The tentacles of Ontario’s drug trade are far-reaching. In bedroom communities all across the Greater Toronto Area, Black teenage boys are being lured to remote Ontario towns where they are used by dangerous criminals and discarded once police catch them. 

We connected with a Durham, Ontario father on Instagram after seeing a comment he made about the group of five missing Black boys whose disappearance became a viral news story. He says he lived this nightmare several years ago and is sharing every detail he can remember, because he doesn’t want to see another family go through it. Names have been changed to protect the identity of the youth and their family. 

In April 2022, Marcus and his wife woke up to find their 16-year-old son Matthew was gone. Home security cameras showed him leaving their home in Pickering early that morning. He left a note saying he had gone to hang out at a friend’s house downtown. Matthew’s mother wanted to believe it, but Marcus knew something was terribly wrong. 

He called the police immediately and they came and did a missing person’s report. Marcus says the narrative that the police aren’t doing anything to find these kids isn’t fully accurate. “They do want to find your son but not because they want to help you. They want to find him because they want to make an arrest, that’s their goal. And you have to be careful because they will manipulate you into making you think they really want to help you.” 

Matthew’s parents were trying to reach him all day. He finally responded, insisting that he and his best friend David were hanging out at another friend’s house whose parents were away for the week. But Marcus didn’t believe that. 

Marcus said in his twenties, he was arrested once on a minor drug charge and he didn’t want his son to experience the same thing. “Ever since he was 14, I saw the signs of my son's path, and I just knew I would have problems like this.” Marcus says his son was getting very materialistic tastes, wanting expensive sneakers, Moose Knuckle jackets and Versace clothing. 

The following day, Marcus and his wife got a call from a detective. Matthew’s friend David had been arrested in Thunder Bay on fentanyl possession charges. “I knew right away my son was also in Thunder Bay,” says Marcus.

We need to go to Thunder Bay 

Two days later, the detective said they picked up a signal from Matthew’s phone in Thunder Bay, confirming Marcus’s intuition. 

Early the next morning, Marcus and his wife set out for the 15-hour drive from Pickering to Thunder Bay. On his way he called the detective to ask for the contact of the local Thunder Bay colleague. The officer was shocked that Marcus was making the drive and warned him against going to Thunder Bay because it would be too dangerous. Marcus ignored the advice and kept driving. When he arrived and met with Detective Jeff Saunders from the Missing Persons unit, he explained to Marcus that Thunder Bay is a gateway, given its proximity to Detroit and Windsor. “He said millions of dollars of drugs from cartels come through here,” says Marcus. He asked the officer to provide him with some addresses of known drug houses so he could start looking for his son. 

“One thing about Thunder Bay, there’s barely any Black people there. So I know that a Black kid would stick out like a sore thumb,” says Marcus. 

But he had no idea what an intricate network he was up against. “I found out that the kids don’t go outside during the day. They recruit drivers to do a number of tasks like driving the kids from one drug house to another, delivering food and clothes to them.”

They are rendered invisible.

DepositPhotos.com

Marcus and his wife printed 200 fliers with their son’s face on them. “I went to all these apartment buildings, project housing units and I plastered that thing everywhere I could. I was there for hours. I spoke to anyone who would listen, mostly people who use drugs, who were hanging around the buildings. One of them directed me to a woman with an apartment who is known to house boys who come to Thunder Bay to sell drugs.” 

She admitted that Matthew had stayed with her for two nights. She also shared that when police raided her apartment and David was arrested, Matthew was in the building, but he just happened to be on a different floor.

“He escaped arrest by the skin of his teeth,” says Marcus. “She agreed to call the drug dealer who had recruited my son and for hours we went back and forth by phone negotiating about letting me know where to locate my son.” 

But after 24 hours, he heard nothing back. 

It was only when Marcus turned to social media that things took a turn. “There is this page I follow on Instagram called @keep6ixsolid and I just sent them a DM asking for help. They posted it on their story and boom, we were just bombarded with messages.” 

Within hours they got a phone call from someone who was talking to Matthew on Snapchat. They said Matthew was leaving Thunder Bay and going back home. Still in Thunder Bay, the couple figured Matthew would be travelling by bus, so they went to the Northland Bus Lines station. 

They waited for hours before they saw Matthew get out of a car. “Once he opened the door to the bus station, I popped up right behind him and I said what’s up, what’s going on? He was shocked to see me, and I just held him and hugged him.” 

Matthew refused to tell his parents who exactly he was selling drugs for or any further details about the experience. He said the people he was working for didn't like how frequently his mom was calling and they told him to remove the SIM from his phone. But once his photo showed up on their Instagram feeds, the dealers were nervous about all the attention and told him to go home.

Saunders wasn't surprised by this, saying "If the online attention is affecting their business, it's easier just to send the kid home. Trust me, they can find another youth, it's a revolving door."

Marcus and his wife had many questions for their son, why did he do this, why did he stop communicating with his mom, how did he even get to Thunder Bay?

Matthew admitted he just wanted to make money. He said he and David took the bus to Yorkdale Mall, where a couple picked them up in a van with two other Black teens in the car. They were all dropped off in Thunder Bay. 

“These people have a sophisticated network of drivers. It’s scary,” says Marcus. 

How did a 16-year-old get caught up in the drug trade?

“It’s usually an older kid from their high school who has left school and he comes back around with a car and some flashy clothes. The kids know him, so there’s a comfort level,” says Marcus. “ He’ll take them to McDonald's or something like that and buy them food, give them a bit of cash. Then he asks them, do you guys wanna make money, let me know.”

Marcus’s son started off engaging in low-level scams. “I noticed a whole bunch of fake iPhones in his room. He would sell those phones as if they were real. Then the person who’s recruiting them will say ok, you’re doing well, do you want to make even more money? You just have to go to Thunder Bay for a few weeks. And that’s what happened to Matthew. And it’s a huge problem in our community, this is happening everywhere.”

What is the allure? 

“You know, the kid feels successful making fast money, because you’re your own little CEO right? They can now afford to take their mom out to lunch, they can buy nice things and they are so brainwashed by the fake images from rap music and social media,” explains Marcus. “The other thing is, these kids, the’re looking out at the world, at society and they can see that the government doesn’t care about them. They watch the government send billions of dollars to other countries but not invest in communities here at home," says Marcus. 

How is Matthew doing now?

Matthew is now 19, and has been arrested several times and faced 11 robbery charges over the last few years. “He started creating fake Facebook profiles, pretending to buy a phone on Facebook Marketplace, then he would meet up with the person and grab the phone and run off.”

Marcus enrolled him in a local college for a cybersecurity program, but Matthew dropped out within a week. 

What should parents look out for? 

“You better know every piece of clothing you buy for your kid. If you see them with a hoodie or a pair of shoes that you don’t recognize, you should start asking questions,” says Marcus. “You should also be very vigilant about who their friends are and where they spend time. Encourage the friends to hang out at your house so you can get to know them. You just have to keep talking to your kids.”

Why do you think the parents of these missing boys are so reluctant to speak to the media? 

“People are embarrassed, they are ashamed. I’m only sharing my story with you because I know what this feels like. It’s f-ing heartbreaking to wake up and have your kid just gone.”

What are we missing about the Black boyhood experience that makes them vulnerable to drug traffickers?

Click here to read When Black Boys Go Missing Part Three: Cracks In The System.