WEBVTT

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[You might] notice I'm holding cue cards.

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I'm holding cue cards

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because they are going to help me
to focus on my message

NOTE Paragraph

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while at the same time

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shielding me from painful memories
and intrusive thoughts.

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Because my story
isn't an easy one to tell.

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In fact, every time I tell my story,

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I'm retraumatized.

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But if sharing my story

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means that one more girl
has a chance at freedom,

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then it's worth it for me.

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Growing up in my family wasn't easy.

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Mental health problems and abuse

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can destabilize a family.

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But abuse doesn't just exist in a vacuum.

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It doesn't just start or stop
in one individual's life.

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It permeates every action
and activity of their being.

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Mental health problems and abuse

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led to neglect,

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and neglect left me
on the streets of Scarborough

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a very young girl.

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I distinctly recall going back to school.

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I remember each year,
the teacher would ask us,

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"Write down what you did that summer."

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I was so ashamed; I was paralyzed.

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I didn't go to summer camp.

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No, I didn't go to the cottage.

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I was the kid that played
outside all day long.

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There was no regular structure.

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There was no routine for most anything.

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One summer, I was raped by a stranger;

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another, abused and degraded
by the neighborhood boys.

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I was always in fight-or-flight mode.

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It seemed like danger
was lurking around every corner.

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What I learned that summer

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was how to remain hypervigilant,
how to avoid attack -

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something that no young girl
should ever have to learn.

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But it didn't stop
with the neighborhood boys.

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I would later be abused at the hands
of a multi-generational pedophile.

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And it was his words that kept me trapped.

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When he said,

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"Your parents won't love you anymore
if you tell on me,"

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in my isolated environment,
I believed him.

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And my behaviors started to reflect
the environment that I lived in.

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I don't remember a time back then

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when my body ever felt like my own.

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At 17, I started moving from club to club.

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I first started stripping.

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Then later, I worked for a smut magazine,

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where I would meet

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some of the most dangerous people
I've ever encountered.

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Still, I was on this never ending quest

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to have some form of agency
over my own body,

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a source of power I had never had before.

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One day, my phone rang.

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I was looking at my gas gauge,
sitting on empty.

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It was my old co-worker
from the magazine company.

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He called me to tell me he was running
Toronto's largest massage parlor,

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and he wanted me
to come and join his stable.

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The word "stable"
didn't even give me pause.

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Well, on the outside,
it looked like a normal business,

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except it wasn't.

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This massage parlor had 10 rooms,
and they were always busy.

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There were between 40 to 60
women and girls on rotation in the spa.

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A massage was between 40 and 50 dollars.

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We'd get a 10-dollar commission

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if you didn't have a fine.

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And you could have a fine
for just about anything:

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being late, talking back

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or not having a perfectly primped body.

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It was expected

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that the girls could earn
considerably more money

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by doing extras.

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And by doing extras,

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I am talking about some of the most
unimaginable and degrading acts.

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Police raids,

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they occurred in these places,

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but no police officer, no bylaw official
ever offered me help.

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No one ever said, "Hey,

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is there somewhere else you'd rather be?"

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or "I know somebody you can call.

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Can I connect you two?"

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And this would be my life
for the next nearly nine years.

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Maybe you're listening to my story

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and you're thinking,
"How foolish is this girl!"

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But I wasn't foolish.

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I was vulnerable,

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I was naive

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and I was a perfect target.

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I didn't have a sense of belonging.

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I didn't feel wanted or valued
for anything other than my body.

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I had started to deceive myself:

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"This is my choice.
I'm making this money."

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But in hindsight,

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there wasn't much choice involved at all.

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This wasn't work; it was trafficking.

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I was told how to dress,

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who to have sex with,

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where to live -

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everything.

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I felt scared almost all the time.

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The man who recruited me,

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he manipulated me

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into thinking and believing
that he was my protector,

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my boyfriend,

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except he wasn't.

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He was my trafficker,
and I was little more than his property.

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Over time, he made me a manager -

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made me.

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This was not an act of saving me.

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This was not a promotion.

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This was him trying to build his status
and grow his power.

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On paper,

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he ran a licensed body rub parlor.

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This allowed him to look
like a legitimate businessman.

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This license

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allows you to rub, knead or stimulate
any muscle in the human body.

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Officially,

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these words don't mean
that sex is on the menu,

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but my experience
and that of thousands of others

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suggest differently.

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Somewhere between the letter of the law,

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the predatory practices
of massage parlor owners and operators,

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the willingness for police
to look the other way,

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our city has created
the licensed brothel system.

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A massage parlor keeps the schedule,

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manages all of the advertising

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and fields all of the calls,

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freeing up a trafficker
to look for another victim.

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Buyers,

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they don't have to go to a seedy motel.

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Massage parlors and holistic centers,

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the ones on the way
to and from your home and work,

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they provide a facade

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of acceptability,

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safety and option

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on a woman's part.

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But even worse,

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the fact that all of this
happens inside of a licensed system

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means that we are enshrining a man's right

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to buy a living, breathing human being.

