Author: Katie Elsner

An on going growing population of “spas” and “massage parlours” are emerging at a fast rate in Canada. Women find themselves forced to work in this industries losing all of their rights and find it hard to escape.

These women are forced to provide sexual experiences/ services each night to a handful of men. None of these women were protected and some of their experiences often get violent and dangerous. Cassandra Diamond discloses how she was forced to live with the man who was trafficking her and she could never escape that world for 10 years.

Eleven women were found in a parlour in Ottawa, Ontario back in 2015 and massage parlours and spas have been rapidly increasing since then.  The man who owned the parlour was charged with 76 offences. But, in other cases the women didn’t get so lucky,  Diamond was forced into working and had her rights completely stripped away from her. Though, some women don’t get so lucky officer inspectors would come into Diamonds parlour but not to rescue them but to make sure they “weren’t breaking any rules”. Diamond knew they’d be no help of finding her justice.

There are over 25 “body rub” parlours and over 410 holistic centres in Toronto alone, 1 in 4 holistic centres offer some sort of erotic massage.

“There are no mechanisms in place to ensure the safety of trafficked women,” Diamond said.

Cities all over Ontario keep licensing these parlours and spas fully knowing that’s the hub of trafficking. And why? What’re they gaining? These parlours are making trafficking happen easier and it’s not a secret.

To read Cassandra Diamond’s story click here

To read the article about the Ottawa Parlour click here 

 

The main focus for my blog will be about the devastating but very real organizations and groups that are involved in the sex trafficking/ human trafficking ring. This is a huge topic and happens all the time yet our society tends to stay predominately silent. I want to shed light on this topic and create awareness.

An article written by Emma Paling on the Huffington post discloses the sad truth of human trafficking focusing on young girls. Ontario’s minister of children Lisa Macleod calls human trafficking in Ontario it’s “dirty little secret”.

She shares stories of real victims and real crimes and talks about how organized and easy these crimes can happen. She talks about how mistreated this young women are and the rape that occurs when they’re shuffled around from gang to gang or man to man.

” some of these girls come from the wealthiest communities in Canada.”

-Lisa Macleod

She points out how we need to make changes to our law and clearly differentiate the laws between sex trafficking and human smuggling, people are finding loopholes in between our countries laws to commit heinous crimes such as this one.

To read the article click here

 

I want to be known as the person everyone feels safe coming to talk to if they are ever feeling down. I want to be there for anyone who is ever struggling in any sort of way. I know how hard it is to be in a situation where you are already feeling down and you have no one to talk to or no one who really understands what you’re going through. If there is ever someone who is struggling or needs someone by their side I want them to know that I will be there for them if they need or want my presence. This means that I try to understand how they’re feeling, be someone they feel safe talking to, or just being there if they need company. I feel like having someone you know will always be there is extremely important because it creates some sort of security for yourself and whatever you’re going through won’t suck so much. If I had someone there when I was struggling when I was younger life would’ve been a lot easier. We all deserve someone special! I also want to be someone who is super positive and happy. I believe peoples attitudes and the way they’re feeling is super infectious. If I’m sad I notice that people around be tend to get sad, so being happy and positive around other people won’t just benefit my way of life but also how others feel around me. I know being happy 24/7 is unrealistic so that’s why I think you should not let it eat away inside you and share how you’re feeling with someone you trust. But, you should always try to put your best face forward and be someone you can look back on and be content with how you portrayed yourself.