Our crew at Five Points Media are stepping up for the community by producing a ten-part on-line video series through which women can take a trans-formative journey as guided by Sasha Parrell and Ashley Snowball, the creators of Born Legacy.

The goal is to help women viewers who have suffered trauma to learn how to reclaim their power and rebuild the confidence to redesign their own life. Male viewers have the opportunity to learn more about how they can communicate with and support the women in their life.

This project has been endorsed by local politicians at all levels, and by a wide variety of community leaders. Many of their endorsements can be seen on this page. Currently, in Canada women make up slightly more than half our population, and the statistics regarding the percentage of women who have experienced the types of trauma being addressed in this show are heartbreaking.

Sadly, last year, 2019, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives ranked Barrie as being the worst place in Canada to be a woman. Only by working together can we hope to change that grim distinction.

The project is currently designed around ten subject-based episodes. The presentation will be a combination of interviews with experts, conversations with those who have experienced the issue, and a theatrical presentation of the events. The subjects will include but will not be limited to:

• Entrapment and Dependency
• Trauma and Abuse
• Drug and Alcohol Addictions
• Psychological Impact of Trauma
• Isolation - COVID-19
• Domestic Violence
• Mindset and Healing Methods
• Sexual Assault
• Trafficking and Prostitution
• Born Legacy Workshop Series

On their website at https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/best-and-worst-places-be-woman-canada-2019, the CCPA states the following about their study: "This annual study provides a snapshot of the gaps in men and women’s access to economic security, personal security, education, health, and positions of leadership in Canada’s largest 26 metropolitan areas. The fifth report in this series, the study measures these gaps in a given community in order to capture inequalities that can be attributed, at least in part, to discrimination based on gender; it also serves as a reminder that, with the right choices and policies, these gaps can be closed. This year's list shows no clear winner with the difference between first place Kingston and last place Barrie being separated by only 7.1 percentage points, suggesting that all of Canada's cities need to be doing more to close their gender gaps."

• All Canadians pay a steep price for gender-based violence. It’s estimated that each year, Canadians collectively spend $7.4 billion to deal with the aftermath of spousal violence alone, according to the Department of Justice. This figure includes immediate costs, such as emergency room visits and related costs, such as loss of income. It also includes tangible costs such as funerals.
• Half of all women in Canada have experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual violence since the age of 16.
• Sixty-seven percent of Canadians say they have personally known at least one woman who has experienced physical or sexual abuse.
• Every six days (approx.), a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner.
• Out of the 83 police-reported intimate partner homicides in 2014, 67 of the victims—over 80%—were women.
• On any given night in Canada, 3,491 women and their 2,724 children sleep in shelters because it isn’t safe at home.
• On any given night, about 300 women and children are turned away because shelters are already full.

Simcoe County, especially along the north-south artery of Highway 400, is known to be an area writhe with human trafficking. It is there that mostly girls and young women, as young as 12, are sold into forced prostitution. Their activities are then controlled through the use of manipulation, emotional abuse, lies, addiction, threats including against the child's family and friends, violence, isolation, and taking control of ID/documents and money.

The victim are often too young and naïve to flee, as who would believe them?. So, they feel powerless and do what their 'owner' says. In time, that 'relationship' becomes the status quo, and the victim comes to accept it until awoken by an outside influence, which can be a person, something they read, or a video they see on the Internet.

On their website, the Barrie Police Services is clear as the illegal nature of this form of abuse: "Human trafficking is a crime and human rights abuse that’s sometimes referred to as “modern-day slavery."

"Human trafficking targets primarily young adolescents, as young as 13 years old. Parents/Guardians need to pay attention to what their teens may be doing on the internet/social media, as it may be a tool used by people (traffickers/pimps) to lure youths into exploitive acts." Barrie Police Services

There are several signs that a young person, may have been lured into human trafficking:

• A new boyfriend nobody has met
• New gifts
• Being absent from school
• Becoming isolated from friends and family
• Secrecy around on-line activities
• Any physical symptoms of bruising or injuries

"The Barrie Police Service Project Safe Horizon is an initiative that focuses primarily on the victim and their safety, both immediate and long term care, in the hopes of ending Human Trafficking in our area."

In a report published in 2018, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit noted a roughly four-fold increase in deaths due to opiate abuse, from about 3.5 percent per 100,000 in 2005 to 14 percent in 2018.

During the two year stretch of 2017 and 2018, Barrie reported 67 deaths due to opioid related deaths, such as overdoses. That number is staggering when considering that Orilla reported only twenty such deaths, and Innisfil claimed eight. Barrie also reported the highest number for 'Rate of Opioid-Poisoning Emergency Department' at 500 cases, overshadowing both Orilla and Innisfil which ranked at 106 and 51 respectfully.

Isolation and loneliness are unhealthy and can lead to health issues, both mental and physical. This is exaggerated by the forced social distancing and shelter at home orders made necessary by COVID-19. It is healthy to hug those we love, as the act released endorphins and causes a calming of the mind, body, and spirit. The lack of that contact results in depression, anxiety, and increased levels of self-harm.

Isolation also leads to self-medicating through day drinking and the use of opioid and narcotics. That leads to addictions and a reduced level of care for children or live-in adult dependents, and in time the activities become a lifestyle that is unhealthy and self-destructive.

The COVID-19 outbreak has also caused issues pertaining to a woman's ability to make personal decisions and control her own life. In some cases, an intimate partner has used the period of lock-down as a means of control. There is never a 'good time' for a woman to leave an abusive relationship, but during a pandemic there are even less safe places to go, so they are trapped with a partner who may be avoiding issues through self-medicating and who is abusive.

Mental health is a huge concern when addressing any of the traumas being addressed through the Born Legacy program. Short-term abuse leads to fear and flashbacks while long-term abuse results often in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. A severe case of PTSD makes a person incapable of working, of caring for themselves properly, and living in constant fear. Again, this can lead to substance abuse and self-harm.

During the three-month COVID-19 lock-down, suicide rates increased notably, as did incidents of domestic violence. Although not an excuse, constant exposure to their partner and children with no means of escape resulted in some men who had never been abusive suddenly developing those traits. This was often exacerbated by day-drinking, use of narcotics, and financial stresses.

The end result was a much higher number of women needing protection for themselves and their children, but at a time when fewer beds were available and reaching out was not easy. How does an abused woman reach out to a shelter or friends for help and emergency lodgings when their partner is in the house and within earshot 24 hours a day?