STOPPING EXPLOITATION

Last month North Van RCMP revealed they had discovered a local ring of
"pimps and drug traffickers" recruiting high school girls into sex
work.

Police alleged that four pimps, some of them former alternative school
students, had preyed upon their classmates, many of those girls underage.

Cpl. Marlene Morton said that investigators discovered at least 11
young female sex workers after staff at a local high school brought
the issue to police last November.

She said the young men used gifts - cell phones, booze, drugs - and
initiated relationships that started out as "boyfriend girlfriend,"
but became violent and exploitive.

Morton also said that some of the young sex workers had begun to
circumvent relationships with pimps by offering their services on Craigslist.

So far no arrests have been made, but RCMP say a successful bust
"would be a goal for us," according to Morton.

What now? What happens for the girls affected and to their families?
What happens to the alleged pimps who use violence or the threat of
violence to control the girls, according to the RCMP?

Const. Shannon Kitchen of the RCMP's Youth Intervention Unit said
investigations are ongoing with "a couple of men ... who've been
identified" but added that successful prosecutions can be challenging.

Kitchen said court cases can falter because people who have been
victimized by pimps often choose not to testify.

"Sometimes it becomes very difficult to go forward with charges," she
said.

In the meantime, RCMP and community workers are "trying to get a lot
of these women hooked up with proper counseling," according to
Kitchen, often through Hollyburn Family Services.

She stressed the importance of "the educational side of things,"
adding "we (RCMP) are in the process of developing more in the line of
education and getting it into the schools."

Kitchen cited an interactive seminar by outreach workers through
Children of the Street - a group that appears in North and West
Vancouver schools, dramatizing for local kids how pimps can recruit
young people into the cycle of addictions sex work.

EXPAND OUTREACH IN SCHOOLS

Holly Back - North Van school trustee and committee member with the
North Shore Family Court and Youth Justice Committee - says more
outreach in the schools is the first step to combating the sexual
exploitation of young people.

"This (teen prostitution) isn't a new problem. It's now coming out
more publicly," said Back. "I think it's very important as a community
- - as our students, administrators, our teachers - we all need to have
a learning experience as to what's really happening out there."

Back also called for earlier outreach in schools.

"We don't need to start the education in Grade 8. We need to start in
Kindergarten."

Back said she knew of local teens getting recruited into prostitution
when she worked at a North Vancouver high school in a hairdressing
program years ago.

Michelle Dodds, coordinator at the North Shore Women's Centre, agrees
that youth contacts have been hearing about teen prostitution on the
North Shore off and on for years.

Dodds says girls' support and education groups should expand their
reach on the North Shore in community groups and in schools. She cited
all-female programing like that employed by SAFETEEN, a violence
prevention outreach group.

"That's really key, being able to support the programs that try and
have groups for girls," Dodds said, stressing that programing should
not be "randomly offered but coordinated into the curriculum."

Dodds said she hopes that programs for high-risk teens can eschew what
she called "the moral perspective" around sex work and focus "more on
the safety, just so (girls) know what the issues are and why it (teen
prostitution) would seem tempting and what are some of these myths?
What are some of the ways that girls can be lured in?"

NAME THE DRUG ISSUE

DNV councillor and North Shore youth justice committee member Doug
MacKay-Dunn argued that while counselling and education are key tools
in the battle against teen prostitution, drugs are at the root of the
problem.

"They're not addicted to the life (of prostitution)," says MacKay-Dunn
of the high school-aged sex worker recruits. "The real issue here is
that these youngsters have become addicted to drugs - that's why we
need more treatment centers for young people, more support for
families so these individuals can be given the opportunity to find
their way back into the mainstream community."

MacKay-Dunn says he hopes for a ramp up in drug prevention programs in
the school district. He says his experience working on the Downtown
Eastside as a Vancouver police officer convinced him recovery programs
are "the key to bringing those kids back . . . what will happen if you
just deal with the pimps, those kids will simply find themselves
working for another pimp."

David Foster, Harvest Project founder and street relief worker, said
his experience working with people on the street impressed upon him
"the slippery slope" of the sex trade.

"The Downtown Eastside is almost a dumping ground for a lot of women
from other communities," he said, citing a cycle of addiction that
often takes "a miracle" to escape.

"The more and longer you're in, the less chance you have to escape the
lifestyle."

He added, "The North Shore is so shiny and squeaky clean . . . but
underneath is a lot of deep issues," and called for "awareness" about
drugs and sexual exploitation in schools and in homes.

The VPD's Vice Squad says "it's virtually impossible to estimate the
number of underage STW's (sex trade workers) as the forum is now
online" said Const. Lindsey Houghton in an email. Kate Gibson at the
Wish Drop-In Centre said some estimates are between 1,500 and 10,000
sex workers of all ages in the city of Vancouver.

Foster said families need to be aware that "just as fast as it takes
to drive or walk from the North Shore to the Downtown Eastside, that's
how fast that trip is" for local young people who become involved in
drugs and sex work.

Holly Back voiced the same sentiment - that families on the North
Shore shouldn't see themselves as exempt from the issues across the
inlet.

"We on the North Shore tend to think that (sexual exploitation)
doesn't happen here, but you know it does," she said. "Our little
community is impacted by these things and parents need to be aware of
that."

RESOURCES

Anyone with more information about exploited youths should contact
RCMP Const. Cam Stewart or Const. Michelle Steele at 604-985-1311.

Hollyburn Family Services
604-987-8211

North Shore Women's Centre
604-984-6009