Discreet Dolls
Toronto Escorts

waterloo region sex trafficking

boomboom

Well-known member
Jun 29, 2003
5,449
3,749
113
Central Ont. between here & there
'Astounding numbers': 75 sex trafficking investigations reveal tip of the iceberg (CBC News)

Waterloo Regional Police Service's human sex trafficking unit has been busy this year — with more than 75 investigations since January. That's according to newly revealed numbers from the service.

The investigations range from identifying and finding vulnerable escorts, to responding to calls from CrimeStoppers and the public, to investigating traffickers and helping victims find support.

Despite the dozens of current cases on the go, both police officers and people who work with victims agree that trafficking reported to police doesn't paint a full picture of how serious the problem is in Waterloo region.

"I would say absolutely it's underreported," said an officer with the WRPS, whose name CBC is withholding because he works in covert investigations.

He said traffickers often deliberately try to make their victims feel afraid of police.

"There is a huge distrust of us, [and] it's an uphill battle during our investigations when it comes to getting victims to open up and tell their stories," he said.

The work is time-consuming, and a single investigation can take years from start to finish, police said in an email.

At the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region, anti-human trafficking program coordinator Nicky Carswell ​​​​​said there are many reasons why victims hesitate to come forward to police.

Some girls who've been trafficked have also committed crimes with their traffickers, Carswell said. Many of them have been isolated from friends and family.

Others might feel they are in love with their traffickers or have been manipulated to believe they are not being trafficked.

And then, she said, there's the fear.

"Fear from the trafficker, fear from what people will think of them," said Carswell. "Often they're threatened. Fear for their families. There's lots of reasons that they don't report to police."

'Astounding numbers'

Police-reported data is just "the tip of the iceberg" of trafficking in Canada, according to Ashley Franssen-Tingley who's with the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking.

"We know the victims and survivors typically choose to access supports and services through social service agencies," said Franssen-Tingley. "It's very infrequently that they are going to police."

Carswell said her phone has been ringing off the hook.

Since the anti-human trafficking program began in January 2018, it has received 250 calls and 160 referrals. Carswell said she and her colleague have helped just shy of 100 people.

"We are very, very busy, and the referrals just continue to come in in astounding numbers," said Carswell.

Policy-makers need better numbers

Franssen-Tingley said better, more solid evidence about the nature of human trafficking in Canada is necessary to persuade policy-makers to spend money to address it.

She said it doesn't make sense to advocate for more funding for police and service providers without having the numbers to back it up.

"We really need that data to identify those hotspots and identify where the supports and services need to go," she said.

More broadly, Franssen-Tingley said strong evidence is also needed for public education. She said many people still think trafficking involves people from other countries being brought into Canada — something she said simply isn't true.

National barriers to data collection

Getting a clear picture of how many people are victims of trafficking in Waterloo region is difficult. That problem is one other jurisdictions are having as well.

"Human trafficking is difficult to measure, due in part to its hidden nature," reads an excerpt from a 2018 Statistics Canada report on trafficking.

According to Statistics Canada, there were seven victims of police-reported human trafficking in Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo in 2018, six victims in 2017 and five victims in 2016.

Those numbers are much lower than the dozens of investigations police have underway, and the hundreds of calls the sexual assault centre is getting.

Going forward, Franssen-Tingley hopes the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking's new national trafficking hotline will help make track the issue more accurately.

The hotline was launched in May 2019 and accepts calls from trafficking victims and survivors as well as members of the public.

"We're really hoping through having a national hotline that acts as a national referral mechanism, we can try to centralize the data and try to get a real a much better picture of how trafficking operates in this country," she said.

In the time that the hotline has been operational, it has received "substantial calls," a spokesperson said in an email, although they declined to give exact numbers.

The hotline plans to release statistical reports on an annual basis, and to share their information with Statistics Canada.

"We're really hoping ... to get a much better picture of how trafficking operates in this country, and where the hotspots are and what the trends are and where the networks are operating, to really try and disrupt trafficking at its core," said Franssen-Tingley.
 

escortsxxx

Well-known member
Jul 15, 2004
3,284
851
113
Tdot
How much of this is real crime (ie. kidnapping) and how much of this is consenting people being labeled as criminals? Its an effective label to paint the whole industry - note lack of details as to whats actually happening.
 
