Sexual exploitation of minors:
Quebec women in demand
The fact that they speak French makes Quebec teenagers "exotic" and therefore more desirable in the eyes of clients of child prostitution in the rest of Canada and the United States. The language barrier also allows pimps to further isolate young girls,
making Quebec "a hub" for the sexual exploitation of minors in North America.
Thisis the distressing observation made by Ian Lafrenière on Monday, on the first day of the parliamentary committee
on the sexual exploitation of minors, which he chairs.
A member of the Coalition futur Québec and parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Public Safety, the former police officer notes that "if the police were the answer, we would have done it long before. I would have preferred to take my previous career
to deal with this problem as a police officer. That's not the answer.'
More than the four days of public consultations held until Thursday in the National Assembly, a committee of 15 deputies from the four parties
has been set up since June and will hold further consultations in Montreal and Val d'Or this winter.
"It's going to be a range of solutions, not a simple one," warns Mr. Lafrenière.
He points to social media as a much broader recruitment tool for pimps than before. "My message to adults, to parents: don't think your child is safe because he comes from a good family, a good school, a good neighborhood," says Mr. Lafrenière, himself a father of two daughters aged 10 and 11.
He compares a pimp's approach to teenage girls with that of an adult fraudster. "We all know someone who has been defrauded" by phone,
email or social media. "They're beautiful talkers and they take advantage of moments of vulnerability."
This transpartisan commission, which Lafrenière heads with Christine St-Pierre of the Liberal Party, Alexandre Leduc of Quebec Solidarity,
and Méganne Perry-Mélançon of the Parti Québécois, insists on reversing responsibility for the use of client-abusers
and child and victim words to identify exploited youth.
For his part, Mr. Leduc hopes to find "how to break the demand" of customers and "how to promote a successful exit" for the victims.
Hotels, Airbnb, festivals
Among the avenues discussed, the commission will look at hotels, home-sharing platforms such as Airbnb, as well as major tourism events,
during which sex tourism is increasing.
"We want them to feel concerned," says St-Pierre. We don't want these big events, or these organizations, or the hotel industry, to watch us go into our committee and say, "I have nothing to do with it, it's up to others to take care of it." We want them to be part of the thinking,
" insists the MP and former Liberal minister.
They have been convened, but no organization from these circles will be present in a parliamentary committee this week.
In 2014, it was estimated that 630 locations across Quebec were linked to the sex industry, including 330 establishments in Montreal. According to a 2013 portrait by the Quebec Criminal Intelligence Service, 39% of victims of sexual exploitation were minors. The Status of Women Council reported in 2009 that 80% of prostitutes began haggling over sexual services when they were minors.
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"ON NOT TO REINVENT THE ROUE"
"The government must support existing initiatives. We don't have to reinvent the wheel," says the Executive Director of the Quebec Prostitution Intervention Project, who will speak Tuesday morning at the parliamentary committee on the sexual exploitation of minors.
Geneviève Quinty leads the community organization based in the Saint-Sauveur neighbourhood of Quebec City. Even after 35 years of existence, the Quebec Prostitution Intervention Project (PIPQ) still has to draw 70% of its budget from one-off projects.
"The consolidation of funding is super important," says the one that will highlight the specific issues facing community organizations that help these young people. "We are an inescapable social safety net and a unifying organization that works with the Quebec City Police Service's Child Sexual Exploitation Unit, Youth Centres, Victims of Crime Centres, Director of Public Prosecutions... Collaboration between everyone is a win-win," she says.
Operation Scorpio
After the resounding Operation Scorpion at the end of 2002, the Quebec City region had to innovate in the case of child prostitution. A consultation table was created with agencies, police, youth centres and, subsequently, school boards. Since 2007-08,
more than a thousand stakeholders have been trained.
The PIPQ, which is largely composed of street and community workers, has significant needs for advanced service related to sexual trauma. "The people we meet are often in post-trauma. Street workers, we're generalists. We've had three days of training, but that doesn't make us specialists. We try to relieve the symptoms while waiting for the specialized services, but precisely, we are very much in the "in the meantime"", explainsMs. Quinty.
Anthropologist Rose Dufour will be heard in the afternoon. The founder of the Maison de Marthe, a place of welcome also housed in Saint-Sauveur
for women who want to get out of prostitution, plans to spread "the culmination of 19 years of field research with women".
"Everyone thinks they know about prostitution, which has existed since 500 years before Jesus Christ, but it is a serious mistake that is part of the problem," dufour believes. Today's prostitution has almost nothing to do with what it used to be. It's become an industry! Even many professionals are ignorant of reality," says the woman who left the Maison de Marthe in 2017 and is continuing her solo research.
making Quebec "a hub" for the sexual exploitation of minors in North America.
