Emancipation Now

Human trafficking conference underlines government inaction
City councillor listens as speakers tell tales of rape and abuse


Mark Hasiuk  Vancouver Courier
Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Vancouver is brimming with prostitution--on Downtown Eastside sidewalks and behind innocuous-looking storefronts advertising one-hour "massages" at varying rates.

Fifty-five de facto brothels, officially known as "health enhancement centres," pay a $226 yearly business licence penance to city hall. An unknown number of underground brothels, fuelled by human trafficking, operate unfettered in private residences and businesses around the city.

But despite prostitution's ubiquitousness, all three levels of government largely ignore the issue and its intrinsic crime and misery.

Why? Several reasons.

The media bears much of the blame. Local coverage typically favours the self-serving pro-prostitution lobby, composed of pimps and so-called sex trade workers, who beat the drums of legalization. Our politicians mistakenly equate prostitution with sex and are loath to assume the role of official buzz killers.

Add Hollywood's influence, which portrays prostitution as light and fun, and you've got a recipe for oppression Old Testament-style.

But the worm is turning.

A local movement spawned by feminists, aboriginal advocates, religious groups and academics is changing hearts and minds.

Last Thursday, under the high ceiling of the Wosk Centre for Dialogue on West Hastings, more than 100 advocates and outreach workers--and a few politicians--gathered for Emancipation Now, a conference on human trafficking for prostitution.

They sat silently, with a microphone at every seat, as a pretty 27-year-old woman (who wished to remain anonymous) detailed her life as a child prostitute. Beginning at age 11, she endured years of abuse at the hands of pimps and johns. As other girls her age played with dolls, she serviced "12 guys a night" in alleys and hotel rooms around the city.

They listened to Suzanne Jay, director of the Asian Women's Coalition Ending Prostitution, who talked about pimps who pose as legitimate businessmen to lure women from Asia. And Cherry Smiley of the Aboriginal Women's Action Network who took dead aim at the harm reduction philosophy behind legalization efforts. "Women don't want harm reduction," she said, "they want harm elimination."

From speaker to speaker, the message was clear. Despite the paternalistic fantasies forged over centuries, and the selfish propaganda from the "Happy Hooker" lobby, prostitution is violence against women.

From their seats, representatives from all three levels of government--including Vision Vancouver Coun. Kerry Jang--watched and nodded, shaking their heads slowly at the grim testimonies. When the red light on his microphone flashed on, Jang went further than any city councillor in recent memory, calling prostitution "abhorrent" and stating that "sex slavery" exists in Vancouver. While Jang broke no news for those in attendance, his moment of clarity was a great leap forward for city hall.

During his successful '08 election campaign, Jang's boss and party leader, Mayor Gregor Robertson, called prostitution "the world's oldest profession"--a ghoulish frat boy quip, considering the homegrown horrors of the Pickton farm. Candidate Robertson also promised to form a "roundtable on prostitution" but has remained deadly silent on the issue since assuming office. His predecessor, former mayor Sam Sullivan, supported legalized brothels.

So Jang's language was refreshing, if not downright apologetic. "Sometimes we think we know what we're doing but often we don't," he told the conference. "We need your wisdom and help." However, Jang reminded the conference about the limits of municipal power, noting that federal laws govern prostitution. "So what can we, as a city, do?"

Plenty.

Jang's Vision majority could muster the same political will exercised on behalf of Vancouver's homeless population and lobby the province to help fund addiction services and transition homes for prostituted women. The mayor, who's also chair of the police board, could direct cops to enforce federal law and arrest pimps and johns who operate with impunity. And remember those 55 "health enhancement centres" offering "massages" at varying rates?

"The city does not have to condone the operation of brothels anymore than they have to permit opium dens or organ harvesting," said UBC law professor Janine Benedet, from her seat inside the Wosk Centre. "Everybody knows what these places are, but there's no coordinated program to revoke the licences at these places."

Jang nodded again. But he seems genuinely interested. Last March he asked city staff to compile a report on prostitution, which will include recommendations for council. We should see that report next month.

mhasiuk@vancourier.com

 © Vancouver Courier 2010

Vancouver Olympics get an ‘F’ for failing to curb sex trafficking: group

By Mike Barber, Montreal Gazette February 9, 2010

Canwest News Service - Vancouver Olympic Games organizers have received a failing grade for their efforts to curb sex trafficking into the city, a think-tank announced Tuesday. The Citizens Summit Against Sex Slavery, a coalition of women’s groups, academics and politicians, gave the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee, the B.C. government and the federal government an “F” for “failing to make sure women and youth are secure against human trafficking during the 2010 Olympics.”

Benjamin Perrin, a law professor at the University of British Columbia specializing in human trafficking, said he knew of “dozens” of young women, mostly from major urban centres and native reserves, who were being sent to Vancouver to deal with an expected surge of tourists seeking prostitutes.

Spikes in prostitution often coincide with mass sporting events, said Perrin. He said the 2004 Summer Games in Athens and 2006 World Cup in Germany are just two recent summits that attracted fleets of sex-trade workers to meet the needs of a typically wealthy, male audience.

“I’m very disappointed to say we were expecting this,” said Perrin, pointing to recommendations his group made in 2007 to the RCMP and VANOC to prevent a surge in human trafficking before the Olympics.

“Fortunately, what is apparent today, is that a number of woman who have been brought to Vancouver for the purpose of being sold for sex during the Games by their traffickers have been rescued,” said Perrin. “How many more out there, who are going to be subject to exploitation, we just don’t know.”

Many of these cases, Perrin said, are abetted by the popularity of online classified websites, such as Craigslist, that feature “erotic services” listings.

The listings are anonymous, helping travellers from around the world set up appointments with prostitutes before they set foot in Vancouver.

In the U.S., customers must provide credit card information before responding to a post. However, that’s not the case in Canada, allowing a “virtual sex slave market to flourish outside the reach of police and intelligence services,” a release from the summit said.

Vancouver police aren’t planning any crackdown on prostitution during the Games, said Const. Lindsey Houghton.

"Street-related prostitution existed before the Games, it will exist during the Games and it will exist after," Houghton said. "Our enforcement around that will not be any different. We have a dedicated vice unit that works very closely with the girls and the guys . . . to ensure that they are safe."

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service