“Butterfly: Into the Maze of Human Trafficking” is the third Viveka Melki documentary exploring sex trafficking and in this documentary the focus is on Western Canada exploring the experiences of Mallory (photo above) trafficked at 19, Raine trafficked at 12 and Charlie trafficked at 8. Their stories are profoundly disturbing including the trauma suffered during the trafficking and the long road to “recovery” which is rarely complete as some post traumatic stress order usually remains.
Police, therapists, psychologists, educators and community activists and an Indigenous Elder are interviewed.
Staff Sergeant Frank Pagé and Sergeant Brian McGuigan of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams Human Trafficking Force provide insight as to the sex trafficking triangle of Predator-Victim-John and the trauma bond foundations of isolation-physical and psychological harm-inability to escape-manipulative kindness of sex trafficking. Pagé notes sex trafficking is highly profitable for organized crime second only to narcotics and points to the highly disturbing new trend of trafficking school age girls.
Prosecuting traffickers is difficult particularly when the traffickers transport the victims in circuits throughout Canada moving elusively from locale to locale.
Dr. Jacqui Linder, an Edmonton based clinical psychologist specializing in post traumatic stress disorder, likens recovery to ripping off the cocoon in order to help a butterfly emerge faster with less struggle but it is the struggle, akin to the ups and downs of the recovery process, that is more likely to result in a more fulsome recovery as the butterfly struggle to emerge from the cocoon gives it strong wings enabling it to fly.
Perhaps overuse of butterflies fluttering about in the documentary. A further expansion of organized crime’s involvement in sex trafficking would have been appreciated.
This TELUS original feature-length documentary airs 24April2025 on TELUS Optik TV Channel 8 and streaming Canada wide on https://watch.telusoriginals.com
RKS 2025 CANADIAN Documentary Rating 81/100.
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