About Tiana Sharifi

My first role after university was as a Workshop Facilitator for a nonprofit focused on preventing child sex trafficking. After a month of intensive training, I co-developed prevention workshops for grades 4–12 and delivered them to thousands of students. These workshops reached youth in diverse settings- from Indigenous schools and youth custody centres to alternative programs and large assemblies.

In many cases, I was the first point of contact for disclosures, which revealed just how widespread and hidden this issue was. It also underscored for me that child sex trafficking is the most extreme form of human beings being stripped of their dignity and equality- objectified, exploited, and taken advantage of in the most profound way.

From this realization, I understood that prevention initiatives would never be fully effective unless they addressed the root causes: Teaching children and youth about consent, healthy relationships, and respect; recognizing how exploitation plays out in a digital world; and ensuring that prevention used language and approaches that were accessible and relevant to the very audiences we were trying to reach.

I later worked directly with youth who were being sexually exploited, providing crisis intervention, case management, and ongoing support while collaborating with probation officers, educators, and social workers. I also worked in a safehouse for women who had been trafficked. These frontline experiences gave me an unfiltered view of the vulnerabilities traffickers exploit and the urgent need for early prevention.

As my career progressed, I assumed leadership of province-wide prevention programs. In this capacity, I trained and supervised staff, built comprehensive training modules on human trafficking and disclosure response, and developed Indigenous cultural competency training. I oversaw curriculum development for students, parents, and professionals; managed sensitive disclosures; and represented prevention efforts at conferences, panels, and government consultations.