WEBVTT

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

00:00:13.681 --> 00:00:15.141
I'm holding q-cards

00:00:15.230 --> 00:00:17.823
because they are going to help me
focus on my message

00:00:18.025 --> 00:00:22.155
while at the same time,
shielding me from painful memories,

00:00:22.176 --> 00:00:24.077
and intrusive thoughs,

00:00:25.524 --> 00:00:28.184
because my story 
isn't an easy one to tell.

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

00:00:32.493 --> 00:00:34.393
I'm re-traumatized.

00:00:34.589 --> 00:00:37.319
But if sharing my story means

00:00:37.661 --> 00:00:41.321
that one more girl 
has a chance of freedom,

00:00:41.572 --> 00:00:43.412
then it's worth it for me.

00:00:44.344 --> 00:00:47.174
Growing up in my family wasn't easy.

00:00:48.084 --> 00:00:51.074
Mental health problems and abuse

00:00:51.746 --> 00:00:53.770
can destabilize a family.

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

00:00:57.833 --> 00:01:01.180
It doesn't just start or stop
in one idividual's life,

00:01:02.027 --> 00:01:06.027
it permiates every action
and activity of their being.

00:01:07.150 --> 00:01:10.670
Mental health problems
and abuse led to neglect.

00:01:11.364 --> 00:01:14.374
And neglect left me 
on the streets of Scarborough,

00:01:14.451 --> 00:01:16.111
a very young girl.

00:01:18.019 --> 00:01:21.679
I distinctly recall going back to school.

00:01:21.871 --> 00:01:24.331
Remember, each year
the teacher would ask us.

00:01:24.354 --> 00:01:27.634
"Write down what you did last summer."

00:01:28.330 --> 00:01:32.250
I was so ashamed, I was paralyzed.

00:01:33.445 --> 00:01:35.723
I didn't go to summer camp.

00:01:36.094 --> 00:01:38.204
No, I didn't go to the cottage.

00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:41.936
I was the kid 
that played outside all day long.

00:01:42.811 --> 00:01:45.031
There was no regular structure.

00:01:45.031 --> 00:01:47.909
There was no routine for most anything.

00:01:48.201 --> 00:01:51.121
One summer, I was raped by a stranger,

00:01:51.905 --> 00:01:55.804
and other, abuse integrated
by the neigborhood boys.

00:01:57.278 --> 00:02:00.078
I was always in fight or flight mode.

00:02:00.393 --> 00:02:04.353
It seemed like danger 
was lurking around every corner.

00:02:06.395 --> 00:02:08.515
What I learned that summer

00:02:08.967 --> 00:02:12.967
was how to remain hypervigilant,
how to avoid attack,

00:02:13.198 --> 00:02:16.738
something that no young girl
should ever have to learn.

00:02:17.956 --> 00:02:20.417
But it didn't stop
with the neighborhood boys.

00:02:20.638 --> 00:02:25.218
I would later be abused at the hands
of a multi generational pedofile.

00:02:26.187 --> 00:02:30.487
And it was his words that kept me trapped.

00:02:30.865 --> 00:02:32.885
When he said,

00:02:33.293 --> 00:02:36.543
"your parents won't love you anymore
if you tell on me."

00:02:36.750 --> 00:02:41.440
In my isolated environment,
I believed him.

00:02:41.767 --> 00:02:46.067
And my behaivors started to reflect
the environment that I lived in.

00:02:47.659 --> 00:02:50.059
I don't remember a time back then

00:02:50.059 --> 00:02:53.540
when my boddy ever felt like my own.

00:02:54.845 --> 00:02:59.225
At 17, I started moving from club to club.

00:02:59.335 --> 00:03:01.426
I first started stripping.

00:03:01.797 --> 00:03:05.537
Then later, I worked for a smut magazine

00:03:06.001 --> 00:03:07.511
where I would meet

00:03:07.511 --> 00:03:10.826
some of the most dangereous people
I've ever encountered.

00:03:11.257 --> 00:03:16.167
Still, I was on this never ending quest

00:03:16.248 --> 00:03:20.318
to have some form of agency
over my own body,

00:03:20.498 --> 00:03:23.568
a source of power I had never had before.

00:03:25.047 --> 00:03:27.497
One day, my phone rang,

00:03:27.497 --> 00:03:30.712
I was looking at my gas gauge
sitting on empty.

00:03:31.332 --> 00:03:33.922
It was my old co-worker 
from the magazine company.

00:03:34.414 --> 00:03:36.304
He called me to tell me that

00:03:36.304 --> 00:03:38.660
he was running Toronto's
largest massage parlour,

00:03:38.660 --> 00:03:41.752
and he wanted me to come
and join his stable.

00:03:42.279 --> 00:03:46.356
The word "stable" 
didn't even give me pause.

00:03:48.105 --> 00:03:52.425
Well, on the outside 
it looked like a normal bussines

00:03:52.425 --> 00:03:54.467
except it wasn't.

