Trafficked by family: Ontario woman who survived 3 decades of abuse wants to share her story

WARNING: This article contains graphic content and may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone affected by it.

A woman who says she was abused and trafficked by her own family members in Windsor, Ont., wants to share her story of survival in hopes it can help others.

"It seems when you're in that position that there's no way out. But I'm here to tell you that there is a way out," said Jane Doe.

She said the abuse started at home when she was a toddler. Her father and then her uncle sexually abused her, but it didn't stop there. Her father and her uncle were involved with what she described as a "network of people."

"Through the course of time, they ended up using me in this network to traffic me and sell me for sex," she said, adding it went on from childhood until about age 35.

Jane Doe is not her real name. CBC has granted her confidentiality to protect her privacy and safety.

"When I reflect on what's happened to me in the past, I get very angry, I get very distraught because of the family connection. Your family is supposed to be the people that protect you," she said.

"It made it that much more difficult to escape it, because how do you escape your family?"

Jane eventually did escape and started a new life in Thunder Bay in northwestern Ontario.

But now, in her 40s, it's hard to think about.

A key piece of her story is how the trauma led to the development of dissociative identity disorder (DID). Jane said a therapist determined she had the mental health condition, which is characterized by having separate identities.

It has taken years for Jane to piece together the scope of what happened to her, which she compares to completing a jigsaw puzzle.

She said DID led to periods of amnesia. 

"It's a coping mechanism that the brain uses in order to survive through extreme trauma," Jane explained.