Campaign aims to stop Grand Prix sex trade

The signs can seem obvious, but only if you know what you’re looking for. Over the course of the last few weeks, a coalition of women’s groups behind a sexual exploitation awareness campaign has been looking for them in job postings online.

The ads promote work during this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. They target women, often ask for a recent photo, say applicants can make lots of quick money and don’t need any experience. There’s no training required, either.

“A recent one said you need to be single to apply,” said Éliane Legault-Roy, a spokesperson for the coalition behind the “Un Trop Grand Prix” campaign.

The campaign, launched in early May, is two-pronged — one facet aims to raise awareness among young girls, ages 15 to 18, while the other targets men, reminding them that paying for sex is a crime.

“It’s important for young girls to be vigilant and be able to recognize the signs that they’re being recruited into sex work,” LegaultRoy said. “But on the other hand, if there were no clients in the sex trade, there would be no demand and no recruiting.”

Though it has been debated by groups representing sex workers, which argue there’s no hard evidence the event generates more sexual exploitation and that the ensuing “police repression” only endangers women trying to make a living, Montreal’s Grand Prix has garnered a reputation as a sextrade hotbed.

During last year’s event and again this year, the RCMP delivered tool kits to hotel and motel staff in Montreal to educate them about signs they may be witnessing instances of human trafficking or sexual exploitation, said spokesperson Camille Habel.

The force will also be present at Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, handing out cards with a number to call in case people witness anything suspicious. Similar efforts will be undertaken at Quebec’s borders by the Canada Border Services Agency, Habel said.

“It’s not an anti-prostitution initiative,” Habel said when asked about the “over-policing ” decried by some sex-work advocates. “It’s really an anti-human trafficking and sexual exploitation initiative. When we find minors who are stuck in a sexual exploitation or human trafficking scheme, they ’re victims. They didn’t choose this.”

Michel Bourque, head of the Montreal police’s sexual exploitation unit, said the force is keeping an eye on the Grand Prix event, but maintained the problem is a yearlong issue that’s amplified when major events come to town.

He said the force’s efforts to crack down on the issue and raise awareness about it in the last few years have been successful. In 2015, the SPVM investigated 80 cases that were reported to police. Last year, it looked into 319 cases and made 65 arrests tied to the issue, including 25 clients.

“What we’re really focused on is minimizing the impact and making sure we deal with the sexual exploitation aspect of it,” Bourque said. “The onus is much more on the person trying to get these services than the person offering them. And through this, we’re trying to avoid people being manipulated and controlled and forced into the sex trade.”

In a decision recently praised by Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, the Formula One announced in January it will no longer be using “grid girls” during its major events, including this weekend’s Grand Prix.

Plante applauded the change while announcing new measures to ensure Montreal’s major events are safer and more inclusive for women. The Conseil des Montréalaises — a city organization that provides input on women’s issues — is in the middle of a three-year study into sex trafficking during the Grand Prix. It says it will be able to share its findings by next year.