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Bouncing back
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Community working to end exploitation of girls I was happening to me,” said Chalifoux, 45, who now works with Nanaimo’s Community Action Team in outreach for women in the sex trade. Don’t sensationalize the story, By Tamara Cunningham she says with solemn eyes. She The News BulleTiN wants people to believe it and know it can happen to anybody. er friend had cash, clothes “I had a loving family and I was and cigarettes. out of control and nobody knew Aimee Chalifoux was in how to help me.” and out of foster care, bathExploitation of underage ing herself in mall washrooms girls and vulnerable women and struggling to get clean and trafficking is a reality in clothes. Canada. Social agencies, police “I was sort of in awe,” said and health-care workers know Chalifoux. “She always had Nanaimo isn’t immune. money. She always had clothes.” Work is underway to bring Chalifoux was in eighth grade awareness to the issue, but gaps at Woodlands Secondary School still exist. in Nanaimo when she first met Sex trafficking is a global her older, 15-yearindustry, generold friend. They ating $99 billion hung out, her US in profits, friend fed her and a c c o rd i n g t o she had money the 2014 From t o p a r t y. S h e Hear tbreaking would often tell to GroundbreakChalifoux that she most people, ing report by the could make money when they’re Canadian Womtoo by going on en’s Foundation. “dates” with men thinking about The average and she could help annual profit for set her up with sex trafficking, each female trafguys. ficked in Canada they’re thinking Chalifoux didn’t is $280,800, with really know what there’s a foreign the most finanthat meant, but on cial gain for girls a bad day when face to it, where under the age of she was tired of actually the ma18. having nothing The majority of and being hungry, jority is domestic. those trafficked she decided to find are women, and out. while there’s no single way It was the first time she traded they’re brought into the sex sex for money. She was 14 years trade, experts agree it’s the old. vulnerable who are most often “I was really easy pickings to targeted – young girls who have exploit because I had no self- run away, are having trouble at esteem or self-empowerment home or living on the streets. or the ability to recognize what They can be lured by money, a
SEX TRAFFICKING identified as problem in Nanaimo.
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Aimee Chalifoux, with the Nanaimo Women’s Centre Community Action Team, uses her personal experiences with being sexually exploited as a teenager to reach out to women in the sex trade.
sense of security, love or drugs and controlled through intimidation and mobility. Reza Moazami was recently sentenced to 23 years for 30 prostitution-related offences involving teenagers, some as young as 14 and 15 years old. The case detailed how young girls were drawn into the sex trade – most were introduced to Moazami through a friend and several worked out of hotels in different cities, including Nanaimo, court documents show. “In Nanaimo, absolutely sex trafficking exists,” said Shelly
Maunula, an outreach worker with Haven Society. “Most people, when they’re thinking about sex trafficking, they’re thinking international, they’re thinking there’s a foreign face to it, where actually the majority is domestic.” That means it’s Canadians, moved up and down the Island, between B.C. and Alberta, sometimes even across the country by pimps, boyfriends or whoever is orchestrating and profiting from them, she said. It’s not as visible as the outdoor, survival sex trade. Women are advertised in
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online classifieds like Craigslist and Back Page, through escort agencies and massage parlors. Sex is sold indoors, in apartments and hotels. Outside of professionally trained people involved in outreach, enforcement or child protection, it’s largely invisible and people don’t recognize it or see it, according to Cpl. Dave LaBerge with the Nanaimo RCMP bike unit. One of the significant elements of exploitation is social isolation and moving victims away from friends and family, he said. See ‘GROUP’ /3
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