0:00:11.243,0:00:13.413
You noticed I'm holding q-cards.

0:00:13.681,0:00:15.141
I'm holding q-cards

0:00:15.230,0:00:17.823
because they are going to help me[br]focus on my message

0:00:18.025,0:00:22.155
while at the same time,[br]shielding me from painful memories,

0:00:22.176,0:00:24.077
and intrusive thoughs,

0:00:25.524,0:00:28.184
because my story [br]isn't an easy one to tell.

0:00:29.148,0:00:32.278
In fact, every time I tell my story,

0:00:32.493,0:00:34.393
I'm re-traumatized.

0:00:34.589,0:00:37.319
But if sharing my story means

0:00:37.661,0:00:41.321
that one more girl [br]has a chance of freedom,

0:00:41.572,0:00:43.412
then it's worth it for me.

0:00:44.344,0:00:47.174
Growing up in my family wasn't easy.

0:00:48.084,0:00:51.074
Mental health problems and abuse

0:00:51.746,0:00:53.770
can destabilize a family.

0:00:54.351,0:00:57.421
But, abuse doesn't just exist in a vacuum.

0:00:57.833,0:01:01.180
It doesn't just start or stop[br]in one idividual's life,

0:01:02.027,0:01:06.027
it permiates every action[br]and activity of their being.

0:01:07.150,0:01:10.670
Mental health problems[br]and abuse led to neglect.

0:01:11.364,0:01:14.374
And neglect left me [br]on the streets of Scarborough,

0:01:14.451,0:01:16.111
a very young girl.

0:01:18.019,0:01:21.679
I distinctly recall going back to school.

0:01:21.871,0:01:24.331
Remember, each year[br]the teacher would ask us.

0:01:24.354,0:01:27.634
"Write down what you did last summer."

0:01:28.330,0:01:32.250
I was so ashamed, I was paralyzed.

0:01:33.445,0:01:35.723
I didn't go to summer camp.

0:01:36.094,0:01:38.204
No, I didn't go to the cottage.

0:01:38.480,0:01:41.936
I was the kid [br]that played outside all day long.

0:01:42.811,0:01:45.031
There was no regular structure.

0:01:45.031,0:01:47.909
There was no routine for most anything.

0:01:48.201,0:01:51.121
One summer, I was raped by a stranger,

0:01:51.905,0:01:55.804
and other, abuse integrated[br]by the neigborhood boys.

0:01:57.278,0:02:00.078
I was always in fight or flight mode.

0:02:00.393,0:02:04.353
It seemed like danger [br]was lurking around every corner.

0:02:06.395,0:02:08.515
What I learned that summer

0:02:08.967,0:02:12.967
was how to remain hypervigilant,[br]how to avoid attack,

0:02:13.198,0:02:16.738
something that no young girl[br]should ever have to learn.

0:02:17.956,0:02:20.417
But it didn't stop[br]with the neighborhood boys.

0:02:20.638,0:02:25.218
I would later be abused at the hands[br]of a multi generational pedofile.

0:02:26.187,0:02:30.487
And it was his words that kept me trapped.

0:02:30.865,0:02:32.885
When he said,

0:02:33.293,0:02:36.543
"your parents won't love you anymore[br]if you tell on me."

0:02:36.750,0:02:41.440
In my isolated environment,[br]I believed him.

0:02:41.767,0:02:46.067
And my behaivors started to reflect[br]the environment that I lived in.

0:02:47.659,0:02:50.059
I don't remember a time back then

0:02:50.059,0:02:53.540
when my boddy ever felt like my own.

0:02:54.845,0:02:59.225
At 17, I started moving from club to club.

0:02:59.335,0:03:01.426
I first started stripping.

0:03:01.797,0:03:05.537
Then later, I worked for a smut magazine

0:03:06.001,0:03:07.511
where I would meet

0:03:07.511,0:03:10.826
some of the most dangereous people[br]I've ever encountered.

0:03:11.257,0:03:16.167
Still, I was on this never ending quest

0:03:16.248,0:03:20.318
to have some form of agency[br]over my own body,

0:03:20.498,0:03:23.568
a source of power I had never had before.

0:03:25.047,0:03:27.497
One day, my phone rang,

0:03:27.497,0:03:30.712
I was looking at my gas gauge[br]sitting on empty.

0:03:31.332,0:03:33.922
It was my old co-worker [br]from the magazine company.

0:03:34.414,0:03:36.304
He called me to tell me that

0:03:36.304,0:03:38.660
he was running Toronto's[br]largest massage parlour,

0:03:38.660,0:03:41.752
and he wanted me to come[br]and join his stable.

0:03:42.279,0:03:46.356
The word "stable" [br]didn't even give me pause.

0:03:48.105,0:03:52.425
Well, on the outside [br]it looked like a normal bussines

0:03:52.425,0:03:54.467
except it wasn't.

0:03:55.679,0:03:59.939
This massage parlour had ten rooms,[br]and they were always busy.

0:04:00.924,0:04:05.484
There were between forty to sixty[br]women and girls on rotation in the spa.

0:04:06.433,0:04:10.074
A massage was between 40 and 50 dollars.

