According to new research from Thomson Reuters set to be released on Tuesday, human traffickers are exploiting Canada’s highways and airports to establish trafficking corridors that move victims between major cities, with Ontario frequently serving as a starting point. The report, titled Unseen, Unknown, and Unsolved: Disappearances and Trafficking of Indigenous Individuals in Canada & the United States, examines thousands of sex advertisements posted online over the past decade to map these illicit routes and track the movement of Indigenous women and girls.
Common Trafficking Corridors and Starting Points
Researchers analyzed online sex ads by monitoring changes to posted locations, phone numbers, and photos to trace how victims are moved across the country. According to the data, the most frequently used trafficking corridor in Canada runs between Toronto and Vancouver. Other prominent routes identified in the report include Edmonton to Fort McMurray, Alberta; Calgary to Edmonton; and Belleville, Ontario, to Edmonton.
Did You Know? For last year’s report, researchers collected 3,485 sex ads posted in Canada since 2016, concluding that a higher volume of sex ads directly correlated with a higher number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls cases.
Hotspots of Disappearances and Resource-Extraction Impacts
The 30-page document identified at least 38 active and unresolved disappearances of Indigenous women and girls across Canada between May of 2025 and March of 2026. Researchers gathered this data from the Aboriginal Alert network, the RCMP, and activist groups, discovering that disappearance hotspots are emerging in the Greater Toronto Area and Prince George, British Columbia, while persisting in communities across Manitoba and Alberta. Heather Panton, senior adviser for social impact and human rights at Thomson Reuters, stated that the report aims to make these hidden patterns visible to law enforcement, policymakers, and community partners.
The research also highlights how resource-extraction sites fuel sex-buying demand near major projects. In Prince George, a rugged northern B.C. city with a population of around 76,000, researchers found at least three cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls within a 10-month period. Hennes Doltze, project lead for the Winnipeg-based group EmpowerMen, noted that the influx of cash from workers staying in temporary industrial camps creates perfect hotspots for travelling trafficking networks.
Expert Insight: Cross-referencing digital advertisements with missing persons data provides law enforcement with actionable investigative leads, demonstrating why jurisdictions should adopt sex-ad analysis as a standard operational practice.
Transnational Scope and Future Implications
For its 2026 edition, the report expanded its scope to examine data from the United States for the first time, revealing that phone numbers used in Canadian ads frequently appeared in U.S. ads as well. Ms. Panton noted that this overlap underscores the borderless nature of these crimes and highlights the urgent need for heightened awareness at transport checkpoints, closer multi-jurisdictional cooperation, and the placement of dedicated personnel along major corridors. Moving forward, policymakers and police forces may face mounting pressure to integrate sex-ad cross-referencing into standard investigative protocols, following successful implementations in jurisdictions like Minnesota.
Frequently Asked Questions
What tools did researchers use to map trafficking routes?
Researchers examined thousands of online sex advertisements posted over the past decade, tracking changes to advertised locations, phone numbers, and photos to map the movement of victims.
What are the primary trafficking corridors identified in Canada?
According to the research, the most commonly used corridor is between Toronto and Vancouver, followed by Edmonton to Fort McMurray, Calgary to Edmonton, and Belleville to Edmonton.
How do industrial camps affect human trafficking rates?
According to advocacy groups referenced in the report, temporary industrial camps near resource-extraction projects bring an influx of cash and workers away from families, which spurs sex-buying demand and creates hotspots for trafficking networks.
Keep reading