Thisis the distressing observation made by Ian Lafrenière on Monday, on the first day of the parliamentary committee
on the sexual exploitation of minors, which he chairs.
A member of the Coalition futur Québec and parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Public Safety, the former police officer notes that "if the police were the answer, we would have done it long before. I would have preferred to take my previous career
to deal with this problem as a police officer. That's not the answer.'
More than the four days of public consultations held until Thursday in the National Assembly, a committee of 15 deputies from the four parties
has been set up since June and will hold further consultations in Montreal and Val d'Or this winter.
"It's going to be a range of solutions, not a simple one," warns Mr. Lafrenière.
He points to social media as a much broader recruitment tool for pimps than before. "My message to adults, to parents: don't think your child is safe because he comes from a good family, a good school, a good neighborhood," says Mr. Lafrenière, himself a father of two daughters aged 10 and 11.
He compares a pimp's approach to teenage girls with that of an adult fraudster. "We all know someone who has been defrauded" by phone,
email or social media. "They're beautiful talkers and they take advantage of moments of vulnerability."
This transpartisan commission, which Lafrenière heads with Christine St-Pierre of the Liberal Party, Alexandre Leduc of Quebec Solidarity,
and Méganne Perry-Mélançon of the Parti Québécois, insists on reversing responsibility for the use of client-abusers
and child and victim words to identify exploited youth.
For his part, Mr. Leduc hopes to find "how to break the demand" of customers and "how to promote a successful exit" for the victims.
Hotels, Airbnb, festivals
Among the avenues discussed, the commission will look at hotels, home-sharing platforms such as Airbnb, as well as major tourism events,
during which sex tourism is increasing.
"We want them to feel concerned," says St-Pierre. We don't want these big events, or these organizations, or the hotel industry, to watch us go into our committee and say, "I have nothing to do with it, it's up to others to take care of it." We want them to be part of the thinking,
" insists the MP and former Liberal minister.
They have been convened, but no organization from these circles will be present in a parliamentary committee this week.
In 2014, it was estimated that 630 locations across Quebec were linked to the sex industry, including 330 establishments in Montreal. According to a 2013 portrait by the Quebec Criminal Intelligence Service, 39% of victims of sexual exploitation were minors. The Status of Women Council reported in 2009 that 80% of prostitutes began haggling over sexual services when they were minors.
+
"ON NOT TO REINVENT THE ROUE"
"The government must support existing initiatives. We don't have to reinvent the wheel," says the Executive Director of the Quebec Prostitution Intervention Project, who will speak Tuesday morning at the parliamentary committee on the sexual exploitation of minors.
Geneviève Quinty leads the community organization based in the Saint-Sauveur neighbourhood of Quebec City. Even after 35 years of existence, the Quebec Prostitution Intervention Project (PIPQ) still has to draw 70% of its budget from one-off projects.
"The consolidation of funding is super important," says the one that will highlight the specific issues facing community organizations that help these young people. "We are an inescapable social safety net and a unifying organization that works with the Quebec City Police Service's Child Sexual Exploitation Unit, Youth Centres, Victims of Crime Centres, Director of Public Prosecutions... Collaboration between everyone is a win-win," she says.
Operation Scorpio
After the resounding Operation Scorpion at the end of 2002, the Quebec City region had to innovate in the case of child prostitution. A consultation table was created with agencies, police, youth centres and, subsequently, school boards. Since 2007-08,
more than a thousand stakeholders have been trained.
The PIPQ, which is largely composed of street and community workers, has significant needs for advanced service related to sexual trauma. "The people we meet are often in post-trauma. Street workers, we're generalists. We've had three days of training, but that doesn't make us specialists. We try to relieve the symptoms while waiting for the specialized services, but precisely, we are very much in the "in the meantime"", explainsMs. Quinty.
Anthropologist Rose Dufour will be heard in the afternoon. The founder of the Maison de Marthe, a place of welcome also housed in Saint-Sauveur
for women who want to get out of prostitution, plans to spread "the culmination of 19 years of field research with women".
"Everyone thinks they know about prostitution, which has existed since 500 years before Jesus Christ, but it is a serious mistake that is part of the problem," dufour believes. Today's prostitution has almost nothing to do with what it used to be. It's become an industry! Even many professionals are ignorant of reality," says the woman who left the Maison de Marthe in 2017 and is continuing her solo research.
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