to keep our community members across this nation safe and also uh to love, you know. That's so important. Love, love is at the center of it. And and um, I'm just so grateful. So thank you.

SPEAKER_03 55:48

Hi, hi, Muskie Chu, thank you for having me. I'm joined now by producer Greg. What a conversation that was.

SPEAKER_00 55:57

Oh my gosh, Nicole, what a wonderful conversation. Thank you so much, Stephanie, for joining us, and thank you, Nicole, for guiding us. Stephanie has been in this fight for such a long time, and she brings so much passion and lived experience to this issue. She's a real inspiration, and I'd like to thank everybody for listening to today's episode, episode two of Stolen Voices. And on episode three, we're going to be hearing from two very bright young women with MAQDotum, a program that empowers communities to help fight the rising problem of human trafficking in First Nation communities.

SPEAKER_03 56:31

And to our listeners, thank you for joining us for this episode of Stolen Voices, the fight against human trafficking in First Nation communities. If this conversation brought up strong emotions or memories, please take care of yourself. Reach out to a trusted support person, community resource, or crisis line. This podcast exists because our stories matter. Our people matter. And every single soul in voice deserves to be heard, honored, and protected. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline at 1833-900-1010. It's available 24-7, confidential, and judgment-free. You can always reach out to Greg, our anti-human trafficking lead at G4 Justice. His email is GregoryWhite at g4tc.org. Please subscribe to the podcast, share it with your community, and follow G4 Justice for updates. Until next time, stay safe and stay informed. Hi, hi, Kina's Kmitin, which means I create thank you. I'm very grateful.