PEOPLE 3
She didn’t take no for an answer
NEWS 4
Thieves steal car and dog
COMMUNITY 11
Holocaust history hits home FOR THE BEST LOCAL
COVERAGE WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 9 2015
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CELEBRATING JAPANESE CULTURE:
Crowds turned out over the weekend at the third annual Nikkei Matsuri, Burnaby’s family-friendly Japanese festival, which ran Sept. 5 and 6 at the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre. In the photo is a mikoshi, or portable shrine, used to carry the Shinto spirit. The weekend included a variety of cultural activities, including entertainment, food, workshops and the Matsuri Star Talent Search contest. See more photos online at www. burnabynow.com. PHOTO LISA KING
Sexually exploited youth are younger Recent survey reveals that 21 per cent of sexually exploited or at-risk youth are under the age of 15 By Cornelia Naylor
cnaylor@burnabynow.com
Sexually exploited youth in Burnaby are getting younger, according to a recent survey by the Burnaby-New Westminster Task Force on Sexually Exploited and At-Risk Youth. In February, local services providers who work with youth tracked 180 young people deemed at risk of being sexually exploited either in person or online. Based on the data collected, 40 were suspected to have been sexually exploited and 24 were confirmed to have been targeted. “That’s when they’ve directly told the
services provider that they are participating in activities related to sexual exploitation, so the exchange of sexual acts for food, shelter, a ride, money, etc,” Burnaby social planner Rebekah Mahaffey told the NOW. Of the confirmed cases, 21 per cent were under the age of 15 – up one per cent since the task force’s last survey in 2013 and five per cent since 2011. “That’s been a trend that’s been observed over the three counts,” Mahaffey said. The youngest person confirmed to have been sexually exploited was 12 years old. Another continuing trend revealed in the survey, according to Mahaffey, is a move away from street exploitation to exploitation
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online, a shift that has prompted service providers to up their Internet presence, especially on social media, Mahaffey said. The task force, a sub-committee of the City of Burnaby’s public safety committee, with representatives from the cities and school districts of Burnaby and New Westminster, the Fraser Health Authority, the Ministry of Children and Family Development and interested non-profits, has conducted counts every two years since 2011 of youth at risk of sexual exploitation. In 2011, 146 at-risk youth were tracked; in 2013, that number spiked to 217. While organizers are happy the numbers are down in this year’s count, there’s still work to be done, according to Mahaffey. “Any youth that is identified as being at risk is too many,” she said. Of the 180 at-risk young people tracked
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this year, 86 were from Burnaby, 65 were from New Westminster and 29 were from other communities, including Surrey. Forty-one per cent were white and 23 per cent were aboriginal.These two groups have numbered highest among the at-risk youth tracked in all three counts. Other findings of note, according to Mahaffey are that 75 per cent of youth confirmed to have been sexually exploited continued to be connected to a school, and 14 per cent of all the at-risk youth tracked were boys. “Although the overall number sounds small, I think there’s a perception in the community that sexual exploitation is something that women encounter, but actually young men experience it as well,” Mahaffey said.
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