A Canadian author and anti-human trafficking advocate says prostitution is exploitation, not employment, and laws against buying sex must be enforced..In an interview with the Western Standard, Cathy Peters said “90 to 99% of prostitutes are pimped out or trafficked.” She said some begin not realizing they are being used..“There's so many what we call prostitution myths out there that are just not true. That women want to sell their bodies. It's a legitimate job, oh, sex workers work. That's not true. Women don't choose to go into this. It's actually exploitation. It's not work. It's not a job. So we have to really shift the cultural mindset,” she said..“Once a girl is sexualized, then she develops a trauma bond to that trafficker. He might be a creep, he might do horrible things to her. But you've got something called a trauma bond that is very, very deep.” .Read more: Advocate says Sound of Freedom movie mirrors disturbing trends in Canadian child trafficking.According to Public Safety Canada, 3,541 incidents of human trafficking have been reported to police services in Canada between 2011 and 2021. Of these, 83% were reported in metropolitan areas..Overall, 96% of victims were female, and 81% of persons accused of human trafficking were men. By age, 24% of victims were under 18, 45% were between 18-24, and 21% were between 25-34..Peters said girls are lured with flattering compliments about their appearance, drawn to parties with drugs and alcohol and promised trips and clothes..“It happens now really, really fast. I think that's a scary part of it. They are going after younger and younger girls. What we're seeing in urban centres, what I'm hearing from youth workers, it's getting down to ages 10 to 12, and with the indigenous I've heard it's even younger..“The indigenous communities are not necessarily very healthy places. There's a lot of drugs and alcoholism, there's incest, there's childhood sexual assault and abuse that's not been talked about. And they do want help because they call me in to talk about it.”.Read more: Sound of Freedom movie prompts dramatic response in limited run.Peters’ June release of Child Sex Trafficking in Canada and How To Stop It was only one part of a busy year..She presented to the federal Status of Women committee in Ottawa, presented at the Canadian Sexual Exploitation Summit and will also talk at the Vancouver Convention Centre for the Union of British Columbia Municipalities..Although meetings with BC politicians come easily now, change does not..“BC is just not addressing human trafficking. The weak spot in the country is this province because we have a soft-on-crime approach. And organized crime and international crime syndicates are typically, not always, behind this and involved,” said Peters, a resident of North Vancouver..“The sex industry is very powerful. And they've got the money behind them. I've learned with them, they'll discredit me all the time, except now the problem [for them] is I've written the book and I sourced everything.”.Peters said the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, tabled for the Conservative government by MP Joy Smith in 2014, is an important tool that the United States doesn’t have..Even so, Peters is concerned that enforcement has been lax in her province and that some want to get rid of the “fantastic law” altogether..“We've got to keep that law, we can't lose it. The sex industry really wants that law repealed, and they're trying to do that in Ontario right now.”.In an interview with the Western Standard, Joy Smith said she expects the law to stick..“It's embedded in the Criminal Code, and it takes dynamite to it get out of the Criminal Code of Canada,” she said..“There's been great resistance against getting rid of it. So I'm just confident that it'll still be there, because there's a lot of people pushing against that happening.”
A Canadian author and anti-human trafficking advocate says prostitution is exploitation, not employment, and laws against buying sex must be enforced..In an interview with the Western Standard, Cathy Peters said “90 to 99% of prostitutes are pimped out or trafficked.” She said some begin not realizing they are being used..“There's so many what we call prostitution myths out there that are just not true. That women want to sell their bodies. It's a legitimate job, oh, sex workers work. That's not true. Women don't choose to go into this. It's actually exploitation. It's not work. It's not a job. So we have to really shift the cultural mindset,” she said..“Once a girl is sexualized, then she develops a trauma bond to that trafficker. He might be a creep, he might do horrible things to her. But you've got something called a trauma bond that is very, very deep.” .Read more: Advocate says Sound of Freedom movie mirrors disturbing trends in Canadian child trafficking.According to Public Safety Canada, 3,541 incidents of human trafficking have been reported to police services in Canada between 2011 and 2021. Of these, 83% were reported in metropolitan areas..Overall, 96% of victims were female, and 81% of persons accused of human trafficking were men. By age, 24% of victims were under 18, 45% were between 18-24, and 21% were between 25-34..Peters said girls are lured with flattering compliments about their appearance, drawn to parties with drugs and alcohol and promised trips and clothes..“It happens now really, really fast. I think that's a scary part of it. They are going after younger and younger girls. What we're seeing in urban centres, what I'm hearing from youth workers, it's getting down to ages 10 to 12, and with the indigenous I've heard it's even younger..“The indigenous communities are not necessarily very healthy places. There's a lot of drugs and alcoholism, there's incest, there's childhood sexual assault and abuse that's not been talked about. And they do want help because they call me in to talk about it.”.Read more: Sound of Freedom movie prompts dramatic response in limited run.Peters’ June release of Child Sex Trafficking in Canada and How To Stop It was only one part of a busy year..She presented to the federal Status of Women committee in Ottawa, presented at the Canadian Sexual Exploitation Summit and will also talk at the Vancouver Convention Centre for the Union of British Columbia Municipalities..Although meetings with BC politicians come easily now, change does not..“BC is just not addressing human trafficking. The weak spot in the country is this province because we have a soft-on-crime approach. And organized crime and international crime syndicates are typically, not always, behind this and involved,” said Peters, a resident of North Vancouver..“The sex industry is very powerful. And they've got the money behind them. I've learned with them, they'll discredit me all the time, except now the problem [for them] is I've written the book and I sourced everything.”.Peters said the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, tabled for the Conservative government by MP Joy Smith in 2014, is an important tool that the United States doesn’t have..Even so, Peters is concerned that enforcement has been lax in her province and that some want to get rid of the “fantastic law” altogether..“We've got to keep that law, we can't lose it. The sex industry really wants that law repealed, and they're trying to do that in Ontario right now.”.In an interview with the Western Standard, Joy Smith said she expects the law to stick..“It's embedded in the Criminal Code, and it takes dynamite to it get out of the Criminal Code of Canada,” she said..“There's been great resistance against getting rid of it. So I'm just confident that it'll still be there, because there's a lot of people pushing against that happening.”
