Michelle says she had been asking God for help to discover the one thing that He would put on her heart more than any other issue. The answer to that question came in the form of a speaker from International Justice Mission and a movie about human trafficking. "Afterward, I don't think I spoke for 3 days. I can't imagine a worse fate as a woman than being exploited and trapped. There was truly nothing worse for me."
The result was Hope for the Sold, an International Teams Canada partnership that uses writing and film-making to prevent sex trafficking. In 2009, Jay and Michelle travelled across Canada to make a film about the issue. "We travelled 11,000 km, asking the question: 'Is sex trafficking happening in Canada?' Despite being put together with a very minimal budget and no experience whatsoever, God has taken something that was a bootstrap job and turned it into a resource that people are really using."
Michelle and Jay are now raising the funds to make another documentary, this time to answer a different question. "The number one question we get is: 'Shouldn't we just legalize prostitution?' There are a lot of countries in the world asking this question right now. People think it makes women safer, but the problem is when you legalize prostitution, you increase demand for paid sex."
Following a recent Ontario prostitution ruling and a government appeal, the issue of legalized prostitution may be taken all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. MP Joy Smith and other activists are pushing for something called the Nordic Model, which began when Sweden made the statement that prostitution is violence against women and it won't be tolerated. Michelle believes that adopting a Canadian version of the Nordic Model can prevent trafficking on a systemic level. "That's the goal of our film as well – we really want to prevent trafficking from ever happening. We feel like if we can demonstrate to the Canadian government that not only should we not be legalizing prostitution, but preventing exploitation, that other countries will follow suit."
It is a complicated problem, but Michelle's motivation is very simple: freedom. "I want people to know freedom – freedom for the enslaved, but also for johns and traffickers. Isaiah 58 talks a lot about freeing the oppressed. I read that passage at least once a week. I really feel the calling of God and the responsibility as a follower of Christ to set the oppressed free."
To learn more about Hope for the Sold or contribute to their new documentary project, visit www.hopeforthesold.com.
