Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Today I’m pleased to present to you and this standing committee for your deliberation of the review of the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, or the PCEPA. Thank you for your invitation. I'll be speaking in support of the PCEPA.
I’m here today as a private citizen, the father of two children and someone who has had the great privilege of speaking with many women and children directly impacted by human trafficking and the sex industry.
Aside from my 25 years in the music industry and two years as a pediatric registered nurse prior to that, you may be interested to know that I'm the founder of an organization called #NotInMyCity, which was formed to disrupt human trafficking. I've also recently completed my time as chair of the Government of Alberta’s Human Trafficking Task Force. It's my hope that the knowledge I’ve gained over the past 18 years of being involved with working on behalf of communities and exploited persons will prove useful to you as you review and make decisions on how best to move Canada forward to end the sexual exploitation of women, children and youth.
Fifteen years ago, I saw a glimpse of a horrific future for women, children and youth in a country using the decriminalization model. I was in an area internationally renowned for the trafficking of young children. It was rife with organized crime. On that street was a warehouse where children were given drugs—or downers—to force them to sleep during the day. They were then given amphetamines—or uppers—at night to wake them up before being taken by their traffickers, pimps and bodyguards to body rub parlours and brothels, where they were forced to sexually service men.
Across the street, a three-storey building was under construction, which was being financed by a California-based businessman to be used as a sex destination hotel to service busloads and planeloads of men from around the world who pay to rape and sexually assault young children. Children whose tiny bodies had been used up and had died were being buried in the yard behind the construction site. Those who had survived were sold to sex buyers until they aged out, were impregnated by their abusers or had HIV/AIDS. These children no longer had any monetary value to their traffickers. It was one of the most horrific places I've ever been.
I met a little girl that day on that street who was five years old and was being sold six to eight times per night to adult men for the purposes of sex.
Since arriving back in Canada from that trip, and until the current day, I've immersed myself in learning about how there are connections between prostitution, trafficking and the growing commercial sex industry. I've learned how sexualized violence thrust upon children creates a progression of subsequent abuse and victimization, often resulting in their being trafficked. I've learned how traffickers use popular online platforms to lure and exploit victims, who are often children. The two most common sites used to facilitate human trafficking in Alberta are Snapchat and Instagram.
I've learned that 75% of those in the sex industry were first exploited as children, and over 50% of trafficking victims in Canada are indigenous, despite their representing only 4% of Canada's population. I've learned how new data released on May 2, 2021 by Statistics Canada reveals that a record high number of human trafficking incidents were reported to police in Canada in 2019. Reports are up 44% from the previous year, and more than one in five victims are 17 or younger.
Crime investigators I spoke with detailed how the child abuse sexual material created to feed the demand in the sex industry that they had to view during investigations had become their nightmares. One former RCMP officer detailed that the worst part wasn't the visuals, but the sounds the children made while being sexually tortured. He couldn't get that out of his head.
While not to be conflated with the activities of those who willingly enter and stay in the sex industry, the sex industry and human trafficking are related. Many women with former experience in the sex industry have told me that while they were in the life, they would have inaccurately said that they had chosen to be involved in the sex industry. It was only upon exiting and beginning the journey to freedom that they were able to realize that they'd been victims of force, fraud and coercion during their time in the sex industry. They had only said they were willing participants because of their traumatization and in a desperate attempt to regain some sense of control.
PCEPA is effective when enforced, yet more can be done to ensure it is enhanced and utilized effectively and uniformly across the country. Removing or altering the PCEPA by introducing decriminalization or legalization will negatively impact women, children, youth and indigenous populations in Canada.
The evidence is clear. Since its introduction, more victims are being identified and supported, more children are being protected, and more sex purchasers are being charged because of the urgently needed framework and safety mechanisms created by the PCEPA.
Thank you.