SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Data on human trafficking levels throughout Canada are sketchy, but Garry Drummond, human trafficking awareness coordinator for the RCMP, said the issue is present but unaccounted for in many communities, and the North is no exception.

Garry Drummond is in Yellowknife to raise awareness about human trafficking, an issue he says is concealed behind closed doors.

"If all the ingredients for a cake are there, you're going to get a cake," said Drummond.

He said this concealed enterprise essentially requires only two things: a vulnerable person, and greed.

"The predators know the vulnerabilities of these people and they use it against them for their own benefit," he said.

Drummond arrived in Yellowknife on Monday afternoon and spent two days here, talking to the city, the RCMP, and various other community organizations in a bid to raise awareness, before heading to Hay River.

Trafficking does not have to cross international borders said Drummond. The definition for human trafficking under Canadian law covers a wide range of exploitative behaviour.

"Whenever anyone coerces, threatens, deceives or forces another human being to do something they don't want to do, for monetary benefit – that's human trafficking," he said.

"It doesn't have to be international, you don't have to cross the border, you don't even have to cross the street in your community. If you're seen as a vulnerable person they know what to look for."

While Drummond said human trafficking is the second largest money-making activity in the world, comparable data is not available in Canada because very few people come forward about the issue and most people in the community do not know what to look for.

"People are the new commodity, they're the new contraband. But due to the nature of human trafficking, victims seldom come to the police due to threats, or they may come from countries where they don't trust the police," he said.

"The problem is there is very little awareness in the community, even in our front line services."

But that is what he is trying to change by illuminating the red flags that indicate exploitative operations.

He suggests to be mindful of things such as large numbers of men coming and going from a building, people in houses but never leaving, a lack of ID on victims, bruising, and little to no community knowledge by potential victims.

However, he said a victim does not necessarily have to be confined.

"People can still be out in the community but their mind controlled and dominated to the extent that they won't talk to anybody. So they don't have to be chained up, they're mentally chained actually," he said.

Drummond said human trafficking does not discriminate.

"It's not gender or age specific. It's a majority of women and children in the sex trade, but in the labour field it could be mainly men. It's really anyone who can be exploited," he said.

Drummond said the industry is dominated by organized crime, but trafficking can still be an individual pursuit.

"It could be as simple as one man enslaving a few girls, and at a $1,000 a day tax free – that's serious money. And when he's done with them he can sell them," he said.

According to Drummond, tracking down the offenders is largely reliant on victims coming forward.

"Until they (the victims) reach a point where it becomes unbearable or they get a chance to escape, we don't really know what the situation is like," he said.