Modern Day Slavery: The Silence They Ignore

Modern Day Slavery: The Silence They Ignore By Dale Jodoin Slavery still exists. Today, it's called human trafficking and illegal immigration. While everyone argues over slavery from 400 years ago, they ignore the slavery right in front of them. This silence is not an accident. It’s deliberate, because modern slavery benefits people in power. Human trafficking is organized slavery. Migrants pay cartels to be smuggled across borders. When they arrive, they owe a debt. That debt is enforced through violence and fear. These people, men, women, and children are forced into labour, drug running, and prostitution. Speaking out means deportation or death. Businesses quietly profit. Undocumented workers are cheap, desperate, and replaceable. They can’t form unions. They don’t complain. Farms, factories, and service jobs all benefit. And politicians look the other way because it keeps industries fed and the economy humming. That’s the truth. Liberals say they defend the vulnerable. But they fight to protect systems that trap people in modern slavery. They call it compassion. They say it’s about opportunity. But how is it compassion to leave someone in a job they can’t quit, earning wages they can’t live on, under threat from violent traffickers? Cartels thrive on this system. Trafficking migrants is big business. Some are used to smuggle drugs. Others are forced into sex work. Debt keeps them trapped. Fear keeps them quiet. This isn’t just happening at the border, it's everywhere. In cities. In the suburbs. In towns where no one thinks to look. Sex trafficking is another form of slavery. Girls and women are taken from India, Asia, Central and South America. Many are drugged, raped, beaten, and sold repeatedly. They’re forced to work as prostitutes and are punished if they resist. Some never escape. Where’s the outrage? Where are the marches, the speeches, the social media campaigns? The same people who demand reparations for past injustices ignore the suffering of people enslaved today. They don’t want to confront the truth, especially when the criminals involved belong to politically protected groups. In Canada and the U.S., the justice system goes soft on minority offenders. Judges hand out light sentences for human trafficking, especially when the accused are Indigenous, Black, or part of another minority group. The idea is to avoid appearing racist. The result is a free pass for traffickers. Gangs of every background are involved: Black gangs, Indigenous gangs, Chinese mobs, and white supremacist groups. They all traffic humans. They all profit. White gangs are just as guilty, often working across state lines, moving drugs and women like cargo. Some are tied to biker gangs and nationalist militias that preach hate while running trafficking rings behind the scenes. Yet they’re rarely exposed because law enforcement fears being accused of profiling, or worse, targeting protected identities unfairly. And still, nothing changes. Speaking honestly gets you labeled racist. That fear keeps people silent. That silence protects criminals. In Canada, Indigenous girls go missing every year. The numbers are staggering. Many families are still waiting for answers. Some of these girls are assumed to have been trafficked, but we don’t truly know how many have fallen into modern slavery. The data is limited, the investigations are weak, and too many cases remain unsolved. The truth is buried under bureaucracy and silence. The UN claims to stand against human trafficking. Yet it often prioritizes politics over victims. Conferences are held. Speeches are made. But the criminals stay in business, and the slaves stay hidden. Liberals cry about the past while ignoring the present. They demand payment for slavery that ended generations ago but won’t confront the slavery happening now. Their outrage is selective. Their compassion is fake. And their silence makes them complicit. This is not about deportation or closed borders. It’s about the truth. People are being enslaved right now. Girls are being raped. Men are being forced to work under threat of violence. Children are vanishing. And the systems built to stop it are protecting the perpetrators. This is not a mystery. We know where it happens. We know who does it. But nothing changes. Because the truth is inconvenient. Because it challenges the narratives. Because it exposes the lies. Human trafficking is the slavery of today. It's in your city. Your neighbourhood. And maybe even your street. But no one talks about it because it doesn’t make anyone feel good. Because there’s no easy villain to blame. Because it might force people to face hard facts. The media avoids it. Politicians downplay it. Activists stay quiet. And victims keep suffering. That’s the cost of silence. That’s the price of fake compassion. We need honesty. We need courage. And we need to stop pretending this isn’t happening. Call it what it is: slavery. No more excuses. No more cover-ups. No more lies.