How virus is changing underage sex trafficking

‘COVID-friendly’ sex acts are still being advertised across the internet

The call for physical distancing to combat the COVID-19 pandemic has changed — but not stopped — the sex trafficking of underaged girls in the GTA.

That’s the consensus of experts surveyed by the Star about the impact of the deadly virus on the illegal sex trade in the Toronto area.

“It’s still going on,” said Karly Church, 31, a human trafficking survivor who now works with the Durham Regional Police Service human trafficking unit and as a crisis intervention counsellor with Victim Services of Durham Region.

“I think COVID-19 is even making vulnerable people more in danger of being trafficked,” Church said in a telephone interview.

“The demand for commercial sex is constant even through the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Kayla Yama, a director of Victim Services for Durham Region. “It’s not a deterrent for people buying sex.”

“COVID safe” ads have appeared on the internet, where sex trade websites promise “COVID-19 friendly” sex acts like webcam sex and phone sex.

“There are definitely different options now,” Church said.

“However, not all workers are following this option,” noted

Det. Dave Davies of the Durham Regional Police, human trafficking unit. He said some girls “are still offering outcalls and in-calls,” visiting customers or having customers visit them.

Many of the underaged girls who are trafficked in the GTA are homeless, Church said. Often, they have drug problems. The pandemic means shelters and residential programs are tougher than ever to get into, and schools and drop-in centres are shut altogether.

The closure of libraries and cafés also means free internet is suddenly hard to find. For many of the underaged girls, there are fewer safe places to go and they’re increasingly isolated.

“It’s harder to make excuses to your pimp about where you’re going,” Yama said.

Before the outbreak of COVID-19, girls were often trafficked between Ontario and Quebec and the GTA and northern Ontario, often working out of hotels and motels along the 400-series highways.

“There are certain circuits,” Church said, noting that popular motels and hotels along Highway 401 have remained open during the pandemic.

Since the coronavirus appeared, Montreal police have found a marked reduction in the movement of Quebec escorts to Toronto, Daniel Renaud of La Presse reports.

Instead, they are increasingly turning to selling sexual services through contactless technologies like web cameras, FaceTime, Skype and the phone, Renaud reports. Sometimes, they advertise with “COVIDfree” logos and pose in ads in photos displaying masks.

“Do they (the pimps) make girls work less?” Commander Dominique Côté of the Montreal police the Sexual Exploitation Unit, asked Renaud.

“I do not believe that… (T)he grip is still very real on young women.”

GTA family men still frequently find a way to free themselves up from social isolation to visit underage prostitutes, Church and Yama said. Church and Yama say the math is frightening when one thinks of the potential harm this may cause the community, if either a girl or a customer is infected. In pre-COVID-19 times, Church was a frequent speaker at schools, warning girls in Grades 8 and 9 that the sex trade is nowhere to end up.

“I think we were reaching every Grade 9 classroom across Durham Region,” Church said. “I wish we could be doing it right now.”

Sometimes, her speaking engagements brought her to tiny northern communities such as Cochrane and Smooth Rock Falls where some local residents didn’t believe there was any human trafficking near them.

In her talks, she tried to explain the difference between illegal human trafficking of minors and the sex trade, involving consenting adults.

Consent is needed in order for sex work to be legal, and girls under the age of18 are not capable of true consent, according to the law.

“It needs to be clear that there’s a huge difference between human trafficking victims and sex trade workers,” Det. Staff Sgt. Coyer Yateman of the OPP said via email.

“The persons involved in human trafficking are victims and slaves to the traffickers,” said Yateman, who’s part of the force’s anti-human trafficking investigation co-ordination team, and missing persons and unidentified bodies unit.

“These are victims of crime and should never be referred to as workers,” Yateman said. “Human trafficking involves victims not workers.”

Consent means there is no pressure on girls to earn money for their pimps, who often act like their boyfriends.

When she talks to young girls, Church talks about healthy relationships, and how pimps work to exploit the vulnerabilities of the girls who make money for them.

She also makes a point of stressing the importance of empowerment. “We need to educate our young people,” she said. “We need to empower our young people. It’s difficult to traffic someone who’s empowered.”

Church said she was first trafficked at age 16, and wasn’t able to escape for eight years.

“I felt helpless. I felt that this is my life. I felt like there’s no other option.”

She credits an undercover police officer who initially posed as a customer with saving her from her old life.

“I’m very lucky,” she said. “I had supports that were perfect. The same is possible for them.

“I got out because of somebody else. I wouldn’t have picked up the phone and reached out.”

She said the undercover officer “treated me like a human being.

“He treated me like his sister or his daughter,” she said.

“When he came into my hotel room I was done,” Church said. “I was broken. I was just waiting to die pretty much.”

She said he was able to get her in touch with social supports, where she was told that she had courage and resilience.

“You need somebody to point out those strengths,” Church said.

If you or someone you know is being trafficked or is in immediate danger, call 911 or your local police service. If you need support but are not in immediate danger, call the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline at 1833-900-1010 to be connected with support services or law enforcement in your community. You can also find more resources at www.ontario.ca/page/ human-trafficking-services-andsupports. For more information on the subject, visit helpingtraffickedpersons.org.