Varsity Athlete Charged with Human Trafficking

In an email to students on December 29th, 2020, Elizabeth Yeo, VP Students, revealed that a first-year StFX student had been charged by the York Regional Police in relation to a human trafficking investigation.

Justin Barrett, 20, of Brampton was charged by the York Regional Police with a number of offences, including Trafficking in Persons Under the Age of 18, Material Benefit from Trafficking in Persons Under the Age of 18, and Material Benefit from Sexual Services of a Person Under 18 Years. A media release by the York Regional Police stated that “the accused spent time in West Virginia, United States, and currently has ties to Nova Scotia.”

Barrett, a first-year Bachelor of Arts student was in his first year of eligibility as a goalkeeper on the StFX Men’s Varsity Soccer team. Barrett’s name no longer appears on the team roster, and his player bio has been removed from the StFX Athletics website.

In her email to students, Yeo stated “the university will be monitoring and reviewing the situation closely to ensure the safety of our community, which is always our priority. This includes attempting to gain more information from the York Regional Police about the file. Under the Sexual Violence Policy, StFX will implement immediate measures in cases of elevated risk to the StFXand/or broader Antigonish community.” 

The immediate measures described by Yeo, range from no contact orders to university suspension. The Xaverian Weekly was unable toconfirm if interim measures had been implemented against the accused. 

Representatives from the soccer team were unavailable to commentprior to publication.

The charges against Justin Barrett have not been tested in a court of law.