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 body 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're 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.

0:05:21.172,0:05:22.674
I was vulnerable,

0:05:22.674,0:05:24.167
I was naive,

0:05:24.488,0:05:26.331
and I was a perfect target.

0:05:27.188,0:05:29.608
I didn't have a sense of belonging.

0:05:29.632,0:05:34.195
I didn't feel wanted or valued[br]for anything other than my body.

0:05:35.908,0:05:38.248
I had started to deceive myself,

0:05:38.403,0:05:41.173
"This is my choice.[br]I'm making this money."

0:05:41.487,0:05:43.057
But in hindsight,

0:05:43.917,0:05:46.462
there wasn't my choice involved at all.

0:05:46.956,0:05:50.027
This wasn't work, it was trafficking.

0:05:50.588,0:05:53.764
I was told how to dress,[br]who to have sex with

0:05:53.764,0:05:56.022
where to live, everything.

0:05:57.223,0:06:00.407
I felt scared almost all the time.

0:06:02.521,0:06:04.351
The man who recruited me,

0:06:04.533,0:06:09.593
he manipulated me into thinking[br]and believing that he was my protector,

0:06:10.022,0:06:14.122
my boyfriend, except he wasn't.

0:06:14.321,0:06:19.011
He was my trafficker and I was[br]little more than his property.

0:06:20.049,0:06:23.027
Over time, he made me a manager.

0:06:23.416,0:06:27.326
Made me. This was not an act of saving me.

0:06:27.499,0:06:30.179
This was not a promotion.

0:06:30.774,0:06:35.264
This was him trying to build his status[br]and grow his power.

0:06:36.858,0:06:41.168
On paper, he ran a licenced[br]body rub parlour.

0:06:41.709,0:06:46.279
This allowed him to look like a[br]legitimate bussinesman.

0:06:47.214,0:06:51.894
This licence allows you to rub,[br]need or stimulate

0:06:51.894,0:06:55.417
any muscle in the human body.

0:06:55.621,0:07:00.261
Officially, these words don't mean[br]that sex is on the menu.

0:07:00.979,0:07:07.529
But in my experience, and that of[br]thousands of others suggest differently.

0:07:08.465,0:07:11.885
Somewhere between the letter of the law,

0:07:12.269,0:07:17.349
the predatory practises of[br]massage parlour owners and operators,

0:07:18.225,0:07:21.915
the willingness for police [br]to look the other way,

0:07:22.362,0:07:26.802
our city has created[br]the licenced brothel system.

0:07:29.791,0:07:32.151
A massage parlour keeps the schedule,

0:07:32.337,0:07:34.557
manages all of the advertising,

0:07:34.557,0:07:36.528
and fields all of the calls,

0:07:37.010,0:07:40.211
freeing up a trafficker[br]to look for another victim.

0:07:40.792,0:07:45.302
Buyers! They don't have to [br]go to a seedy motel.

0:07:46.077,0:07:48.957
Massage parlours and holistic centres,

0:07:49.057,0:07:53.657
the ones on the way to and from[br]your home and work.

0:07:54.459,0:07:59.379
They provide a facada

0:08:01.568,0:08:06.428
of acceptability and option[br]on a woman's part.

0:08:06.825,0:08:11.265
But even worse, the fact that [br]all of this happens

0:08:11.265,0:08:15.642
inside of a licenced system means

0:08:15.642,0:08:22.190
that we are enshrining a man's right[br]to buy a living breathing human being.

0:08:22.402,0:08:25.992
That's what we're talking about.

0:08:26.704,0:08:29.734
This is what sex trafficking [br]looks like in Canada.

0:08:29.901,0:08:32.959
It is the brothel hidden in plain sight

0:08:32.959,0:08:36.601
where women are trapped[br]and many enslaved.

0:08:38.316,0:08:40.275
And here all of us,

0:08:40.405,0:08:43.155
all of us are deceived into believing

0:08:43.197,0:08:46.437
that what's hapening is a woman's choice.

0:08:47.600,0:08:52.130
You see, our cities licence these parlours

0:08:52.130,0:08:53.686
and holistic centres.

0:08:53.697,0:08:55.467
And in their point of view,

0:08:55.557,0:08:59.182
they're not officially granting[br]a licence for a brothel

0:08:59.676,0:09:04.266
but they are well aware of[br]what's happening behind closed doors.

0:09:05.039,0:09:07.759
Not all massage centres are like this.

