Dark Highway
CONTENT WARNING
Dark Highway features the lived experiences of sex trafficking survivors who were lured, groomed, and trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation in Canada, and for some, internationally. Many of them were children at the time of exploitation.
Gina Simone (producer/editor) & AJ Edmonds reviewing shot list and questions.
Kelly Tallon Franklin & AJ Edmonds on set for Kelly’s interview
SYNOPSIS
Dark Highway is a documentary about the invisible crime of sex trafficking in Ontario. The film is led by filmmaker, Anna Jane (AJ) Edmonds, a bystander, as she takes audiences along the 401 Highway to meet survivors, their advocates and the change makers. These personal conversations with AJ detail the luring, grooming, hunting, torturing and exploiting of vulnerable people, most notably children, in our communities.
Throughout the film, audiences will be taken across the 401 corridor to cities, towns and neighbourhoods, including ones deemed ‘safe,’ where this egregious crime permeates the lives of unsuspecting parents, teachers, friends and care givers. This film discusses the approaches traffickers take to lure victims into the crime, the technology used and the social media tactics that trap victims into being exploited. It explores the horrors that victims face while at the hands of their traffickers and the barriers that are holding survivors hostage in a dysfunctional judicial process and support system.
The film unveils the critical gaps in protecting and caring for survivors within the Canadian system. It showcases how the Federal and Provincial Governments, politicians, social services, police, lawyers, and community organizations struggle to combat sex trafficking. These formidable barriers inhibit providing the necessary support, care and attention to the safety and deep and unrelenting physical and psychological impact that this crime has on its victims, their families and those who are in their periphery.
The film is an appeal to the audience to take tangible strides to challenge the structures and processes that continue to enable the trafficking of Canadians and Indigenous and First Nations people. This documentary asks you, the bystanders, to demand a safe world for all our children and vulnerable people who are targeted and trafficked. Though told from a Canadian perspective this film mirrors the global survivor commentary on work that needs to be done. We all have a role to play in ending the market and the demand, the supply chain, for exploited people. They are not for sale.
Dark Highway in the News
“Edmonds tackles the subject with empathy, compassion, and journalistic rigour as she offers alarming stories and statistics about the exploitation of vulnerable people happening in open sight.”
“Regardless, if there are parts where you want to close your eyes and close your ears, there are pieces that I hope everyone’s able to pull out that they feel like they can empower themselves to make a difference or at least host a conversation”