The multi-day forum will provide training specifically to Thunder Bay police and Nishnawbe Aski Police Services.

**By** [Jason Miller **Crime Reporter**](https://archive.is/o/DJClZ/https://www.thestar.com/users/profile/jason-miller)

A Toronto community advocate is heading to Thunder Bay to provide northern Ontario police services with insights about how to spot key vulnerabilities faced by Black youth who could be victims of exploitation. 

Shana McCalla will be one of the key speakers at training sessions facilitated by York Regional Police Service. The workshops, running from Tuesday to Thursday, will also feature York police-led specialized training and a string of external experts including those in the area of domestic violence.

McCalla has been calling for improvements in how police triage and respond to cases of Black boys being lured away from their communities and transported to far flung jurisdictions, like Thunder Bay, where they are groomed to participate in illicit drug networks.

The multi-day forum being spearheaded by the York police human trafficking unit and funded through Ontario’s victim support grant, will provide training specifically to Thunder Bay police and Nishnawbe Aski Police Service.

“We’re (YRP) providing training to some of the satellite services that don’t necessarily have the same opportunity or ability to be doing internal training the way we do,” said Const. James Dickson.

Dickson said police are keen to hear from McCalla about a variety of topics including key vulnerabilities faced by Black youth and her theory on how young people from the GTA are ending up in drug houses in northern Ontario communities. 

“She’s a great resource to be able to be providing tips, tricks and information in terms of what to look for to find people that are vulnerable, that are being brought into these communities,” Dickson said.

He said while York region hasn’t been dealing with the missing Black youth problem to the same degree as neighbouring jurisdictions like Toronto, [where Black boys make up a disproportionate share of missing kids between the ages of 12 and 17 that are reported to Toronto police](https://archive.is/o/DJClZ/https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/a-major-problem-black-boys-represented-more-than-40-per-cent-of-missing-youth-cases/article_93cb9b14-7b9d-4de2-954f-daab54127f8f.html), York has major highway routes to the north that are being traversed by these vulnerable youth.

“Whether or not these boys are going missing from our community there’s no doubt that they are travelling through it,” he said. “Just because the boys aren’t necessarily going missing from York region doesn’t mean that they aren’t either stopping in York region, staying in York region or having some sort of affiliation to crime that could be occurring here.”

Dickson said police are cognizant that the nuanced problem of vulnerable youth being at risk for exploitation spreads broader than what’s reflected in statistics of those being reported missing, which is one of the early risk indicators.

“The numbers don’t actually reflect the situation because if you’re not reported missing, you’re not missing,” he said of cases that go unaccounted for because they have not been reported. “That’s why Shana’s work is so interesting as an advocate because she’s drawing awareness to the fact that, in a lot of the cases, these are children that need help.”

As McCalla prepares to deliver her session Thursday, she said weighing heavy on her mind is the recent harrowing discovery of human remains of a 16-year-old Brampton boy who was reported missing to Peel police a year ago. [Jay’siiah Webb-Long was found dead on May 13 near a remote Cree Nation community in northern Saskatchewan](https://archive.is/o/DJClZ/https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/missing-brampton-boy-found-dead-in-saskatchewan/article_c4a0e039-f0bd-4605-8c9e-bc9d0e9aed5e.html). Police said his death is now a homicide investigation.

For months, McCalla had used her voice and social media platforms to sound the alarm about Webb-Long’s disappearance. McCalla said she plans to use Webb-Long’s case as an example to implore police to prioritize cases of missing youth.

“When a child is taken or believed to be in an area out of province, that is a huge red flag (that it could be) human trafficking and child labour,” McCalla said, adding that she’s now advocating for a cross-territorial task force to combat missing Black boys and better co-ordinate response across jurisdictions. “It’s imperative.”

[McCalla has been advocating for missing youth cases](https://archive.is/o/DJClZ/https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/inside-a-toronto-woman-s-fight-to-help-missing-black-boys-trafficked-by-the-drug/article_91016225-d1c9-4d88-820a-1cb9fdcd9887.html), particularly those of Black boys, many of whom she said have left their GTA communities after being lured, groomed and trafficked into criminal groups, where their labour is used in the drug trade. Her work helping families search for missing children has taken her to Thunder Bay and Sarnia.

“The presentation will show some of the risk indicators, things that will help officers spot early signs of exploitation with missing persons,” McCalla said.

McCalla said she has knowledge of boys being forced to sell drugs to pay off debts owed to criminal groups in their neighbourhoods. Some are coerced through threats of violence, while others are groomed by their peers and adults who offer them opportunities to make extra cash. 

“If a child has left their home and is isolated from their environment that is a huge red flag,” McCalla said. “I think the boys human trafficking element has been quite ignored and this is an opportunity for me to teach what I’ve learned.” 

[https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/toronto-advocate-for-missing-black-boys-to-help-train-police-in-thunder-bay/article\_e584c9fa-53bb-4dc1-9325-c9a9213dcd97.html](https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/toronto-advocate-for-missing-black-boys-to-help-train-police-in-thunder-bay/article_e584c9fa-53bb-4dc1-9325-c9a9213dcd97.html)

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Toronto advocate for missing Black boys (Shana McCalla) to help train police in Thunder Bay