0:09:08.007,0:09:12.237
No, legitimate owners, [br]they're not open until 4:00 am.

0:09:12.345,0:09:15.861
They don't advertise their staff[br]in scantily clad clothing

0:09:16.104,0:09:18.444
on escort websites.

0:09:20.035,0:09:24.965
So, how these types of massage parlours,[br]how are they able to thrive?

0:09:25.693,0:09:29.753
Here in Canada, each municipality

0:09:29.753,0:09:34.723
has the power and control [br]to grant the licences for their area.

0:09:35.508,0:09:40.638
The higher levels of government,[br]they know these problems exist,

0:09:40.704,0:09:43.520
yet they take no responsibility

0:09:44.066,0:09:46.408
by saying that [br]they don't make the decisions,

0:09:46.445,0:09:48.355
the municipalities do.

0:09:49.514,0:09:53.994
Even one of our more celebrated[br]and successful politicians

0:09:53.994,0:10:00.693
was found inside a massage parlour[br]with no negative impacts to his career.

0:10:01.366,0:10:05.247
It's as if we're saying [br]"We're ok with this."

0:10:05.969,0:10:09.340
But I refuse to believe that,[br]I just simply don't.

0:10:09.763,0:10:14.853
I was in a meeting with the most [br]high senior officials

0:10:14.911,0:10:17.091
from the municipal licencing.

0:10:17.357,0:10:19.927
I specifically asked,

0:10:20.493,0:10:25.073
I said "You guys know that [br]it isn't just massage, right?"

0:10:25.324,0:10:30.814
Their response "Yeah, we know that[br]these are just fronts for brothels."

0:10:31.830,0:10:34.850
Everyone knows about this problem,

0:10:34.850,0:10:38.573
yet no one is taking the lead to solve it.

0:10:40.754,0:10:44.191
I eventually escaped [br]to my circumstanes.

0:10:44.663,0:10:47.613
I literally slept for three days straight.

0:10:47.957,0:10:52.647
It was my soul that hurt[br]for where there was no hospital.

0:10:53.387,0:10:56.347
Discovering my faih[br]in a supportive community

0:10:56.778,0:11:01.348
guided me to seek counselling [br]where my journey to recovery began.

0:11:02.211,0:11:05.402
Because you see, getting out is one thing

0:11:05.783,0:11:08.766
but staying out, that's just as hard.

0:11:10.090,0:11:13.194
With this understanding,[br]I started BridgeNorth.

0:11:14.205,0:11:17.635
I want to be a part of the solution.

0:11:17.635,0:11:21.456
I want to help end[br]sex trafficking in Canada.

0:11:22.154,0:11:24.748
We offer services to women.

0:11:25.390,0:11:28.380
They'll contact us for peer mentorship[br]and support,

0:11:28.443,0:11:32.973
medical care, food assistances,[br]many other services as well.

0:11:35.141,0:11:37.205
We also provide ..

0:11:38.159,0:11:41.559
I'm sorry, we also provide[br]a public education,

0:11:41.559,0:11:44.647
and we advocate to change our laws

0:11:44.754,0:11:48.776
because this problem is still [br]so hidden in plain sight.

0:11:51.189,0:11:54.889
There really are more victims out there[br]than you think there are.

0:11:55.668,0:11:59.168
Some enters this [br]dangereous world like I had,

0:11:59.168,0:12:01.549
others, chidren and youth,

0:12:01.865,0:12:06.305
they're lured at a foster care,[br]group homes, shelters,

0:12:06.561,0:12:09.111
from their own families.

0:12:09.507,0:12:12.887
The common thread is the traffickers

0:12:12.887,0:12:16.256
look to exploit the vulnerabilities[br]of their victim,

0:12:16.451,0:12:19.231
common thread all the time.

0:12:19.554,0:12:23.964
Where I was trafficked, there were[br]up to sixty women working.

0:12:25.281,0:12:29.721
The massage parlour I was at[br]made under just two million a year.

0:12:30.223,0:12:33.233
That doesn't include any of the money

0:12:33.233,0:12:36.108
made in the rooms by the girls,

0:12:36.175,0:12:38.805
that's what we know[br]is the trafficker's cut.

0:12:38.995,0:12:42.775
It doesn't include any money made by [br]going to after hours parties

0:12:43.080,0:12:46.138
or by other things like[br]selling drugs or weapons.

0:12:48.535,0:12:51.423
Imagine for a second that's just one,

0:12:51.821,0:12:55.201
imagine thousands of [br]these places across Canada.

