[lit-ideas] sex slavery, Canada-for Paul
- From: Carol Kirschenbaum <carolkir@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2006 21:28:55 -0700
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/canada.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4532617.stm
http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_08.10.00/news/sex.html
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/cinemareal/sexslaves.html
CATW Home
Factbook
Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation
Canada
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"Rules are like women, made to be violated." (Judge Denys Dionne,
Quebec Court, 1989, "Judge: 'No sign' of violence," Andre Picard, The Globe
and Mail, 9 October 1997)
Trafficking
The impact of migrant trafficking on Canada is estimated at
between $120 million to $400 million per year and accounts for approximately
8,000 to 16,000 people arriving in Canada per year illegally. ("Organized
Crime Impact Study," Solicitor General of Canada)
Vietnamese and Chinese mafia are increasing operations in brothels
in Toronto, Canada. They traffic in women from Southeast Asia. Agents pay
recruiters up to $8,000 for a woman, who then sell the women to pimps for
about $15,000. Agents take 10% of the earnings beyond the original contract.
The women are forced to service buyers' 12 hours a day, 400 buyers or
$400,000 to pay off their debt. Women are abused and terrorized, being
beaten and reportedly burned with hot irons. (Rob Lamberti, "Sex Slaves:
Fodder for Flesh Factories the Women Earn Nothing But Tips Until They Pay
Off Their $40,000 Contracts," Toronto Sun, 10 May 1998)
About twelve 16-30-year-old Asian girls and women were trafficked
into Canada each week on visitor's permits and sold into prostitution. The
girls and women were bought in North America for up to $15,000 by a network
that made about U.S. $1. 4 - $2.2 million annually. The women are sold to
brothel owners in Markham and Scarborough Toronto and Los Angeles and forced
into $40,000 debt bondage. (Police, "Police Bust Sex-slave Ring" 11
September 1997 & "Toronto police uncover sex slave ring," United Press
International, 11 September 1997)
1000 employment authorizations for foreign exotic dancers are
issued every year. ("Canada's Paper for EU Conference on Trafficking in
Women for Sexual Exploitation" 10-11 June 1996)
Recruitment of exotic dancers into Canada is legal, and may be
linked to the issues of trafficking and sexual exploitation. Women who enter
Canada to work as exotic dancers are vulnerable to sexual and economic
exploitation, deprivation of freedom, and can be coerced into criminal
activities, whether they have entered legally or illegally. ("Canada's Paper
for EU Conference on Trafficking in Women for Sexual Exploitation" 10-11
June 1996)
Male buyers in Canada are increasingly seeking Filipinas more so
than Thai women, because they believe Filipinas pose less of risk for AIDS.
(Rob Lamberti, "Sex Slaves: Fodder for Flesh Factories the Women Earn
Nothing But TipsUntil They Pay Off Their $40,000 Contracts," Toronto Sun, 10
May 1998)
Methods and Techniques of Traffickers
As many as 100 Honduran children have been smuggled overland into
Canada from Honduras, by a professional drug ring trafficking children to
Vancouver. The Honduran smugglers pay the childrens' transportation costs
and help them across the Canadian border. Once in Vancouver, the traffickers
put the children in apartments, help them file refugee claims and sign up
for welfare. In return, the children are turned out on the street as
indentured drug dealers. (Adrienne Turner, "Drug ring lures kids as dealers:
Hondurans as young as 11 deal crack in Vancouver," Ottawa Citizen, 20 July
1998)
Many of the young girls that are trafficked and forced into
prostitution in Canada are ferried from city to city, from Seattle to San
Francisco to Oakland to Phoenix to Honolulu and Portland. The pimps move
them every 3-4 weeks. (Portland Police Officer Doug Kosloske, The Province,
19 December 1997)
Motorcycle gangs and organized crime groups based in Eastern
Europe and Asia, have trafficked foreign women to Canada under lawful
pretexts, then forced the women into prostitution. ("Canada's Paper for EU
Conference on Trafficking in Women for Sexual Exploitation" 10-11 June 1996)
