Human trafficking and internet safety will be front and center at an informational town hall meeting in Chatham Thursday night.
Chatham-Kent Essex MPP Rick Nicholls is co-hosting the discussion and he's encouraging parents to come out to hear how they can keep their kids safe from online predators.
"We put a questionnaire out there for parents saying, 'Do you know the passwords to your children's Facebook, etc?' and we'll be revealing those results [Thursday night] -- I think it will be startling," says Nicholls. "[Predators] are on Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat... and they try to lure young girls, they try to befriend them."
Nicholls says according to statistics he has seen, the vast majority of the victims of human trafficking are young girls under the age of 25.
"The number of young girls under the age of 18 accounts for about 25% of victims in human trafficking," says Nicholls. "However, from the age group of 18-24 that jumps up to 47%."
Thursday night's meeting will be co-hosted by Nicholls' fellow PC MPP Laurie Scott and members of Chatham-Kent Victim Services. The town hall will also feature a guest speaker who was a victim of human trafficking herself.
Nicholls says the topic is especially important in the Chatham-Kent area because the Hwy. 401 is considered "a major corridor" for human trafficking.
Thursday night's meeting starts at 7pm at the John D Bradley Centre in Chatham.