  • Like
Reactions: squeezer

fuzzybunny

New member
Apr 8, 2008
8
0
1
How much of this is real crime (ie. kidnapping) and how much of this is consenting people being labeled as criminals? Its an effective label to paint the whole industry - note lack of details as to whats actually happening.
It's all real crime, both technically and from a "natural rights" perspective I think you mean. None of is truly consenting people.

Much (likely most of the charges) is "in between" the two extremes you describe. It's people being brought from out of country on student/visitor visas. I would expect most will have some idea what they were getting themselves into, but none-the-less, they're effectively being turned into indentured sex workers.

"Kidnapping" in the "Criminal Minds" sense is pretty rare, but taking advantage of young women (and men) who don't understand what they're getting themselves into, and don't know how to get back out is still exploitative and something we all need to a make a point of identifying and reporting.
 

escortsxxx

Well-known member
Jul 15, 2004
3,284
851
113
Tdot
It's all real crime, both technically and from a "natural rights" perspective I think you mean. None of is truly consenting people.

Much (likely most of the charges) is "in between" the two extremes you describe. It's people being brought from out of country on student/visitor visas. I would expect most will have some idea what they were getting themselves into, but none-the-less, they're effectively being turned into indentured sex workers.

"Kidnapping" in the "Criminal Minds" sense is pretty rare, but taking advantage of young women (and men) who don't understand what they're getting themselves into, and don't know how to get back out is still exploitative and something we all need to a make a point of identifying and reporting.
So where are you getting this info? The police have charged many legitimate workers in the past and continue to do so. The Patrick Brown case, where the leader of the conservatives was taken down for sleeping with a high school girl - all of which was totally legal - is a case in point. There is no evidence that i am aware of that these are legitimate charges.

The police are know for charting victims, rape and kidnapping as a matter of course. The RCMP which also work on,this cases is know for raping its own female officers. However if you have access to more data, I like to see it.
Yes grey areas exist but where is this case on the spectrum?

 
There is real forced sex trafficking in the US and Canada. However, in the US (and Asia), often all the hype about freeing sex trafficked victims as turned out to be nothing more than consenting adults - especially with the Asian massage parlors but also escorts.

A few years ago, the huge raids in bars in the Phillippines that had media shots of busses the "rescued" women were "saved" and driven away from their "traffickers." They all turned out to be nothing more than happy bar girls - adults.

Remember the Russian agencies in Toronto run by the some linked to the Russian mafia? When a bad guy kidnapped a bunch of Russian agency women and held them captive in a house. They locked themselves in a bedroom and called Toronto police, saying a robbery or something was in progress in the house so they would break down the locked doors. Windows all had bars on them.

The Russian women were released with no problem and the men arrested.

As folks may know from those agencies, yes, the women were given fake papers, and they were not legal in Canada (which I understand is easy to do). But they knew they were going to be sexworkers. They knew how much they had to earn and pay off their "handlers." And after their time with the agency, they were free to leave, and many "disappeared into Canada." They also were sending lots of money from their cut to their parents etc. who were in poverty back in Russia. This is similar to what many Asian workers in the "take out" bars of Phillippines, Thailand, etc. They send money "upcountry" to relatives etc.

Back to the Russians - from a friend who knew one of the very popular Russian gals well - After she finished her required time at the agency to pay handlers, she married, I believe a customer but not sure, and disappeared into Canada to live a happy life from info that was told to me.

But from the typical US or Canadian view, this would probably be regarded as sex trafficking even if the women were consenting adults - as the Russias and most Asians in the US are.

There are also huge feminist anti-sexwork organizations pushing huge amounts of donations and funding to police agencies and public propaganda pushing the huge "sex trafficking" story. I have reviewed the IRS filings (Form 990s) of many US organizations that take in millions.

To be clear real bad sex trafficking exists. In Canada now with the basically non-enforcement of C36 (now under challenge in the Court), police can spend their time and resources investigating the real by force sex trafficking case instead of in the US chasing all the dangerous big breasts instead of real criminals with guns that go bang, for the alleged "sex trafficking" of private consenting adult sexworkers.
 
Last edited:
Toronto Escorts