Church fears rise in human trafficking

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By Ethan Baron, The Province
January 31, 2010

Canada's Catholic bishops this week released a letter to pastors across the country, denouncing the human trafficking they expect will feed the Metro Vancouver sex industry during the Olympics.

"Groups involved in the struggle against human trafficking are worried," the Jan. 27 letter says. "At some major sporting events, systems are often put in place to satisfy the demand for paid sex. Unfortunately, this is likely to be the case during the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver."

Some academics and activists assert that sex-trafficking for the Games is a certainty, while other activist groups and police argue such trafficking is not likely to rise.

"Our studies have suggested there won't be an increase in human trafficking," says RCMP Border Integrity Program Sgt. Duncan Pound. "We will have a large number of investigators available to respond should a case arise or be reported."

A study commissioned by the provincial government and the Vancouver Police Department concluded in a 2009 report that forecasts of massive human-trafficking connected to prostitution at the 2004 Athens Olympics and 2006 soccer World Cup in Germany were wrong.

"In relation to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, public statements have been made which project an alarming increase in this human trafficking," the report says. "These claims are inconsistent with the evidence . . . that trafficking and mega-events are not linked."

But others believe the realities of commerce will lead to trafficking.

"If there's a demand for paid sex, then supply is going to be created," says Michelle Miller, executive director of Resist Exploitation Embrace Dignity, an anti-prostitution group.

"When you add half-a-million visitors . . . we know that the demand is going to go up and the supply is going to have to be increased."

Traffickers may use the Olympics to facilitate bringing women across the border into Canada, says UBC law professor Benjamin Perrin. "How much easier is it to simply claim that you're going to be visiting the Games?" he says. "There has not been an increased police response to this issue."

Those who have been publicly predicting increased trafficking have actually lured many prostitutes to Vancouver for the Olympics, says Suzie Davis, an advocate for sex workers.

"By . . . promoting the idea that there's going to be a huge amount of earning potential for sex workers in Vancouver, they are encouraging women in an economic recession to take to the road," Davis says.

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Church fears rise in human trafficking