0:12:56.403,0:13:03.023
Well, as a survivor I believe [br]we have to tackle the systemic problems

0:13:03.128,0:13:06.518
that foster trafficking[br]in the first place.

0:13:08.012,0:13:14.742
That's why in 2014, I spoke out [br]against sexual explotation

0:13:15.011,0:13:17.824
before the Justice[br]and Human Rights Comittee.

0:13:18.011,0:13:21.161
I hoped to lobby for the[br]passing of a bill called

0:13:21.161,0:13:24.856
"Prtotection of Communities[br]and Exploited Persons Act"

0:13:26.658,0:13:31.738
We advocated for Canada to adopt[br]the leading practices from Sweden.

0:13:32.231,0:13:36.921
This Nordic model, it penalizes the buyer

0:13:38.144,0:13:41.392
while helping women to exit.

0:13:43.533,0:13:47.723
This bill was passed and is now law,

0:13:47.815,0:13:51.475
yet still, we are not seeing [br]very much action at all.

0:13:51.545,0:13:54.415
We're not seeing arrests of buyers,

0:13:54.649,0:13:57.939
we're not seeing adequate funding [br]for services

0:13:58.034,0:14:00.774
that women need to heal and recover.

0:14:01.997,0:14:04.907
So, here now we have this legal framework

0:14:05.354,0:14:09.014
but we don't have it in use.

0:14:09.388,0:14:15.498
From Canada who is normally[br]such a leader on so many fronts,

0:14:15.646,0:14:19.876
a country that is known [br]for women's empowerment

0:14:20.184,0:14:22.194
and for gender equality.

0:14:22.211,0:14:26.691
Yet stil we need action[br]to match our intention.

0:14:27.834,0:14:30.074
So, where do we start?

0:14:31.150,0:14:35.580
Well, first we need to abolish[br]sex trafficking.

0:14:35.807,0:14:37.487
Its harms are inherent,

0:14:37.614,0:14:43.104
and simply cannot be licenced[br]or legislated in a better way.

0:14:44.068,0:14:50.448
Second, women trapped should be[br]given support to help them exit.

0:14:51.228,0:14:55.038
These women, they need to have be safe

0:14:55.038,0:14:58.618
from the repercussions of bad actors.

0:14:59.062,0:15:04.592
And finally, we need more support [br]from people like you, just like you.

0:15:06.264,0:15:11.394
I have spoken to numerous federal[br]and municipal government officials,

0:15:11.394,0:15:14.214
and they all say the same thing to me

0:15:14.934,0:15:19.894
"I can only address what my [br]constituents bring to my attention."

0:15:23.030,0:15:24.730
Write them,

0:15:25.485,0:15:26.765
call them,

0:15:27.614,0:15:28.484
tell them

0:15:28.484,0:15:30.589
that women being exploited,

0:15:30.589,0:15:33.267
and trafficked inside of massage parlours

0:15:33.510,0:15:35.350
is not acceptable.

0:15:37.002,0:15:38.602
In conclusion,

0:15:39.578,0:15:42.478
it takes just one person, it really does.

0:15:44.344,0:15:47.284
I share my story today because I'm free,

0:15:47.414,0:15:50.514
and that freedom,[br]I cannot take for granted.

0:15:50.694,0:15:54.399
I believe everybody in our country[br]should have that same rate.

0:15:55.615,0:15:57.855
I'm sharing ny story today

0:15:57.944,0:15:59.819
because I am hopeful.

0:16:00.364,0:16:02.504
I have seen, I have witnessed

0:16:02.504,0:16:06.046
the strength inside of the women[br]we're talking about.

0:16:06.122,0:16:09.032
These women are future leaders,

0:16:09.106,0:16:13.826
entrepreneurs, moms, [br]they are game changers.

0:16:15.714,0:16:19.364
All they need is a chance[br]just like the one I had.

0:16:20.846,0:16:22.996
It took one person.

0:16:23.823,0:16:25.313
Her name was Kathy,

0:16:25.919,0:16:27.949
her husband Jim.

0:16:28.747,0:16:31.607
They each extended a hand of love to me.

0:16:32.534,0:16:35.064
They both had shown me again

0:16:35.064,0:16:37.149
what humanity was all about,

0:16:37.793,0:16:40.663
and assisted to bring back my self -worth,

0:16:40.683,0:16:45.153
and that is something you can do[br]for someone else too.

0:16:46.875,0:16:51.025
(Applause and cheer)