There have been a number of cases identified wherein women from
Asia have been smuggled into the provinces of Quebec, Ontario and British
Colombia for the purpose of having women work as lounge dancers and
strippers. ("Canada's Paper for EU Conference on Trafficking in Women for
Sexual Exploitation" 10-11 June 1996)
There have been reports of extortion, coercion, rape and
prostitution involving foreign exotic dancers, strip club managers and
patrons. The women are vulnerable to sexual exploitation and coercion into
criminal activities. Foreign exotic dancers tend to be recruited in their
country of residence by "talent agencies". The talent agency pays all
up-front costs associated with travel and initial accommodations. The loan
becomes a form of debt-bondage. Many of these women do not speak French or
English and are unfamiliar with the legal protections available to them
under Canadian law. ("Canada's Paper for EU Conference on Trafficking in
Women for Sexual Exploitation" 10-11 June 1996)
Strip clubs located in Toronto and Montreal are suspected of
sexually exploiting young Asian women from Thailand, Taiwan, the
Philippines, Malaysia and other areas. The women were hired as foreign
exotic dancers, but were put into prostitution. The women were coerced into
having abortions when pregnant, with threats of being returned to their
country of origin if they refused. The women had their passports taken away,
and were held in seclusion when they were not performing. After an
investigation, criminal charges were laid against the women. None of their
abusers were charged. ("Canada's Paper for EU Conference on Trafficking in
Women for Sexual Exploitation" 10-11 June 1996)
Cases
A family run prostitution network in Canada made more than $1
million in two years by prostituting foreign women. A man, his son, his
wife, their daughter and daughter-in-law all recruited females who
participated in the overall operation. Many of the 20 prostitutes -- aged 23
to 39 -- were related to the operators by marriage or blood, Murarotto said.
They worked out of apartments and each turned over at least $15,000 a year
to the operators (George Christopoulos, "Family Ran Prostitution Ring,"
Toronto Sun, 16 May 1998)
Xuong Han Luong faces charges of owning a brothel in Toronto,
Canada, and living off the avails of prostitution. He held at least five
Thai women in the brothel, forcing them into prostitution. Although the
brothel was raided in 1996, police believe the same group reopened it. (Rob
Lamberti, "Cops Raid Den of Thai Sex 'Salves' 2 Men Arrested For Running
Bawdy House," Toronto Sun, 10 May 1998)
Adam Jermaine Ingram, 20, and Kevin Roy Woods, 18 are accused of
paying $3,000 to buy a 13-year-old girl from a man in Vancouver, Canada,
abducting her and her friend and raping them while on route to San Diego.
Their actions violate, among other laws, the 1948 White Slave Traffic Act,
prohibiting the transport of minors across state lines with the intent of
engaging in criminal activity. (Teen Girls Abducted,"The Province, 21
December 1997)
11 women, aged 18-25, from the former Soviet Union, were forced to
become exotic dancers in a strip club. The women were recruited from the
former Soviet Union with the promise that they would become highly paid
models in Canada. They entered Canada illegally, and the traffickers took
their passports and other identification and held them in Toronto. The women
went to the police in April 1991. Two men were charged and fined $1000 and
$2000. ("Canada's Paper for EU Conference on Trafficking in Women for Sexual
Exploitation" 10-11 June 1996)
One Asian woman who was trafficked into Canada 10 years ago at the
age of 17, reports that agents traffic at least 30 Thai women into Canada
per trip, and that there are at least 3 Thai agents in Toronto alone. (Rob
Lamberti, "Sex Slaves: Fodder for Flesh Factories the Women Earn Nothing But
Tips Until They Pay Off Their $40,000 Contracts," Toronto Sun, 10 May 1998)
Policy and Law
There is no section specifically on trafficking in women in the
Criminal Code of Canada, and prostitution is not illegal in Canada,
therefore Immigration Officers cannot refuse entry or issue a removal order
to individuals solely on the grounds that they engage in prostitution.