00:03:55.679 --> 00:03:59.939
This massage parlour had ten rooms,
and they were always busy.

00:04:00.924 --> 00:04:05.484
There were between forty to sixty
women and girls on rotation in the spa.

00:04:06.433 --> 00:04:10.074
A massage was between 40 and 50 dollars.

00:04:10.554 --> 00:04:12.824
We'd get a 10 dollar commission,

00:04:13.089 --> 00:04:15.367
if you didn't have a fine.

00:04:16.129 --> 00:04:19.329
And you could have a fine 
for just about anything,

00:04:19.434 --> 00:04:24.574
being late, talking back
or not having a perfectly primmed body.

00:04:27.784 --> 00:04:33.984
It was expected that the girls
could earn considerably more money

00:04:33.984 --> 00:04:35.747
by doing extras.

00:04:36.090 --> 00:04:37.900
And by doing extras,

00:04:38.082 --> 00:04:43.302
I am talking about some of the
most unimaginable and degrading acts.

00:04:43.690 --> 00:04:48.350
Police raids?
They occured in these places,

00:04:50.087 --> 00:04:54.457
but no police officer, no by law official 
ever offered me help.

00:04:55.270 --> 00:04:59.340
No one ever said "Hey, is there
somewhere else you'd rather be?"

00:04:59.773 --> 00:05:01.863
or "I know somebody you can call.

00:05:01.863 --> 00:05:03.943
Can I connect you two?"

00:05:04.724 --> 00:05:09.064
And this would be my life 
for the next nearly nine yaers.

00:05:12.179 --> 00:05:14.529
Maybe you are listening to my story

00:05:14.529 --> 00:05:18.044
and you're thinking 
"how foolish is this girl!"

00:05:19.203 --> 00:05:21.023
But I wasn't foolish.

00:05:21.172 --> 00:05:22.674
I was vulnerable,

00:05:22.674 --> 00:05:24.167
I was naive,

00:05:24.488 --> 00:05:26.331
and I was a perfect target.

00:05:27.188 --> 00:05:29.608
I didn't have a sense of belonging.

00:05:29.632 --> 00:05:34.195
I didn't feel wanted or valued
for anything other than my body.

00:05:35.908 --> 00:05:38.248
I had started to deceive myself,

00:05:38.403 --> 00:05:41.173
"this is my choice,
I'm making this money."

00:05:41.487 --> 00:05:43.057
But in hindsight,

00:05:43.917 --> 00:05:46.462
there wasn't my choice involved at all.

00:05:46.956 --> 00:05:50.027
This wasn't work, it was trafficking.

00:05:50.588 --> 00:05:53.764
I was told how to dress,
who to have sex with

00:05:53.764 --> 00:05:56.022
where to live, everything.

00:05:57.223 --> 00:06:00.407
I felt scared almost all the time.

00:06:02.521 --> 00:06:04.351
The man who recruited me,

00:06:04.533 --> 00:06:09.593
he manipulated me into thinking
and believing that he was my protector,

00:06:10.022 --> 00:06:14.122
my boyfriend, except he wasn't.

00:06:14.321 --> 00:06:19.011
He was my trafficker and I was
little more than his property.

00:06:20.049 --> 00:06:23.027
Over time, he made me a manager.

00:06:23.416 --> 00:06:27.326
Made me. This was not an act of saving me.

00:06:27.499 --> 00:06:30.179
This was not a promotion.

00:06:30.774 --> 00:06:35.264
This was him trying to build his status
and grow his power.

00:06:36.858 --> 00:06:41.168
On paper, he ran a licenced
body rub parlour.

00:06:41.709 --> 00:06:46.279
This allowed him to look like a
legitimate bussinesman.

00:06:47.214 --> 00:06:51.894
This licence allows you to rub,
need or stimulate

00:06:51.894 --> 00:06:55.417
any muscle in the human body.

00:06:55.621 --> 00:07:00.261
Officially, these words don't mean
that sex is on the menu.

00:07:00.979 --> 00:07:07.529
But in my experience, and that of
thousands of others suggests differently.

00:07:08.465 --> 00:07:11.885
Somewhere between the letter of law,

00:07:12.269 --> 00:07:17.349
the predatory practises of
massage parlour owners and operators,

00:07:18.225 --> 00:07:21.915
the willingness for police 
to look the other way,

00:07:22.362 --> 00:07:26.802
our city has created
a licenced brothel system.

00:07:29.791 --> 00:07:32.151
A massage parlour keeps the schedule,

00:07:32.337 --> 00:07:34.557
manages all of the advertising,

00:07:34.557 --> 00:07:36.528
and fields all of the calls,

00:07:37.010 --> 00:07:40.211
freeing up a trafficker
to look for another victim.

00:07:40.792 --> 00:07:45.302
Buyers! They don't have to 
go to a seedy motel.

