Dear supporters and fellow signers,

Thank you for continuing to stand with us as we push for accountability and reform regarding the John Volken Academy. Your signatures and stories have already brought international attention to the serious allegations of abuse, coercive control, and unethical practices at this facility.  We are now turning the spotlight on a particularly disturbing pattern: the withholding of passports from residents.

Multiple anonymous accounts across the internet, along with first-hand testimonies we have received, describe staff confiscating residents’ passports (or other government issued ID cards) upon arrival and refusing to return them. When these incidents were reported to Canadian police, the response was shockingly dismissive: “Well, hey, it’s a drug and alcohol treatment center...of course they do that.”

This response is not acceptable.

John Volken Academy is not a prison or a detention center. It is conveniently marketed as a volunteer faith-based treatment program for consenting adults. 

In a facility where we now know serious emotional, psychological, and physical abuse took place, the practice of controlling someone’s passport is a clear form of coercive control not standard “treatment protocol.”

This exact tactic is widely recognized as a hallmark of modern slavery and human trafficking. It is the same method documented in the powerful BBC Africa Eye documentary “Silicon Valley’s Online Slave Market” (originally focused on domestic workers in Kuwait, Africa & other countries/continents abroad), where employers confiscate passports to trap vulnerable people and prevent them from leaving abusive situations.

Some residents only managed to regain their passports by physically walking off campus and making desperate phone calls to family members/authorities...calls that were often ignored because families had been put through “education” courses designed to dismiss any complaints as indicative of an episode related to one's illness, a tactic directly borrowed from Synanon-style programs and other troubled teen industry (TTI) facilities like Ivy Ridge (well-documented in the HEAL online database).

This is a huge red flag.

Any sober or non-sober, consenting or non-consenting adult seeking treatment must retain the fundamental right to leave if the program is not meeting basic standards of safety and care...physically, emotionally, or psychologically. Labeling people as “mentally ill” or “addicts” should never be used as an excuse to strip them of their freedom or legal documents. The severity of each person’s condition varies widely; many are fully functional adults who simply need support, not imprisonment.

Treating human beings like animals to be behaviorally modified, subdued, caged, and “tranquilized” through subservience is a last-century approach. In 2026, we must demand modernized mental health care that respects dignity, autonomy, and evidence-based practices. We should also draw wisdom from cultures once dismissed...traditions that emphasized community support and never isolating people in their struggles, which research now shows is often the opposite of healing.

We need your help right now.  If you (or someone you know) attended John Volken Academy and had your passport withheld, please reply to this update or share your experience in the Petition supporters comments below.

Every account strengthens our case for real oversight and change.

Your voice matters. Together we are shining a light on practices that have been hidden for far too long.

 Thank you for your continued support. Please share this update widely.

Don’t forget to join our group “Fake Help Real Harm” for private updates on this situation and also, if you feel inclined, leave a “Supporters Voices” comment on the petition.

In solidarity,
JVA Survivors 

Key Human Rights Violations:

✓Freedom from slavery, servitude, and forced labour (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 4)
✓Right to liberty and security of the person / freedom from arbitrary detention (Canadian Charter & International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights)
✓Right to freedom of movement and informed consent in treatment
✓Prohibition of coercive control and psychological abuse

Relevant Canadian Laws:

✓Criminal Code s. 279.03(1): It is a specific offence to withhold or destroy a travel document (e.g., passport) for the purpose of committing or facilitating human trafficking. Penalty: up to 5 years imprisonment.
✓Unlawful confinement / False imprisonment (Criminal Code s. 279)
✓Provincial Mental Health Acts: These only permit involuntary detention in narrow cases involving imminent harm not for voluntary addiction programs.
✓Patterns of control (passport withholding + restricted family contact + “education” sessions) may also support charges related to criminal harassment or abuse of vulnerability.
✓Police dismissing complaints with “it’s a treatment centre, of course they do that” is not a legal defence. Voluntary rehab programs do not have prison-like powers over adults.

U.S. Implications (for American residents or cross-border cases):

✓Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA)  passport control is a recognized indicator of coercion and servitude.