Board of Advisors
For the past 28 years I have been the mother of 4 beautiful daughters and now I am the grandmother of 3 delightful grandchildren. I can definitely say that being a parent is a huge part of who and what I am. I love them all and I am so proud of every one of them.
March 28, 2006 the course of my life changed dramatically when my 2nd oldest daughter, Jessie Foster, went missing. We (her family and friends) knew from the first day that something was terribly wrong because Jessie was in constant contact with us every day she was away from home. It was after we hired a private investigator that I knew Jessie was taken away against her will and was forced to work in the ‘sex-trade’ – that Jessie was the victim of human trafficking (modern-day sex slavery).
Jessie was lured from her home in Canada to the USA by a sex-trafficker supposedly bringing her on a vacation, who consequently entrapped her into the sex-trade world in Las Vegas, NV after ‘breaking’ her in three other U.S. cities deemed hubs for human trafficking by the FBI (just like in the movies, but this is not a movie, it is a living nightmare). A huge market for human trafficking is always waiting in Las Vegas, Nevada . . . A.K.A.: SIN CITY, where she was introduced to two other pimps (human traffickers) which lead to more brutality and sex slavery . . . ultimately leading to her disappearance almost five years ago.
I did not have a choice for this to happen, neither did Jessie – so I have CHOSEN to do everything that is within my power to stop this from happening to others. I do not want another person to experience the unimaginable horror that Jessie has and I do not want another mother to suffer the agony of losing her daughter to such despicable people. Since Jessie has been missing I have been crusading against human trafficking by educating students in our local high schools and attending human trafficking events to educate myself and talk about Jessie’s case. I’m amazed at the amount of the knowledge I have gained and that I am able to share Jessie’s dreadful story in such a compelling way.
There have been 5 books written and published that include Jessie’s case such as: INVISIBLE CHAINS: Canada’s Underground World of Human Trafficking by University of British Columbia Assistant Professor of Law, Benjamin Perrin and MEMOIRS OF A SEX SLAVE by human trafficking survivor and the founder of the human trafficking organization Walk-With-Me, Timea Nagy. She has been featured in documentaries such as: E! Entertainment’s YOUNG, BEAUTIFUL & VANISHED: 15 Unthinkable Crimes and news reports focusing on human trafficking via television, newspaper, radio and internet media, including America’s Most Wanted, the Montel Williams Show and many, many others. I call her “the most well-known unknown missing person” in the missing person’s network around the world. Jessie is fast becoming Canada’s poster-child for human trafficking. What has happened to Jessie has prompted me to start my own advocacy initiative to combat human trafficking entitled Mothers Against Trafficking Humans (M.A.T.H.), on Facebook with over 6,000 members. DO THE MATH – Human Traffickers are getting rich off the backs of their numerous victims of this horrible crime.
2.5 million people are trafficked yearly around the world*
PLUS a global annual market of about $42.5 billion**
EQUALS who is getting rich?
*The United Nations estimates 2.5 million people from 127 different countries are being trafficked around the world annually
**The Council of Europe states there is a global annual market of about $42.5 billion
I will find Jessie, or die trying. I will do anything I can to combat the crime that took my daughter away from her family and friends – away from her life. I will continue to educate others; I will counsel families; and I will help turn victims into survivors.
