Thank you.
Just so that I don't miss any points, I'll read my presentation.
I gather your study aims to shed light on human trafficking in Canada. Understandably, we are all interested in making sure that vulnerable people are not exploited or taken advantage of. Such criminal behaviour needs to be prevented, detected, and prosecuted.
Despite sensational claims, the good news is that human trafficking is not widespread in adult prostitution in Canada. In fact, it appears that most adults who sell sexual services in our country have freedom of movement to work and are not coerced or exploited by others. I draw this conclusion from the accounts of over 1,200 people whom my colleagues and I have interviewed in different studies in the last two decades. As there is no random sample to select from, we used a variety of strategies, including Internet sites, community contacts, and participants' own networks to capture the experiences of a wide group of people.
We found that many of our participants belong to informal groups where they have friendships with other workers, share safety strategies, develop regular clientele, and create connections with those operating escort agencies and massage parlours. We have found, overall, that these networks increase the health, safety, and well-being of individuals engaged in adult prostitution. Further, these networks mean that when human trafficking is happening on the ground, our participants are likely to hear about it. Even though their past negative experience with the police and in the justice system are major barriers to reporting activities, which I'll note below, our participants were very frank in their interviews with us.
Today I want to touch on a few of our research findings. More results are available in our peer-reviewed articles, but first I'll give a short summary of our participants from a recent Canadian study. In 2012-13, we interviewed 218 individuals from six Canadian cities. To take part, participants had to be 19 years of age or older, legally able to work in Canada, and have exchanged 15 or more sexual services in the last 12 months. Participants ranged in age from 19 to 61, and most were in their thirties. Their median annual income was just under $40,000. Three-quarters identified as women, and 20% identified as indigenous. The average age at which they first sold a sexual service was 24 years. Eighteen per cent said they had done so before age 18. Over half worked independently off the street, 20% worked independently on the street, and 25% said they worked mainly in a managed setting, such as a massage parlour or an escort agency.
Pertinent to this study, 6% had been forced or exploited to sell sexual services at some point in their lifetime, but none said they were currently being controlled by what is commonly called a pimp. The vast majority said the main reason they got involved was the need or desire for money, which is similar to the reason for most Canadians' working occupations. Also, 35% were involved in other kinds of work as well as prostitution, and 20% were enrolled in an educational program.
As I mentioned, we wanted to know more about their views on the justice system, and here is what they told us. Two-thirds said they had little or no confidence in the police, which is four times higher than other Canadians. They had three main reasons for feeling this way. Their first concern was discrimination. Half of them had experienced judgmental treatment in the justice system, caused by stigma towards and about them. One participant said, “They're disrespectful. Police say if you're going to get paid for sex, then you can't be raped.” Another participant said, “I had one cop tell me I'm just a native whore.”
Their second concern was fear of being arrested. One participant stated, “I've known sex workers who reported the crime that they were a victim of, but when the police found out they were in street sex work, they ended up getting arrested instead of the person who had committed violence against them.”
Their third concern was targeting of their workplaces. Participants said that the police made their work “harder and less safe by targeting escort agencies and other safe workplaces when they should be going after traffickers”. One participant put it this way: “You know sexual slavery is going on, yet the police don't do anything but waste their time going after small agencies that run well.” These actions undermined our participants' trust in the police, increased their suspicion of law enforcement, and discouraged reaching out when someone else was or they themselves were in danger. In contrast, some participants countered with positive accounts of police officers who were respectful and used discretion in law enforcement. Also noteworthy was the variation in police confidence among the cities that we studied.
In closing, I would like to leave you with these take-away messages. First, adult consensual sex for money is not human trafficking. It is vitally important not to conflate the two so that we are better able to address actual cases of human trafficking.
Second, adults who sell sexual services are more diverse than they are usually portrayed, and their access to health and safety services should be non-conditional and non-discriminatory.
Third, coercion and exploitation in adult prostitution are much less common than is claimed.
Fourth, police need to improve their relationships with people who sell sexual services so they feel confident in reporting crimes without fear of being prosecuted or put under surveillance.
Finally, targeting commercial sex locations forces workers to find clients in other ways, which may make them more vulnerable and also waste police time and resources that would be better used to find actual traffickers and victims.
Thank you for this opportunity to present these research findings. I look forward to your questions.