00:07:46.077 --> 00:07:48.957
Massage parlours and holistic centres,

00:07:49.057 --> 00:07:53.657
the ones on the way to and from
your home and work.

00:07:54.459 --> 00:07:59.379
They provide a facada of acceptability

00:08:01.568 --> 00:08:06.428
safety and option on a woman's part.

00:08:06.825 --> 00:08:11.265
But even worse, the fact that 
all of this happens

00:08:11.265 --> 00:08:15.642
inside of a licenced system means

00:08:15.642 --> 00:08:22.190
that we are enshrining a man's right
to buy a living breathing human being.

00:08:22.402 --> 00:08:25.992
That's what we are talking about.

00:08:26.704 --> 00:08:29.734
This is what sex trafficking 
looks like in Canada.

00:08:29.901 --> 00:08:32.959
It is the brothel hidden in plain sight

00:08:32.959 --> 00:08:36.601
where women are trapped
and many enslaved.

00:08:38.316 --> 00:08:40.275
And here all of us,

00:08:40.405 --> 00:08:43.155
all of us are deceived into believing that

00:08:43.197 --> 00:08:46.437
what's hapening is a woman's choice.

00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:52.130
You see, our cities licence these parlours

00:08:52.130 --> 00:08:53.686
and holistic centres.

00:08:53.697 --> 00:08:55.467
And in their point of view

00:08:55.557 --> 00:08:59.182
they're not officially granting
a licence for a brothel,

00:08:59.676 --> 00:09:04.266
but they are well aware of
what's happening behind closed doors.

00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:07.759
Not all massage centres are like this.

00:09:08.007 --> 00:09:12.237
No, legitimate owners, 
they're not open until 4:00 am.

00:09:12.345 --> 00:09:15.861
They don't advertise their staff
in scantily clad clothing

00:09:16.104 --> 00:09:18.444
on escort websites.

00:09:20.035 --> 00:09:24.965
So, how these types of massage parlours,
how are they able to thrive?

00:09:25.693 --> 00:09:29.753
Here in Canada, each municipality

00:09:29.753 --> 00:09:34.723
has the power and control 
to grant the licences for their area.

00:09:35.508 --> 00:09:40.638
The higher levels of government,
they know these problems exist,

00:09:40.704 --> 00:09:43.520
yet they take no responsibility

00:09:44.066 --> 00:09:46.408
by saying that 
they don't make the decisions,

00:09:46.445 --> 00:09:48.355
the municipalities do.

00:09:49.514 --> 00:09:53.994
Even one of our more celebrated
and successful politicians

00:09:53.994 --> 00:10:00.693
was found inside a massage parlour
with no negative impacts to his career.

00:10:01.366 --> 00:10:05.247
It's as if we're saying 
"we're ok with this."

00:10:05.969 --> 00:10:09.340
But I refuse to believe that,
I just simply don't.

00:10:09.763 --> 00:10:14.853
I was in a meeting with the most 
high senior officials

00:10:14.911 --> 00:10:17.091
from the municipal licencing.

00:10:17.357 --> 00:10:19.927
I specifically asked,

00:10:20.493 --> 00:10:25.073
I said "You guys know that 
it isn't just massage, right?"

00:10:25.324 --> 00:10:30.814
Their response "Yeah, we know that
these are just fronts for brothels."

00:10:31.830 --> 00:10:34.850
Everyone knows about this problem,

00:10:34.850 --> 00:10:38.573
yet no one is taking the lead to solve it.

00:10:40.754 --> 00:10:44.191
I eventually escaped 
to my circumstanes.

00:10:44.663 --> 00:10:47.613
I literally slept for three days straight.

00:10:47.957 --> 00:10:52.647
It was my soul that hurt
for where there was no hospital.

00:10:53.387 --> 00:10:56.347
Discovering my faih
in a supportive community

00:10:56.778 --> 00:11:01.348
guided me to seek counselling 
where my journey to recovery began.

00:11:02.211 --> 00:11:05.402
Because you see, getting out is one thing

00:11:05.783 --> 00:11:08.766
but staying out, that's just as hard.

00:11:10.090 --> 00:11:13.194
With this understanding,
I started BridgeNorth.

00:11:14.205 --> 00:11:17.635
I want to be a part of the solution.

00:11:17.635 --> 00:11:21.456
I want to help end
sex trafficking in Canada.

00:11:22.154 --> 00:11:24.748
We offer services to women.

00:11:25.390 --> 00:11:28.380
They'll contact us for peer mentorship
and support,

00:11:28.443 --> 00:11:32.973
medical care, food assistances,
many other services as well.

00:11:35.141 --> 00:11:37.205
We also provide ..

00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:41.559
Sorry, we also provide
a pulic education,

00:11:41.559 --> 00:11:44.647
and we advocate to change our laws,

00:11:44.754 --> 00:11:48.776
because this problem is still 
so hidden in plain sight.

00:11:51.189 --> 00:11:54.889
There really are more victims
out there than you think there are.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999