#NotInMyCity

Our Story

Why We Exist

#NotInMyCity is an organization championed by Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame honouree and humanitarian Paul Brandt with his wife Liz Brandt. They were first exposed to the issue of human trafficking during a humanitarian trip to Cambodia with their non-profit Buckspring Foundation, where they witnessed children as young as 5 being purchased and exploited. Upon returning to Canada, they were compelled to address the issue of human trafficking in their home country. Human Trafficking is one of the fastest growing crimes in Canada with 93 percent of Canada’s trafficking victims coming from Canada. More than 75% of people working in the Canadian sex trade were first exploited as a child.

#NotInMyCity was launched in 2017 as an awareness campaign, and has since grown into a nation-wide movement. It has become known for the iconic yellow rose emblem that now represents the cause, created by renowned Canadian designer, Paul Hardy. The rose is a symbol of support, and a statement that you stand in solidarity with trafficking victims and survivors as an Ally of #NotInMyCity.

There are many public and private organizations across Alberta and Canada that address the issue of human trafficking in different ways. The role of #NotInMyCity is to bring these key partners and stakeholders together to build a collaborative action plan to create sustainable change. We create working groups with representatives from the major sectors and non-profit agencies to ensure information sharing, consistent messaging and a full wrap-around response for any trafficking victim entering the system.

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Our Impact

What We Do

#NotInMyCity brings key partners and stakeholders together to engage, commit and collectively build an action plan to disrupt, prevent and end human trafficking with a focus on child sexual exploitation and sex trafficking.

The leadership team for #NIMC is committed to working with all partners to support, facilitate and advocate for the development and mobilization of a strategic, integrated plan to bring about transformational and sustainable change at the grassroots, practice, policy and legislative levels.

Partners and supporters include a growing list of visionary businesses and organizations along with First Nations groups, representatives from Ministries within the Provincial Government, City of Calgary, the sectors of Police, Justice, Health, Children’s Services, Education and not for profit community agencies. In a short period of time, #NIMC has been able to go from talking about an issue to doing something about it. People are having meaningful conversations, organizations are sitting together at the table and the issue of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking is increasingly being addressed with a sense of urgency, collaboration and purpose.

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Our Programs

How We Do It

#NotInMyCity has created Five Key Strategic Directions, with an Operational Plan to support and guide action steps for each strategy. These directions include:

Supporting High Risk Youth

Developing a Community Response Model to ensure youth receive the full continuum of care they require to heal, move forward and lead healthy and productive lives.

Building Community Awareness and Action

Increasing public awareness and education across Canada working in partnership with government, community organizations, airports and businesses/corporations.

Addressing the Unique Needs of Vulnerable Groups

Working with socially or economically disadvantaged populations, with a focus on Indigenous Peoples, it identify and action priorities to reduce risk and improve access to resources.

Advancing Leading Practice

Establishing partnerships with researchers, content experts and national/international organizations to advance understanding and mobilization of leading practices and outcomes.

Empowering Individuals with Lived Experience