Learn ways to keep kids safe for Stop Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Week
The Interlake Sexual Exploitation Educators (ISEE) are putting on a free Parent and Caregiver Online Presentation on March 20 to bring awareness to Stop Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Week. There will be two presentation sessions on that day so that residents will have the opportunity to learn about the various ways that children and teens can be exploited online and how to prevent it.
“We’re based out of Selkirk. We’re made up of a group of formal and informal organizations and groups. We have four different school divisions that are at our table, different agencies, and concerned committee members, and parents. We basically, don’t really turn away folks who want to be on our committee, but we try and work with different partners in our community who are working directly with youth and have a concern about sexual exploitation that is happening in our province, particularly across the Interlake, because that’s the area that we cover,” said Sherisse Picklyk Dear, of ISEE.
This presentation comes during March which is also when Stop Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Week takes place.
“Our committee is doing a few things. One of them that we started doing was these adult, caregiver, and parent presentations, and we’ve offered them virtually. We’re doing one in the afternoon and one in the evening so that parents and caregivers have an opportunity to choose which one works in their schedule best. And, we use the term caregiver loosely, it could mean grandmas, grandpas, aunties, uncles, the babysitter, basically anybody over the age of 18 that interacts with youth. So that could (also) be CFS workers, that could be teachers, that could be EAs, or hockey coaches, kind of anybody,” she said.
These presentations are an 18+ event as it’s meant for people supporting youth to get information about how they can help the kids in their lives stay safe.
“We use some real examples of situations that either RCMP or other authorities have let us know about or that we are aware of that were going on. We protect people’s privacy and the community’s privacy to not out what particularly happened in a community unless, of course, it made the news. So, we do try and bring in some video clips to show some recent examples of things that have happened right here in the Interlake or in Winnipeg. We talk about the age of consent. We talk about new trends that are happening with respect to apps and what kids are being exposed to, whether it’s sexual exploitation or challenges. AI is another really big thing that is really affecting our kids,” said Picklyk Dear.
The presentation will have two timeslots when residents can join and learn more. The first presentation will go from 1 to 3 p.m. and the second presentation will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Both are going to be exactly the same so residents only have to attend one to get all of the info.
“We’ve forgone with the registration. You don’t have to pre-register. You can just click the link on the poster. You can connect by your phone, or you can connect by your computer to watch the two-hour presentation,” said Picklyk Dear.
In addition to the presentation, there will be a bus shelter and billboard information campaign going up.
“We created some artwork for this billboard (by) one of our committee members, and then the other (sign) is at the bus shelter which is the same thing. We also created the artwork for it, and that will run, for three months again starting from March,” said Jim Dao, of ISEE.
The two feel that it’s important that not just law enforcement know these things about child sexual exploitation but that all adults who care for our community’s kids are informed.
“The community’s role and responsibility is to keep kids safe. So, if there are adults who are seeing something that seems a bit suspicious, or they’re concerned about a child, the hope is that through this presentation, they’ll be able to identify that a little bit better and make a report to either cybertip.ca, or the Canadian Center for Child Protection, or the RCMP. There are lots of different options people can connect with to report if they have concerns about a kiddo who might be cyberbullied or being groomed online or being sextorted. That really is the goal of our presentation is to let the parents and caregivers get a better understanding of the kind of world that these kids are living in,” said Picklyk Dear.
Dao and Picklyk Dear encourage residents to take this opportunity to learn more and become an advocate for keeping our community’s kids safe.
“As parents, we always want our child (to be safe)— when they were little, we made sure they put on their seat belt or made sure that they had their life jackets on. Now, all of a sudden just because they are older doesn’t mean that we don’t stop that. We don’t stop looking out for them and making sure that they’re safe, and especially now with the online world, right? We want to make sure that we’ll continue to give them the tools so hopefully they’ll keep themselves safe online,” said Dao.
Picklyk Dear also wants caregivers of younger children and people who are helping children who have been exploited to know that there will also be something for you in the presentation.
“The goal is to try and prevent it, but we also offer resources and information for if, in fact, the kid has already been involved in some form of sexual exploitation, that there is a way out. There’s a way to get those images back, and there’s a way to get the abuse to stop because at the end of the day, it is child sexual abuse and we need to really help kids and intervene and support them through all of that,” she said.
The presentation will be live over the Zoom app and residents can visit zoom.us/j/98592532327 to access the presentation. You can visit their ISEE’s website at www.interlakesee.ca for more information.