0:04:10.554,0:04:12.824
We'd get a 10 dollar commission,

0:04:13.089,0:04:15.367
if you didn't have a fine.

0:04:16.129,0:04:19.329
And you could have a fine [br]for just about anything,

0:04:19.434,0:04:24.574
being late, talking back[br]or not having a perfectly primmed body.

0:04:27.784,0:04:33.984
It was expected that the girls[br]could earn considerably more money

0:04:33.984,0:04:35.747
by doing extras.

0:04:36.090,0:04:37.900
And by doing extras,

0:04:38.082,0:04:43.302
I am talking about some of the[br]most unimaginable and degrading acts.

0:04:43.690,0:04:48.350
Police raids?[br]They occured in these places,

0:04:50.087,0:04:54.457
but no police officer, no by law official [br]ever offered me help.

0:04:55.270,0:04:59.340
No one ever said "Hey, is there[br]somewhere else you'd rather be?"

0:04:59.773,0:05:01.863
or "I know somebody you can call.

0:05:01.863,0:05:03.943
Can I connect you two?"

0:05:04.724,0:05:09.064
And this would be my life [br]for the next nearly nine yaers.

0:05:12.179,0:05:14.529
Maybe you are listening to my story

0:05:14.529,0:05:18.044
and you're thinking [br]"how foolish is this girl!"

0:05:19.203,0:05:21.023
But I wasn't foolish.

0:05:21.172,0:05:23.112
I was vulnerable,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I was naive,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and I was a perfect target.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I didn't have a sense of belonging.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I didn't feel wanted or valued[br]for anything other than my body.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I had started to deceive myself,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
this is my choice, I'm making this money.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But in hindsight,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
there wasn't my choice involved at all.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This wasn't work, it was trafficking.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I was told how to dress,[br]who to have sex with

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
where to live, everything.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I felt scared almost all the time.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The man who recruited me

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
he manipulated me into thinking,[br]believing that he was my protector,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
my boyfriend, except he wasn't.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He was my trafficker and I was[br]little more than his property.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Over time, he made me a manager.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Made me. This was not an act of saving me.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This was not a promotion.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This was him trying to build his status[br]and grow his power.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
On paper, he ran a licenced[br]body rub parlour.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This allowed him to look like a[br]legitimate bussinesman.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This licence allows you to rub[br]need or stimulate

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
any muscle in human body.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Officially, these words don't mean[br]that sex is on the menu.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But in my experience, and thousands[br]of others suggests differently.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Somewhere between the letter of law

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and the predatory practises of[br]massage parlour owners and operators,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the willingness for police [br]to look the other way,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
our city has created[br]a licenced brothel system.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
A massage parlour keeps the schedule,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
manages all of the advertising,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and fields all of the calls,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
freeing up the trafficker[br]to look for another victim.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Buyers! They don't have to [br]go to a seedy motel.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Massage parlours an holistic centres

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
ones on the way to and from[br]your home and work.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They provide a facada of acceptability

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
safety and option on a woman's part.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But even worse, the fact that [br]all this happens

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
[br]inside of a licenced system means that

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we are enshrining a man's right[br]to buy a living breathing human being.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That's what we are talking about.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This is what sex trafficking [br]looks like in Canada.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It is the brothel hidden in plain sight

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
where women are trapped[br]and many enslaved.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And here all of us,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
all of us are deceived into believing that

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
what's hapening is a woman's choice.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
You see, our cities licence these parlours

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and holistic centres.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And in their point of view

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
they're not officially granting[br]a licence for a brothel,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but they are well aware of[br]what's happening behind closed doors.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Not all massage centres are like this.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
No, legitimate owners, [br]they're not open until 4:00 am.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They don't advertise their staff[br]in scantily clad clothing

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
on escort websites.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, how these massage parlours,[br]how are they able to thrive?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Here in Canada, each municipality

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
has the power and control [br]to grant the licences for their area.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The higher levels of government,[br]they know these problems exist,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
yet they take no responsibility

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
by saying they don't make the decisions,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the municipalities do.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Even one of our more celebrated[br]and successful politicians

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
was found inside a massage parlour[br]with no negative impacts to his career.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's as if we're saying [br]"we're ok with this.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But I refuse to believe that,[br]I just simply don't.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I was in a meeting with the most [br]high senior officials

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
from the municipal licencing.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I specifically asked,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I said "You guys know that [br]it isn't just massage, right?"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Their response "Yeah, we know that[br]these are just fronts for brothels."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Everyone knows about this proplem,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
yet no one is taking the lead to solve it.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I eventually escaped [br]from my circumstanes.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I literally slept for three days straight.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It was my soul that hurt[br]where there was no hospital.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Discovering my faih[br]in a supportive community

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
guided me to seek counselling [br]where my journey to recovery began.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Because you see, getting out is one thing

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but staying out, that's just as hard.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
With this understanding,[br]I started BridgeNorth.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I want to be a part of solution.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I want to help end [br]sex trafficking in Canada.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We offer services to women.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They'll contact us for peer mentorship[br]and support,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
medical care, food assistances,[br]many other services as well.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We also provide ..

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Sorry, we also provide[br]a pulic education,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and we advocate to change our laws,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because this problem is still [br]so hidden in plain sight.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There really are more victims[br]than you think there are.