("Canada's Paper for EU Conference on Trafficking in Women for Sexual
Exploitation" 10-11 June 1996)
Official Response and Action
Women are regularly transported back and forth across the
Canadian-US border for the purpose of prostitution. Canadian law enforcement
has long been aware of this. ("Canada's Paper for EU Conference on
Trafficking in Women for Sexual Exploitation" 10-11 June 1996)
750 criminal charges were filed against traffickers in one case of
bringing women from Southeast Asia to Toronto for prostitution. (Bill
Wallace & Benjamin Pimental, "San Jose Women Held After Raid in Sex Slave
Case," San Francisco Chronicle, 13 September 1997)
Prostitution
Prostituted women are 60-120 times more likely to be murdered than
the general public. (Research by Dr. John Lowman, Paul Dillon, "Life On The
Streets in Dangerous," Surrey Leader, 17 May 1998)
The murder of prostituted women in Canada continues to rise. From
1991-1995 63 prostituted women were murdered in Canada, 26 of which in
British Columbia. More than half of the cases remains unsolved. Six to eight
others were murdered in 1996 and 1997 in B.C. (Dr. John Lowman
criminologist, Paul Dillon, "Life On The Streets in Dangerous," Surrey
Leader, 17 May 1998)
Three prostituted women in Toronto, Canada have been murdered.
Police believe the murders are the result of a serial killer after one woman
escaped an attack and reported it to the police. (Ian Timberlake, "Sex
attacker hunted, Man in sketch may be tied to killings," Toronto Sun, 23
June 1998)
Statistics on the murders of prostitutes in the Vancouver area:
1960-1977 1; 1978-1980 4; 1981-1985 12; and 1986-1995 60. (Jon Lowman, Greg
Middleton, "Law Blamed for Hooker Murders," The Province)
Within 5 days, two prostituted women were murdered in Vancouver.
Many of the murders against prostituted women go unsolved, such as 19
unsolved murders between 1988 and 1994. (Peter Montague, RCMP media liasion
statistics, Dawn Brett, "Angry mourners demand action," Vancouver Sun, 14
June 1997)
Women and children in street prostitution comprise 1/3 of the
1,500 people in the sex industry in Montreal. (Police estimates.
"Prostitutes protest police sweep" Montreal Gazette, 23 June 1998)
The Coalition for the Rights of Sex Workers, a lobby group
representing about 5,000 prostituted persons, escorts, strippers and
phone-sex operators in Montreal, held a small demonstration at the riding
office of Quebec Employment Minister Louise Harel. They were demanding the
same rights as other workers in the province. Coalition spokeswoman
Marie-Claude Charlebois said working conditions in the sex trade are
deplorable. "We're sick of having no say when it comes to wages, working
hours or working environment," she said. Women engaged in prostitution on
the streets often work in dangerous, isolated areas that offer no protection
against violence from clients, pimps and even police, Charlebois said. ("Sex
Workers seek rights", Ottawa Sun, 6 September 1998)
There are 10,000 prostitutes in the Greater Toronto Area, and more
than 4,000 women are in the escort trade. One hour costs a minimum of $150,
with half usually going to the agency. Women escorts are "busiest" during
corporate conventions held in the area. A recent trend is for women to
operate as "independents" that book their own dates and run ads on the
Internet. (Detective Mark Marple of Peel Region Police Nick Pron, "Dating
Services Bring Boom Times to Prostitution," Toronto Star, 1997)
Of 25 prostitutes known to be on the streets of Sudbury, Canada
half are under 15 years old and some are as young as 11. (Police, Wayne
Chamberlain, "Half of Sudbury Prostitutes Under 15 Years Old, Police Say:
Streetwalkers a growing problem in Nickel City," The Sudbury Star, 13 April
1998)
70 to 80% of those involved in the Canadian sex industry began as
children. And 80 to 95% are fleeing sexual abuse that usually began at home.
(Kimberly Daum, "Sexually Exploitated Children in Canada: The Law is Not on
Their Side," Opinion/Essays, 17 October 1996)
In Canada, the escort service has become a booming underground
economy, at an estimated $1/2 billion annually. The number of agencies has
increased from just a few a decade ago to more than 125 in the Greater
Toronto Area alone. Men run most of the 25 larger agencies in the Greater
Toronto Area, the biggest of which employs about 100 women. Other small
agencies have between 2 and 6 women. (Toronto Star investigation, Nick Pron,
"Dating Services Bring Boom Times to Prostitution," Toronto Star, 1997)
Setting records is part of the competition among escort agencies.
12 men reportedly bought one woman in one night. One agency auctioned a
woman as a virgin. The "bidding war" resulted in a record hour fee of $800.
