Mother, daughter ‘who endured the unimaginable’ raise awareness about child exploitation

Police have released a new documentary to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation before the “unimaginable” happens. (OPP/ YouTube)

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) has released a new documentary to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation before the “unimaginable” happens.

Protecting Innocence: ICE Strategy in Action is the name of the documentary which was released on April 17. It features a mother, Marion, and her daughter, Leia , “who endured the unimaginable,” a few years ago, according to the OPP.

“I didn’t want children to go through the same thing that I had to go through,” said the daughter in the documentary.

Investigators uncovered a plot to harm the nine-year-old, the OPP say, noting that it was planned by her own uncle and another suspect. That was when police intervened and stopped the assault just hours before happening.

“He showed up at my door. It was around 9 p.m. on a Friday night, and I was like ‘wow, what are these officers doing here? What’s going on?’ They asked if I can come up to the police station. And if I can bring my daughter with me,” the mother said.

“And when I met the officer in the room and started seeing what was going on, I was in complete and utter shock like I have never felt before.”

The survivor who turned advocate for children’s rights says the incident is “very tough mentally.” However, she wants others to be strong and to speak out.

“It’s not your fault. It is the person that did it to you’s fault,” Leia said.

Leia suggests listening to your children and building trust with them to be able to talk about anything they want to. She also suggests listening to other children and make sure they’re doing the right thing.

Meanwhile, the mother recommends taking what children say seriously.

“Do not dismiss what children say. Research it, see where it’s coming from? How did they learn it? Was it a book? Was it a TV show? Was it another adult? Was it another kid?” Marion said.

Leia wants parents to also pay attention while using the internet and posting photos of their children online, as it’s difficult to know what others are saving, reposting or using photos for.

The mother says that she learned the hard way, citing her use of social media as a tool to share photos and stay in touch with family members.

“Don’t do it. That photo you put on with your child in a diaper can be used for exploitation,” Marion said.

Here are the lessons the mother has learned:

1. Keep a closer eye on people.

2. Keep a closer eye on children.

3. Definitely keep an eye on family members.

“Child exploitation is pictures, it’s touch, (and) it’s words,” Marion said.

Police did not provide further details about the identity of the victim and the incident.

Project Orchard

The documentary introduces Project Orchard, a proactive initiative under the Provincial Strategy to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation on the Internet (Provincial ICE Strategy). It’s an initiative bringing together the OPP Child Sexual Exploitation Unit (CSEU), 25 municipal police services, the Ministry of the Attorney General and the Ministry of the Solicitor General to identify and arrest online offenders before they can harm their victims.

Detective staff Sgt. Tim Brown with the OPP says Project Orchard is aimed to tackle suspects who aim to harm children by luring them.

He says it focuses on proactive investigations.

“People who are trying to meet with the child for a sexual purpose, what the investigators do is they go online, and they pretend to be somebody, and they engage with theses offenders online. And the offenders will try to set up a meet with our investigators. And so that happens quite regularly,” Brown said.

Throughout the project, the OPP conducted 67 criminal investigations, executed 46 search warrants, identified nine victims, seized 313 devices and charged 199 suspects.

Exploitation is not only felt by the child, but by their other family members, Brown says.

“A lot of people don’t want to believe that this is actually a problem here in our province, in our country. And it’s a huge problem,” said Michael Sabadin, detective, Provincial ICE Strategy.

If a child is at risk, visit cybertip.ca or call 9-1-1.

The documentary is available on YouTube.