01/24/2026
From Devon Headdress, Indigenous Health Advocate—
“Indigenous Women & Human Trafficking: Exploiting Systemic Vulnerability
Across parts of the U.S. and Canada, up to 40% of s*x trafficking survivors are Indigenous women and girls, even where we make up only a small share of the population.
In Canada, Indigenous women are 5% of the population but more than half of all identified trafficking victims. For us, January’s Human Trafficking Awareness Month isn’t just a campaign—it’s a daily reality.
Human traffickers are not “stealing” our women and girls—they’re cashing in on systems that made our lives disposable.
This crisis is tied to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2-Spirit relatives, where Indigenous people go missing or are killed at far higher rates than non-Indigenous women. It’s not random or accidental—it’s targeted, organized, and rooted in vulnerability.
Traffickers exploit the fractures created by colonization and policy: poverty, housing instability, addiction, foster care, and displacement for jobs or education.
Recruitment happens at shelters, bus stops, motels, border towns, campuses, and online—built on promises of love, belonging, or a “fresh start.”
From a scientific lens, this issue runs deeper than circumstance. Generational trauma alters how our bodies and brains respond to threat and control, changing the stress-response system and building patterns of survival that traffickers recognize and manipulate.
Research on intergenerational trauma shows measurable changes in the HPA axis and prefrontal regulation—biological impacts that increase vulnerability to coercion while reducing perceived self-agency.
Add to that the chronic underfunding of tribal justice systems, jurisdictional gaps, and bias in responses from law enforcement or media, and human trafficking becomes nearly invisible until recovery is too late. The system conditions vulnerability, then blames victims for being vulnerable.
Awareness is only powerful when it becomes protection. Learn the red flags: controlling “partners,” sudden isolation, someone else holding IDs or money, or a person who isn’t allowed to speak for themselves.
If you work in healthcare, education, law, or social services, seek trauma-informed, culturally rooted training that reflects Indigenous realities.
Talk with your youth about online grooming, safe people, and how to ask for help without shame. Support Indigenous-led anti-trafficking work with your voice, skills, and resources.
If this has touched your family or if you are a survivor, know this was never your fault. Your story matters, and your voice is why this movement will not be silent. “