(Police files, Nick Pron "Dating Services Bring Boom Times to Prostitution"
Toronto Star (1997)
200-300 juveniles in prostitution in Vancouver are routinely
arrested on prostitution-related charges. (Youth workers, Kimberly Daum,
"Sexually Exploitated Children in Canada: The Law is Not on Their Side,"
Opinion/Essays, 17 October 1996)
Hundreds of children under 17 years old are being exploited in the
sex industry in Vancouver, Canada. Middle-aged male buyers are increasingly
seeking girls as young as 11. The police are not trusted by the children,
who have targeted them for arrests rather than the perpetrators. (Child
advocates, Mark Clayton, "To Curb Vancouver's Big Trade in Child Sex, Police
Nab 'Johns'," Christian Science Monitor, 1997)
Children in prostitution are charged 59 times more often than are
the male buyers in Vancouver. In six years, only 6 men were charged in
Vancouver for buying children in prostitution. Two were convicted. During
the same time period, 354 children were charged for involvement in
prostitution. (Vancouver: Predator and Pedophile Paradise, a study by John
Turvey, executive director of Downtown Eastside Youth Activities Society,
Mark Clayton, "To Curb Vancouver's Big Trade in Child Sex, Police Nab 'Johns',"
Christian Science Monitor, 1997)
10% of the 100 to 200 women in street prostitution in Calgary,
Canada, are under the 18 years of age. (Helen Dolik "Help group for families
is launched" Calgary Herald, 11 August 1997)
Cases
Three men sexually assaulted, threatened to kill and prostituted a
13-year-old girl in Toronto and Oshawa, Canada for 18 months. The men
collected $100,000 from selling her as a prostitute. Robert Christian
Chattaway, 20, of Scarboro, was charged with kidnapping, aggravated sexual
assault, procuring, living on the avails of a prostitute under 18 and having
dangerous weapons. Warrants are issued for the two other men. (Mike
Beauparlant Detective of the Juvenile Task Force, Tom Godfrey, "Child Forced
to Hook Man Held After Girl, 13, Assaulted," Toronto Sun, 18 April 1998)
Jalil Ali-Akbar Bahrami, a violent pimp, convicted of 60 offenses
of drug trafficking, assault with a deadly weapon and living off the avails
of prostitution was freed from prison and sent to his native Iran after
claiming he is not using drugs and that he has found God. (Kelly Harris,
"Violent Offender Finds God, Is Freed," Sun Media, 27 May 1998)
Suspected serial killer Terry Driver, admitted he used prostitutes
from the time he was 15, when he gave food to homeless children in exchange
for sex. He also admitted that he used three women who were later found
dead. [Holly Horwood, "Is Terry Driver a Serial Killer?" The Province, 17
October 1997)
Organized crime by motorcycle gangs, such as 'Hell's Angels,' are
involved in drug trafficking and prostitution. More than 50 people have been
killed in Quebec over four years, in a turf war between the Hell's Angels
and a rival gang called the Rock Machine ("Canada plans to take on biker
gangs," United Press International, 23 April 1998)
A cocaine epidemic is closely linked with Yellowknife's
prostitution and pornography trade. A group of girls were selling sex for
cocaine. A man faces trial for trafficking cocaine as well as possessing
about 1300 pornographic videos, including some with local women. Alcohol and
drug use was linked to child sexual abuse and trauma. (Arlene Hache,
Yellowknife Women's Centre, "Coke epidemic in Northest Territories; Child
sexual abuse called root of drug abuse in North," Canadian Press, 26 October
1997)
Philip Grassi, 49, a Vancouver firefighter and North Vancouver
minor hockey coach was arrested and charged for soliciting a prostitute, who
was really an undercover police officer. He said his constitutional rights
were violated by the Vancouver police department's policy of naming men
arrested for prostitution offences. (Gerry Bellett, "Being Identified As A
John Violates My Rights, Says Firefighter: Vancouver father of two takes
police department to court," Vancouver Sun, 20 June 1997)
Two missing Calgary girls, aged 15 and 16, recruited into
