Saskatchewan Federation of Police Officers 105 Special Committee To Prevent the Abuse and Exploitation of Children through the Sex Trade excerpt from INTERIM REPORT June 28, 2000 1st Session of the 24th Legisature LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF SASKATCHEWAN I. Committee Principles The Committee has developed a set of key principles to help guide members throughtheir research, deliberations, and public hearings. The principles are as follows: 1. Every child is everyone’s responsibility. The sexual abuse and exploitation of children is everyone’s responsibility. It is not just an issue the government needs to address nor is it isolated to certain cultures or classes of society. To truly work towards the prevention of this abuse, every citizen of this province needs to take responsibility. 2. The involvement of children in the sex trade is child abuse. The Committee does not refer to this issue as child prostitution as it clearly is a form of child sexual abuse. The Committee recognizes and agrees with the voices of Canadian children and youth who spoke at the March 1998 International Summit on Sexually Exploited Youth held in Victoria, British Columbia. Youth who spoke at this summit strongly felt that the term "child prostitution" is not an appropriate reference to this type of sexual abuse. 3. Zero tolerance is our goal. Our goal is to eliminate the involvement of children in the sex trade in Saskatchewan. It is the Committee’s hope that public awareness will be increased through our provincial hearings, which will in turn have an effect on Saskatchewan’s tolerance towards this type of abuse. The Committee promotes zero tolerance towards johns and pimps who perpetuate this abuse, as well as towards others who contribute to the sexual exploitation of children. II. Witness Presentations Phase one of the Committee’s hearings was a very intense and emotionally draining experience for each Member, the staff of the Committee and for the participants. Firsthand accounts from youth and adults who were sexually exploited on the streets as children were especially painful. The Committee is truly grateful for their courage incoming forward and for sharing their heart-wrenching experiences. Their detailed and graphic evidence, based upon their life stories, reflected the extreme seriousness of the sexual exploitation of children in our communities. The Committee heard that there are several root causes that lead up to the sexual abuseand exploitation of children: • Issues related to poverty: low income, welfare dependency, poor housing, poor nutrition, etc. • Abuse issues: emotional, physical, sexual. • Family dysfunction and violence. • Lack of cultural identity: residential school syndrome, loss of traditional parenting skills, racism etc. The issues as to why children end up on the street in the first place were also addressed. One reason all youth and outreach staff consistently raised was the extreme lack of self-esteem that these children suffer from. Ill-defined moral values, self-loathing, self-hatred, and high susceptibility to peer pressure, abuse, and exploitation were identified inthe hearings as additional causes. “The first time i started working on the streets i was nine. Why did i do it? To support myself. i had no one to depend on. i was somebody … i was an adult trapped in a nine-year-old’s body. i had no respect for myself. i had no respect for anybody.”(Youth, March 20, 2000, pg. 179) “She had been locked in a walk-in freezer in the back of a (calgary) pizza shop. She had been on her back for 16 straight hours. She had sex with 42 men. …this is not intended to shock you, ladies and gentlemen, this is intended to inform you of what is going on in this city and in Saskatoon and in every major city in canada. This is our town after dark.” (retired Staff Sergeant ross Macinnes, calgary Police Services, March 22, 2000, pg. 241) “The stuff that went on in the house was unreal. You can’t even call it abuse; it’s called torture.”(Youth, March 20, 2000, pg. 187) continued...
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0NTk1OA==