A woman whose daughter is a former resident of a Nova Scotia safe house for survivors of sex trafficking is raising concerns about the involvement of a man at the organization who is charged with sex offences.
Kevin MacLeod, 64, was charged in October with two counts of sexual assault and three counts of sexual interference in incidents that took place between the early 1990s and the early 2000s.
With his wife, MacLeod has helped run Trauma Recovery for Exploited Youth (TREY), a recovery house in Colchester County, since 2016.
The mother of a former TREY resident says the charges are “a red flag.”
“If you were a victim and you were in a home that you go to … for a safe place, you want to know that the people that are around you and surround you are safe.… And I think that it may not be a safe place.”
The CBC is not identifying the mother, as doing so would identify her daughter. The CBC is also not specifying the location of TREY, as that could risk the safety of residents who have escaped from their traffickers.
When the charges were announced in October, the RCMP said MacLeod, a former teacher, is “known to have been in a position of leadership with youth and vulnerable people through his employment and volunteer work.”
However, police said the three complainants are not associated with entities MacLeod was employed by or volunteered with.
MacLeod was released on conditions, including not to enter areas where youth under the age of 18 are known to be, unless accompanied by another adult.
The charges have not been proven in court. MacLeod is next scheduled to appear in court in August.
Messages left by the CBC with MacLeod and his lawyer were not returned.
The Public Prosecution Service declined an interview with the lawyer for the complainants, saying it could jeopardize the prosecution.
In a statement attributed to TREY and its board of directors, the organization said the founder, MacLeod’s wife, has “formally stepped back and relinquished all duties with the organization” and her husband “does not have anything to do with TREY.”
Asked when the MacLeods ceased to be involved with TREY, the organization said it was unable to answer any further questions.
The statement said the charges against MacLeod are not connected in any way to TREY or its operations.
“TREY remains committed to the safety and well-being of the youth we serve,” reads the statement. “All individuals currently involved with the organization, including board members, staff and volunteers, have undergone vulnerable sector record checks as part of our standard safeguarding policies.”
The mother of the survivor said her daughter was under 18 at the time she lived at TREY, and spent about a year living there.
She believes her daughter had a positive experience at TREY, where she received emotional support, tutoring and help connecting with other services for her recovery.
She said at the time, MacLeod was deeply involved in the day-to-day operations of the home, and took her daughter to church, grocery shopping and elsewhere, “as though she was a part of the family.”
While the MacLeods had their own home, they had their own bedroom at TREY and spent their nights there, she said.
The mother said she has no reason to believe anything inappropriate occurred between MacLeod and her daughter while she was a resident. She said she was in disbelief when she heard about the charges he is facing.
“At first I thought it must be somebody else.… I was like, no way that could be the same person,” she said. “It left me feeling such a huge lack of trust because I really believe that they did such great work.”
Although TREY said MacLeod was no longer involved with the organization, the mother captured screenshots of a video of MacLeod participating in an ice bucket challenge in February that was a TREY fundraiser. According to posters for the event, it was held off-site.
Questioned by community members on social media about his appearance at the fundraiser, the organization responded that “Mr. MacLeod has always been helpful in raising funds for this non-profit organization. We apologize if his presence there caused anyone stress.”
In a now-deleted Facebook comment that the CBC has seen screenshots of, TREY said, “while we believe Mr. MacLeod is being falsely accused, we respect the legal process and will await the outcome of the court proceedings before considering any future involvement with TREY.”
The mother of the survivor said she believes TREY should have temporarily paused its operations, or at least made a public statement connecting the charges to the organization.
“I just feel like it needed to be out there because not everybody was aware and could put two and two together.”
She also questioned the organization’s statement that MacLeod is being “falsely accused.”
“To say that you don’t believe the victims and that the allegations against him are false, that sends a clear message not to come forward,” she said. “And if organizations are saying that, now we can kind of see why it’s so hard for victims to come forward.”
Since the news of the charges came out, two organizations that connect survivors of trafficking to services — the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline and Nova Scotia’s Trafficking and Exploitation Services System (TESS) — have removed TREY from their referral network or directory.
Miia Suokonautio is the CEO of the YWCA in Halifax, which operates TESS. She says after a community member drew TESS’s attention to the charges MacLeod was facing, TESS contacted TREY.
“We have to make sure that wherever we are serving people or sending them to other resources, that we trust that they’ll be in good hands,” Suokonautio said. “We didn’t get responses that satisfied us in a way that we would be confident making the referral.”
Suokonautio emphasized that MacLeod has not been convicted, and depending on the outcome of the court case, TREY could be reinstated in TESS’s network.
Safe houses for victims and survivors of sex trafficking are not regulated in Nova Scotia. According to Suokonautio, that lack of oversight can create risk.
“In the absence of that regulation, you don’t want to lose like a group of volunteers at a church who want to do something good … but you also want to make sure the very, very vulnerable people are not in harm’s way.”
Like TREY, the YWCA in Halifax runs a safe house. Suokonautio said she believes the entire sector should be regulated by the government, including the Y’s safe house.
She compares the situation of safe houses to that of child welfare organizations, which, years ago, used to be independent non-profits, or adoption services, which used to be privately run. Those sectors eventually were brought under the umbrella of government.
“It’s not to say that it’s perfect by any means, but it was an acknowledgment of the high vulnerability of children in care,” she said. “So I think that if we’re talking about highly vulnerable children, adolescents, teens, young adults, we have a responsibility of due diligence to make sure that they’re safe.”
According to TREY’s registered charity information, in 2023 — the last year for which financial records have been published — the organization was funded through a mix of donations, gifts from other registered charities, other revenue and $8,306 from the provincial government.
The province told the CBC the funding is to support student summer positions, and that it gave $4,588 in 2024 and has earmarked $5,000 for 2025.