prostitution by a sex trade ring on Vancouver's streets have been rescued
and safely returned home. A key factor in solving the case was the use of
the Deter and Identify Sex trade Consumers (DISC) computer system, developed
by two Vancouver police officers. (Peter Smith, "Girls Home Safe", Calgary
Sun, 15 August 1998)
Policy and Law
A new law in Canada, the Protection of Children Involved in
Prostitution Act, increased the fines for both pimps and male buyers to
$25,000 from $2,000. Pimps and male buyers are warning their peers of the
new law, via the Internet. (Bart Johnson, "Creeps Scraed Off Internet Warns
Pimps, Johns That Sex With Underage Hookers In Alberta is Child Abuse,"
Edmonton Sun, 1 May 1998)
The Protection of Children Involved in Prostitution Act in Canada
will provide the legal means to remove children in prostitution from the
streets and put them back into their homes or into protective custody. It
also calls for higher fines on anyone encouraging children into
prostitution. (Rob Flanagan, "Bartolucci s bill passes second reading,"
Sudbury Star, 29 May 1998)
In April 1998, Sudbury Regional Police launched the DISC (deter,
identify, sex trade, consumers) program. The program targets the anonymity
of the johns who buy sex from women in prostitution. The operation has
focused on Elgin and Durham streets, and the Medina Lane area, after regular
business hours. People who speak to, stand with, or continually drive by the
prostitutes can be stopped, watched or be asked to provide identification by
the police. In the first five months, police charged 16 men and seven women
with prostitution-related offences through the DISC program. Two of the
cases involved prostitutes younger than 16 years of age. (Staff writer,
"Prostitution on the rise in Sudbury, group says", Sudbury Star, 14 August
1998)
Aggravated pimping, in cases involving violence and commercial
exploitation of youth, mandates a minimum sentence of five years
imprisonment. ("Canada's Paper for EU Conference on Trafficking in Women for
Sexual Exploitation" 10-11 June 1996)
In Alberta the Child Welfare Act was amended to classify the
hiring of prostitutes under 18 as child abuse. Convicted buyers face fines
up to $2,000 or six months in jail. ("Alberta Justice Minister Wants Jail
for Johns,"Associated Press, 1997)
In 1997, new federal legislation made it an offense to seek the
sexual services of a person believed to less than 18. The new law also sets
a minimum five-year federal prison sentence - with a 14-year maximum - for
pimps who coerce juveniles into prostitution through violence or
intimidation. ("Alberta Justice Minister Wants Jail for Johns,"Associated
Press, 1997)
In Toronto, Canada, prostitution is not illegal, but communicating
or discussing sex for cash is one of four Criminal Code offenses governing
the escort agency trade. (Nick Pron, "Dating Services Bring Boom Times to
Prostitution," Toronto Star, 1997)
In The Greater Toronto Area, Now Magazine was charged in 1990 with
14 counts of "communicating" for the purpose of prostitution because of its
escort agency ads in the classified section. The charges were dropped in
what one crown prosecutor called a "political decision" and the advertising
floodgates were opened. (Nick Pron "Dating Services Bring Boom Times to
Prostitution" Toronto Star (1997)
The Edmonton Police plan to form a prostitution committee to curb
prostitution. One strategy will be to seize the cars of male buyers. (Robert
Noce, Jerry Ward, "Skin Trade Committee Urged", Edmonton Sun, 23 July 1998)
The city of Vancouver collects approximately $6,500 from each of
the 100 'body rub parlors' and escort agencies. (Jon Lowman, Greg Middleton,
"Law Blamed for Hooker Murders," The Province)
In the "Shame the johns" Campaign, Vancouver, British Columbia
police plan to release the names of men suspected of trying to buy women in
prostitution. ("Police Unfazed By Suit," The Province, 2 September 1997)
A person convicted of living off the avails of child prostitution
was judged by a British Columbia government screening program as being "no
risk," and allowed to keep a job that involves contact with children.
