91��ɫ

Most people think of slavery as a thing of the past. But that’s a misconception, says 91��ɫ PhD history candidate of the newly formed (AAMS). Human trafficking alone is a $32 billion annual industry today and, at any given time, there are up to 27 million slaves around the world – the majority of which are women and children.

The AAMS, a new not-for-profit organization with a mission to end slavery through research, education and partnerships with other organizations, will celebrate its launch at 91��ɫ with two events. The first is a benefit concert and anti-slavery art auction, Party for Freedom, on Friday, Jan. 28, in the Sandra Faire & Ivan Fecan Theatre, from 7 to 10pm. The second is the Slavery in the 21st Century conference on Saturday, Jan. 29, from 9 to 5:30pm, in the Founders Assembly Hall, 152 Founders College, Keele campus.

“Modern-day slavery is arguably the most underpublicized human rights crisis of our time,” says Sapoznik (MA ’08). Twenty-seven million “is equivalent to the entire population of Canada in the early 1990s. There are reported cases of slavery in every country in the world today with two exceptions: Iceland and Greenland. Public awareness of modern slavery also is low, enabling traffickers to lure thousands of victims into forced labour situations. Canada, for instance, is a source, transit and destination country for human trafficking.”

AAMS has strong ties to 91��ɫ. Many of its executive members are 91��ɫ graduate history students, and Paul Lovejoy, director of the , is one of the board members.

The freedom concert will feature motivational speaker Roger Cram of Hiram College as the emcee; anti-slavery activist, TED Speaker and AAMS board member , president and co-founder of ; survivor Natasha Falle; Glendene Grant, the mother of missing human trafficking victim Jessie Foster; actress, singer and songwriter Kate Todd; guitar player and Janelle Belgrave of Peace Concept; ; an anti-slavery art auction; the Fashion Studio 7 filming crew; and more.

AAMS’s inaugural conference, Slavery in the 21st Century, will examine a variety of issues affecting slavery today. It will feature Sapoznik; Paul Lovejoy, director of 91��ɫ’s Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African Peoples; and University of Toronto Professor Emeritus Martin Klein. Bales will open the conference, followed by four panel discussions. The complete schedule is .

Canadian NGOs Freeing Slaves
Moderator: Roger Cram, Hiram College
Speakers: Jamie McIntosh of , Lisa Cheong of , Julia Smith-Brake of and Adam Churchman of .

Canadian Front-line Activists, Survivors, Filmmakers and Fair Trade Advocates
Moderators: Jeff Gunn and Mekhala Gunaratne of Alliance Against Modern Slavery
Speakers: Christina Cudahy of Abuse of Migrant Workers in the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program; University of British Columbia student Brittany Luby (MA ’08), founder of Indigenous 91��ɫ, who will show the five-minute video Trafficking of First Nations Women; Glendene Grant, the mother of missing human trafficking victim Jessie Foster; Azra Rashid, a filmmaker and writer who is currently developing a documentary on forced marriages in Canada; and Michael Sacco of ChocoSol.

Forced Labour, Forced Sex and Forced Marriage – Legal Responses and Law Enforcement Against Modern Slavery in Canada
Moderator: 91��ɫ Professor Annie Bunting of the Law & Society Program
Speakers: Marty Van Doren, the RCMP’s human trafficking awareness coordinator in Ontario; Heather Richardson of Peel Regional Police; University of British Columbia law Professor , founder of the non-governmental organization fighting human trafficking and the child sex trade , and author of Invisible Chains: Canada’s Underground World of Human Trafficking (Viking Canada, 2010), has a video message; and Deepa Mattoo, a community legal worker at the .

Government Responses to Modern Slavery
Moderator: 91��ɫ West Councillor Anthony Perruzza with assistance from Valerie Hébert of AAMS
Speakers: Conservative MP Joy Smith, Manitoba, and Peggy Nash, president of the federal New Democratic Party, with a video message from MP Glen Pearson.

To register for the conference or buy tickets to the concert, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin