Invisible Chains (10 page)

W
hen Canadians hear the term
slavery
in a historical context, they usually picture eighteenth- and nineteenth-century slave traders stuffing the holds of their ships with captive Africans in chains. Even the most uninformed realize that such measures are not used to recruit victims of the sex trade in Canada or, indeed, in any other Western nation. Today's methods of recruitment are far more subtle and refined but just as brutally effective.

In August 2008, the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada took the extraordinary step of publicly releasing a strategic intelligence brief.
Organized Crime and Domestic Trafficking in Persons in Canada
is akin to a 911 call from Canada's top police-intelligence organization: “Across the country, organized crime networks are actively trafficking Canadian-born women and under-age girls inter and intra-provincially, and in some instances to the United States, destined for the sex trade.”

Domestic sex trafficking is a systematic national criminal enterprise whose practitioners target a large pool of vulnerable individuals, many of them homeless, sexually exploited youth, children in protective care or from dysfunctional families, all of them Canadian. These prime prospects are by no means the only ones; some victims recruited by traffickers even come from middle-class families.

A national phenomenon

Sex traffickers use a range of tactics to make contact with vulnerable Canadian girls and young women. They patrol group homes and shelters for at-risk youth and approach girls on their way home from school, at shopping malls, bus stations, or parks. Traffickers frequently prey on vulnerable, economically disadvantaged, socially dislocated individuals, as well as those with personal problems or low self-esteem. And while Canadians may assume that sex trafficking is restricted primarily to large urban areas, it reaches rural communities and small towns as well. It is a national phenomenon—more widespread and involving more victims than the general public is aware of.

Wendy Leaver, an officer with the Toronto Police Service, Special Victims Unit, recently encountered an eighteen-year-old girl who was brought from Edmonton to Toronto to sell drugs. The girl imagined she could pay her way through university by that means, but when she arrived in Toronto she immediately was taken to a condo to be sold for sex acts to random men. “That's it. That's human trafficking,” says Detective Leaver.

In Alberta, Sergeant Mark Schwartz of the Calgary Police Service, Vice Unit, describes how a teenage girl received a phone call from an ex-boyfriend who wanted to see her. She decided to bring along a friend on the drive outside of Calgary. Eventually the three arrived at a house, where a man told the ex-boyfriend that “his debt had been filled.” The ex-boyfriend drove off, leaving the two girls. Turning to them, the unidentified man said, “You work for me now.”

“They were sold for drug debt,” says Sergeant Schwartz. “[A girl] will refuse at first, then there'll be some gun play, some assault, and she'll be locked in the basement for a few days to a point of breaking.” The victim has no choice but to give in.

Elsewhere in Canada, the Vancouver Police Department, Vice Unit, recognizes the continued presence of a pimp- and trafficker- controlled sex trade at the street level. This is particularly apparent in the more expensive “high track” area where the majority of females are Caucasian and are sold for larger sums.

Domestic sex trafficking criminal networks

Criminal intelligence reports indicate that while some domestic traffickers operate in highly organized networks, other criminal networks are rather unsophisticated and function as cells allowing individual members a degree of independence in controlling and exploiting their victims.

Traffickers operate in different regions or cities but may remain linked, relying on informal business arrangements to circulate victims for more profits and, when necessary, to avoid local police forces that may begin investigating specific (usually underage) victims. The gangs know that Canada has no national “squads” dedicated to rooting out trafficking in people, and the easiest way to avoid police scrutiny and possible charges is to keep the women hidden and on the move.

In contrast, some traffickers have been known to keep victims not only in their own cities but also in their family homes.

Detective Jim Kenney of the Vancouver Police Department recalls one such double life. Just nineteen, Ashley was living with her middleclass family in Surrey and going to school when she fell in love with a man who turned out to be a trafficker. Ashley's parents thought she was working at a restaurant. Instead, for three months she was being prostituted on the high track in Vancouver. Her trafficker controlled her by threatening to tell her parents if she ever tried to stop or go to the police.

Music, modelling, and misery

The summer of 2006 was difficult for Genevieve. After ending a four-year relationship with her boyfriend she was injured in a motorcycle accident and, realizing she'd be unable to work for some time, moved in with her parents in Montreal.

With her self-esteem at an all-time low, Genevieve was thrilled and flattered to be offered a modelling job in October 2006. The assignment was to pose for the cover of an album produced by Urban Heat Music, an independent record label headquartered in
Montreal and specializing in hip-hop and other genres popular with young people. The glamour of the music business, the appeal of popular music, and the pride in being selected for her beauty would have been more than enough to entice Genevieve under almost any circumstances.

Twenty-two-year-old Jacques Leonard-St. Vil (“Jackie”), the Haitian- Canadian vice-president of Urban Heat Music, directed the photo shoot. After Genevieve had finished posing for the album cover, she accepted an invitation from Jackie to have drinks. In fact, they spent the night together, beginning a relationship in which affection quickly gave way to abuse.

The two discovered they had a common problem: Both were in financial difficulties. Urban Heat Music's reputation apparently was not matched by financial success. As for Genevieve, she had no income or prospects of employment beyond the modelling job she'd just completed.

Jackie had a solution for them both: There was money in hosting promotional parties, and Jackie and Genevieve could work together. With her charm and his abilities, they could keep busy and earn an impressive income, although not in Montreal—the big bucks were to be made in Toronto. Travelling in Genevieve's car, they arrived in January 2007 and moved into a condominium a block from Square One Shopping Centre in suburban Mississauga. The condo belonged to Jackie's employer.

To make some quick money to launch their “promotion” business, Jackie suggested that Genevieve become an exotic dancer. A few days after she began, he told her that she could make much more money by offering “extras,” or sex acts, to men at strip clubs. Genevieve agreed to try but, within days, began to protest. Jackie threw an ashtray at her and slapped her across the face. She owed him eight hundred dollars, he informed her, and she was not to use her own car. When she resisted, he began beating her with a broom. Genevieve managed to call 911, but Jackie dialled someone on his cellphone and reported, “She's calling the police.” Terrified, Genevieve hung up
before she could tell the operator what had happened, and when the operator called back, Genevieve said that she'd phoned by accident. No one followed up to see if this were true.

By February, Genevieve was being sold for sex at various strip clubs six days a week. When she finally told Jackie she was going to leave, he grabbed her by the neck, threw her to the floor, and kicked her. The bruises on Genevieve's thighs prevented her from working at the strip club for several days.

With Genevieve firmly under his control, Jackie allowed her to make a short trip home to Montreal. To her parents, Genevieve explained her bruises had come from a fight at a nightclub. Soon afterwards, Jackie sent her to the United States to be sold for sex, ensuring the money was sent back to him. When Genevieve returned, Jackie again agreed to let her take a short trip to Montreal. This time she called the Montreal Police Service. Upon his return to Montreal, Jackie was arrested on multiple charges, including human trafficking. In just three months, he'd earned twenty thousand dollars from selling Genevieve for sex.

A barrage of “love bombing” by recruiters

Poverty, the desire for love, and the desire for money, in that order, are the three key vulnerabilities that permit domestic sex traffickers to recruit and control victims, according to those familiar with the techniques. Applied with practised care, the routine proves enormously successful in coercing vulnerable underage girls and women into a life of sexual exploitation.

When traffickers encounter victims seeking love and attention, they commonly begin relationships by becoming “boyfriends” to their victims. This “falling in love” stage takes place over approximately two weeks. The girls are told they're beautiful, and they're taken to fancy restaurants and given lavish gifts. By showering a targeted girl with affection and fulfilling her material desires, the trafficker builds allegiance, eventually allowing him to manipulate her. Street gangs refer to these recruiting tactics as “love bombing.” The greater
the value of the targeted female on the flesh market and the more sophisticated the trafficker, the longer he can take in “grooming” her.