(Stewart Bell, Vancouver Sun, October 1997)
Official Response and Action
Police in Sudbury, Canada are launching a Deter, Identify, Sex
Trade, Consumers Program to combat the growing number of prostitutes,
particularly underage girls. The program targets the anonymity of the buyers
in order to deter them. Cst. Corinne Fewster, an officer with the Sudbury
Regional Police's Drug and Morality Squad said they hope to reduce the
demand by targeting buyers. (Wayne Chamberlain, "Half of Sudbury Prostitutes
Under 15 Years Old, Police Say: Streetwalkers a growing problem in Nickel
City," The Sudbury Star, 13 April 1998)
Calgary is one of just two cities in North America where the
number of girls in prostitution is declining. Until 1994 when the Street
Teams operation began, the number of girls under 18 in prostitution had been
rising. There were 400 girls in prostitution or at risk of starting. That
figure dropped to 276 in 1996, and 243 in 1997. Every night, Street Teams
volunteers patrol the strolls, LRT stations and malls, talking girls off the
street and warning those who might be recruited by pimps (Don Braid, "Street
Teams Head Deserves Order of Canada," Calgary Sun, 15 May 1998)
Under a new program in Vancouver, Canada, 30 percent of first time
offenders of solicitation for prostitution are eligible to attend the "john
school" instead of prosecution. This proposal seeks to curb male
solicitation before it becomes repeat behavior. Men will pay Canada $400 to
attend the "school" instead of a fine. (Shane McCune, "Police board Oks
'john school' idea," Vancouver Province, 26 June 1998)
In the last 2 weeks of February 1997, as a result of the testimony
of children, 10 male buyers were arrested and charged with soliciting for
prostitution. (Mark Clayton, "To Curb Vancouver's Big Trade in Child Sex,
Police Nab 'Johns'," Christian Science Monitor, 1997)
The British Columbia government pledged $3 million to help street
kids and teen prostitutes by hiring more outreach workers and creating "safe
houses" in four communities for those who want to leave prostitution. (Ian
Bailey, "Pimps not easy to spot, sex-trade worker warns," CP, 12 March 1998)
Judge Judith Kay ruled that an eight-year-old girl must be allowed
unsupervised visits to her maternal grandmother who runs an escort agency in
Victoria. The girl's mother opposed the decision. ("Judge says girls must
visit grandmother who runs escort service," Vancouver Sun, 5 December 1997
The disappearance of Crystal Dawn Jack is not being investigated
adequately by Halifax police and friends and co-workers think it is because
she was involved in prostitution. Jack vanished sometime in early to
mid-July 1997. Halifax regional police spokes-man Constable Gary Martin said
the police are doing all they can considering the lack of physical evidence
that would indicate a violent crime has been committed. (Richard Dooley,
"Look harder for woman, friends say," The Daily News, 23 August 1998)
Police investigate allegations that police officers in Sudbury,
Ontario, had sex with prostituted children. A social worker at a youth
correctional center testified that police officers, supposed to protect
teenagers involved in prostitution, sometimes had sex with them. A local
prostituted woman backed up the allegation, saying she first had sex with a
police officer for money when she was 14 years old, and has since had sex
with other officers. She said officers supplied child prostitutes with
narcotic drugs to keep them quiet. The chief of police did not think the
allegations were true, but ordered an internal investigation. ("Police face
probe for alleged child sex," United Press International, 17 August 1998)
NGO Action
Teens involved in prostitution may be helped by a support network
that a group in Sudbury is working to create. The group consists of a number
of public service groups, community agencies and politicians. Teens enter
prostitution for various reasons, including as an escape from an abusive
home life, a way to support drug habits, and others are lured into it. Most
have low self-esteem, many have been abused in past relationships, and some
are parents. A number on Sudbury streets are under the age of 16. (Debbie
Shipley, "Effort under way to reach out to teen prostitutes," Star)
Official Corruption and Collaboration
"If what we're doing is so bad, then why are police officers and
politicians some of our better customers?" Among the range of buyers include
schoolboys to grandfathers, lawyers, top civil servants, businessmen, the
laborer next door. Most are married. Some are in their 70s. All of their
names are on computerized databases in escort agency offices. (One escort
agency owner, Nick Pron, "Dating Services Bring Boom Times to Prostitution,"
Toronto Star, 1997)
Rural Canadian Mounted Police officer Lyndon Dorrington, 31 was
found guilty of soliciting a prostitute after, the woman he approached
revealed herself as an undercover police officer. He claimed he was doing
research for a course. ("Cops Research Argument Doesn't Fly," Calgary
Herald, 8 August 1997)
Assistant Crown Attorney Agnew Johnston in Thunder Bay, Ontario,
was discovered having been exploiting minors for prostitution. He has been
appealing disbarment since 1994.