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That's what we're talking about.

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This is what sex trafficking
looks like in Canada.

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It is the brothel hidden in plain sight,

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where women are trapped
and, many, enslaved.

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And here, all of us,

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all of us are deceived into believing

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that what's happening is a woman's choice.

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You see, our cities license
these parlors and holistic centers.

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And in their point of view,

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they're not officially granting
a license for a brothel,

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but they are well aware
of what's happening behind closed doors.

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Not all massage centers are like this.

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No, legitimate owners,
they're not open until 4:00 am.

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They don't advertise their staff
in scantily clad clothing

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on escort websites.

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So how are these types of massage parlors,

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how are they able to thrive?

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Here in Canada, each municipality

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has the power and control
to grant the licenses for their area.

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The higher levels of government,
they know that these problems exist,

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yet they take no responsibility

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by saying that they don't
make the decisions,

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the municipalities do.

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Even one of our more celebrated
and successful politicians

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was found inside a massage parlor,
with no negative impacts to his career.

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It's as if we're saying,
"We're okay with this."

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But I refuse to believe that;
I just simply don't.

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I was in a meeting

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with the most high senior officials
from Municipal Licensing.

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I specifically asked.

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I said, "You guys know
that this isn't just massage, right?"

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Their response?

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"Yeah, we know that these are
just fronts for brothels."

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Everyone knows about this problem,

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yet no one is taking the lead to solve it.

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I eventually escaped my circumstances.

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I literally slept for three days straight.

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It was my soul that hurt,

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for where there was no hospital.

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Discovering my faith
in a supportive community

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guided me to seek counselling,

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where my journey to recovery began.

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Because you see, getting out is one thing,

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but staying out, that's just as hard.

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With this understanding,
I started BridgeNorth.

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I want to be a part of the solution.

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I want to help end
sex trafficking in Canada.

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We offer services to women.

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They'll contact us
for peer mentorship and support,

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medical care, food assistances,

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many other services as well.

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We also provide-

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I'm sorry, we also provide
public education,

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and we advocate to change our laws

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because this problem
is still so hidden in plain sight.

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There really are more victims out there
than you think there are.

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Some enter this
dangerous world like I had;

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others, children and youth,

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they're lured out of foster care,
group homes, shelters,

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or from their own families.

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The common thread

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is that traffickers look to exploit
the vulnerabilities of their victim -

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common thread, all the time.

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Where I was trafficked,
there were up to 60 women working.

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The massage parlor I was at
made under just two million a year.

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That doesn't include any of the money

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made in the rooms by the girls -

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that's what we know
as the trafficker's cut.

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It doesn't include any money
made by going to after-hours parties

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or by other things,
like selling drugs or weapons.

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Imagine for a second, that's just one.

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Imagine thousands
of these places across Canada.

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Well, as a survivor,

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I believe we have to tackle
the systemic problems

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that foster trafficking
in the first place.

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That's why in 2014,

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I spoke out against sexual exploitation

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before the Justice
and Human Rights Committee.

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I helped to lobby
for the passing of a bill,

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called "Protection of Communities
and Exploited Persons Act."

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We advocated for Canada to adopt
the leading practices from Sweden.

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This Nordic model,

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it penalizes the buyers

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while helping women to exit.

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This bill was passed and is now law,

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yet still, we're not seeing
very much action at all.

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We're not seeing arrests of buyers,

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we're not seeing adequate funding

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for services that women need
to heal and recover.

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So, here and now,
we have this legal framework

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but we don't have it in use.

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From Canada,

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who is normally such a leader
on so many fronts,

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a country that's known
for women's empowerment

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and for gender equality,

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yet still, we need action
to match our intention.

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So where do we start?

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Well, first, we need
to abolish sex trafficking.

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Its harms are inherent

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and simply cannot be licensed
or legislated in a better way.

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Second, women trapped
should be given support to help them exit.

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These women, they need to be safe
from the repercussions of bad actors.

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And finally, we need more support
from people like you,

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just like you.

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I have spoken to numerous federal
and municipal government officials,

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and they all say the same thing to me:

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"I can only address what my constituents
bring to my attention."

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Write them,

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call them,

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tell them that women being exploited
and trafficked inside of massage parlors

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is not acceptable.

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In conclusion,

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it takes just one person - it really does.

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I share my story today because I'm free,

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and that freedom
I cannot take for granted.

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I believe everybody in our country
should have that same right.

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I'm sharing my story today

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because I am hopeful.

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I have seen, I have witnessed

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the strength inside of the women
we're talking about.

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These women are future leaders,

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entrepreneurs,

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moms;

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they are game changers.

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All they need is a chance,
just like the one I had.

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It took one person.

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Her name was Kathy;

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her husband, Jim.

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They each extended a hand of love to me.

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They both had shown me again
what humanity was all about,

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and they assisted
to bring back my self-worth.

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And that is something that you can do
for someone else too.

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(Applause) (Cheers)

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Thank you.

00:16:48.969 --> 00:16:52.823
(Applause) (Cheers)