This particular exploitation process requires that the girls be sexually inexperienced. For this reason, most are recruited between fourteen and sixteen, with some as young as twelve. The more extreme the poverty that surrounds them, the younger the girls can be recruited. These inexperienced girls think they know more than they do, and very quickly the boyfriend will have them engaging in intercourse. He professes love while introducing other seemingly innocent acts to break down barriers, such as having a girl put on lingerie and dance for him. To create a sense of normality, the “boyfriend” will introduce sex acts that a girl may never have performed.

At the next stage, the “boyfriend” escorts the girl to parties, where she appears in very revealing clothing. The girl is usually given alcohol or drugs to facilitate the exploitation. Engaging in sex acts with other people present, or being in the same room while other people have sex, represents the next step, breaking down the girl's sexual boundaries.

The distance from participating in a voyeuristic or exhibitionistic act to performing with a second male present is short. The “boyfriend” might tell his targeted girl how much he'd like to watch her with his friend—a move that destroys the monogamous relationship based on trust. The party is over. At this point the girl will be driven to unexpected and unfamiliar settings. Strangers—associates of the “boyfriend” trafficker—begin arriving at the door. The girl is told she has to “put up with” uncomfortable touching. She knows she's about to be prostituted but has no way to escape.

Street gangs may force the victim to engage in sex acts with their members one after the other. Not surprisingly, studies have found a culture of silence about these “gang bangs.” Degrading and humiliating, this type of sexual assault is designed to traumatize and desensitize the victim. It represents a yardstick against which future sex acts, with anonymous individual men for money paid to the trafficker, will seem less egregious.

The tactics practised by the “boyfriend trafficker” are not new
and have been well documented across Canada and in the United States.

Prince Charming has arrived

Naomi was skipping school. Her mom and her mom's “old man” were always arguing, leaving Naomi feeling lonely and neglected.

One night while out for a walk, Naomi met an older man who called himself “Big Daddy” and told her she was beautiful. He offered her cigarettes and didn't give her trouble like her parents did. She went home with him. The next morning he took her shopping and bought her new clothes. He made Naomi feel special. She thought she'd finally found her Prince Charming.

A few days after Naomi had met Big Daddy, he said, “We gotta talk,” and then explained that he was having serious cash problems and needed help. Naomi didn't know what she could do, since she was just fifteen and no one would hire her.

Big Daddy told her not to worry; he had a friend who'd help her find a job. This “friend” sent Naomi to a strip club to dance, where she was given cocaine to “help loosen up.” Big Daddy told her she was sexy and it was easy money. He told her she was in control.

After a month of dancing, Naomi couldn't understand why Big Daddy still needed money from her. She'd earned a lot of money for him and was sick of dancing for men who looked at her the way they did.

Big Daddy told her to shut her mouth; he would tell her when she was sick of something. He'd never talked to Naomi like that before. She was shocked and had no idea who to turn to for help. Since she'd started seeing Big Daddy, she'd lost touch with her friends and family—and how could she tell them she was stripping?

It was then that Big Daddy threatened her and beat her up. He started forcing her to have sex with random men and took all the money. Naomi eventually contracted an STD and became addicted to cocaine. Things got worse still when Big Daddy sent Naomi to Toronto because she could make more money there.

Naomi's story is featured in
Cinderella's Silence: A Story of Gang Prostitution,
a comic book published in 2002. Written by a teenager who “lived the gang experience,” it has warned thousands of youth in Quebec against the tactics used by street gangs who target girls aged twelve to eighteen for sexual exploitation. Unfortunately, similar education about the systematic targeting of young girls is not reaching Canadians in other provinces. Without this information, young girls singled out by recruiters are like lambs before lions.

Popular myths and tough realities