Prostitution Tourism
Policy and Law
Canada discarded the principle of double jeopardy, so a person can
be prosecuted for extra-territorial crimes of sex exploitation both in the
country where the crime is commited and in Canada. ("Child sexploitation
within law's reach," The Nation, 2 July 1997)
In 1997, Canada made it illegal for citizens to have sex with
children in foreign countries. Each year, thousands of western tourists
travel to impoverished Third World countries and Eastern Europe to buy
children in prostitution. (Ian Bailey, "Ex-prostitute offers reality check
on tactic against sex tourism," CP, 12 March 1998)
According to Canadian law, men who buy a child in prostitution in
a foreign country face up to 10 years in prison, while in Canada, they face
5 years in prison. (Police, Kimberly Daum, "Sexually Exploitated Children in
Canada: The Law is Not on Their Side," Opinion/Essays, 17 October 1996)
Canadian customs agents and police have special powers to
prosecute child pornography peddlers and child-sex tourists under Bill C-27,
passed in 1997. (Tom Godfrey, "Sex tourists targeted," Toronto Sun, 11
September 1998)
Official Response and Action
Canadian Yves Banville travelled throughout Africa (southern
Africa, Zambia, and Madagascar) as a sex tourist for months. He collected
hundreds of pornographic photos, and raped girls as young as 8. He has been
arrested and charged with one count of possession and one count importation
of child pornography. (Larry Pynn, "Child-porn importer fined $300," The
Vancouver Sun, 23 March 1998)
Canadians returning home from child-sex tourism vacations in
certain European and Third World countries are being arrested at airports
across the country. Customs officials targeted pornography smugglers and
child-sex tourists in Project Offspray, conducted from Aug. 26, 1998 to
Sept. 7, 1998. Custom officials called the crackdown a success, as the
project netted several child-sex peddlers. The Customs department is working
with international police agencies and G-8 (industrialized) countries to go
after pornography dealers. There are currently no child-sex tourism cases
before Canadian courts. (Tom Godfrey, "Sex tourists targeted," Toronto Sun,
11 September 1998)
Regulation of the sex industry is being debated by an Edmonton
Police Commission task force. The task force is working to keep the sex
industry out of residential areas. The establishments of red-light districts
and tougher laws will be considered, after information about prostitution
has been collected. The Chief of Police opposes the establishment of
red-light districts saying this would contribute to the victimization of
women. (Ian McDougall, "Red-light districts pondered," Edmonton Sun, 24
September 1998)
Pornography
Cases
Gord Malcolm, former Ajax-Pickering News Advertiser editor, was
sentenced to 23 months in jail for possessing and distributing child porn.
Malcolm was arrested in a police sting at a motel where he was supposed to
meet a 12-year-old girl for sex. 816 images of child pornography and 2,000
images of bestiality and bondage pornography were seized at his residence.
(Kevin Hann, "Internet perv behind bars, Ex-editor in kiddie porn sting,"
Toronto Sun, 1 July 1998)
Police seized 53 rolls of undeveloped film, three video-cassette
recorders, computer equipment, more than 400 videotapes, 15 CD-ROMs and 41
floppy disks from Michael Andrew Gibbon, who is under investigation for
offering to sell child pornography on an government Internet website
fronting as a pornography site. (Andy Ivens, The Province, 16 December 1997)
Four girls, aged 12-14 were found during a child pornography bust.
They were taken into custody by police and released on their own at 4 a.m..
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police criticized the Children and Family's
Ministries for failure to provide services and protection for the girls.
(Stweart Bell & Kim Pemberton, Vancouver Sun, February 1998)
James Ritchie, a retired military officer who downloaded children
pronography from the Internet has been sentenced to 15 months in jail. More
than 1,000 images and nearly 700 fictional stories obtained through the
Internet were found by Provincial Police. Ritchie was sentenced to 15 months
in jail, the harshest sentence since the 1993 Criminal Code amendment
targeted child pornography. ("Ex-officer jailed for child porn," Vancouver
Sun, 21 September 1997)
Police seized a home computer of a Kitimat, Canada, man containing
an album of about 10,000 images and video clips of child pornography.
Internet cops, from the Co-ordinated Law Enforcement Unit and Canada
Customs, who regularly monitor chat rooms on the World Wide Web, were
supplied with the photographs which led to the arrest. The man faces charges
of distribution of child pornography and possession of child pornography as
a result of illegal activities on the Internet. ("Net used to nab Kitimat
man," The Province)
Toronto Child Pornography Ring:
A police probe uncovered a child pornography business in Don
Mills, Toronto, Canada after complaints from the Illinois Attorney General
Internet Criminal Activity Unit and Australia. About a dozen girls aged 14
to 16 were filmed naked or with men having sex with them. Digital photos or
video of the sessions were transmitted on a child pornography Internet site,
which charged subscription fees of $15 to $80. A man had been operating the
site for about a year and had about 1,000 subscribers.
The girls were recruited by the man or a third party and police
believe some of the girls were runaways. The man also had access to an
agency specializing in child models, which would send him girls. "He would
pay them to pose for shots or to have sex," Detective O'Mara said, adding
that the cameras were hidden in the apartment. In some instances, the
victims didn't know they were being photographed.
Police seized thousands of photos and computer equipment when they
searched the apartment in August 1998. Some photos showed girls as young as
five involved in various sexual activity. Stephen Bauer, 23, has been
charged with three counts of making child pornography, distributing child
pornography, living off the avails of prostitution, exercising control,
sexual exploitation and communicating for the purpose of prostitution. (Tom
Godfrey, "Cops bust porno den," Toronto Sun, 9 September 1998)
Policy and Law
Importing child pornography on the Internet is treated as an
offence equally serious as the attempt to import any other form of
pornography into Canada. ("Net used to nab Kitimat man," The Province)
Organized and Institutionalized Sexual Exploitation and Violence
Sixty men were arrested and charged with child exploitation of
teenage boys from 1993 to 1995. (Don Murray, "Man Aquitted on Sex Charges,"
London Free Press, 25 April 1998)
A 40-year-old pedophile ring wherein dozens of children were
victimized, was uncovered in Cornwall; perpetrators include local officials
and Catholic priests. ("Police form task force to probe pedophile ring,"
Canadian Press, 8 October 1997)
Ontario Police are investigating a pedophile group, which includes
Roman Catholic clergy and public officials, that has operated for decades in
Cornwall. The men have been abusing boys from 1957 until at least 1994, and
the abuse may still be happening. ("Police Investigate Alleged Sex Ring,"
Chronicle Journal Thunder Bay, 27 July 1997)
Pastor Anthony Gifford, 55, sexually assaulted 5 women members of
the "moms and tots" program of the Wesley Mimico United Church. Gifford
exploited most of the women aboard his yacht, the "Love Boat". The women
went to him for counseling on their personal and marital problems. (Nick
Pron, "Church Calls Accused Minister 'danger'," Toronto Star, 12 February
1998)
308 of the 843 low-income, inner city women attending a community
health center in Winnipeg reported being sexually abused, mostly as
children. The prevalence of sexual abuse was higher among aboriginal women
(45%) versus non-aboriginal women (31%). Lead author of the three-year
study, Dr. T. Kue Young, a professor in the department of community health
sciences at the University of Manitoba, reports in the study that women who
had been sexually abused were more likely to have had sexual intercourse
before 12 years of age, had multiple partners and had a history of sexually
transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea, chlamydia and genital warts. Young
said women who have been sexually abused are also more likely to be
unemployed, separated or divorced and they were also more likely to have
been pregnant five or more times. (Sharon Lem, "Abuse linked to later sex
woes", 25 August 1998)
Official Response and Action
Internet stalking, including sexual harassment of former
girlfriends, is being investigated by police in Newfoundland. Stalking by
e-mail is just one of many emerging criminal trends which raise concerns
about security and privacy on the Internet, said Royal Canadian Mounted
Police Constable Bruce Fillier, a computer crimes specialist. He said he
investigates about one complaint of e-mail stalking per month, but no
charges have ever been made. Both federal and provincial officials are
looking at ways to crackdown Internet criminal activity such as e-mail
stalking and child pornography offences. (Will Hilliard, The Evening
Telegram, 6 September 1998)
Policy and Law
In 1993, Ottawa passed a bill outlawing stalking, making it a
crime to knowingly cause a person to fear for his or her life or the safety
of someone else. The Criminal Code defines stalking or criminal harassment
as repeatedly following or communicating with a person; watching or
harassing a person at home or at work; or engaging in threatening conduct
toward a person or his or her family. Criminal harassment, upon conviction,
is punishable by up to five years in prison. (Will Hilliard, The Evening
Telegram, 6 September 1998)
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Factbook Table of Contents CATW Homepage
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation
Donna M. Hughes, Laura Joy Sporcic, Nadine Z. Mendelsohn and
Vanessa Chirgwin
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