VZCZCXYZ0016
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHOT #0549/01 1982052
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 172052Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
TO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
INFO RUCNCAN/ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 000549 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP, WHA/CAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KTIP SOCI CA
SUBJECT: TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS IN THE CANADIAN PROVINCE OF MANITOBA 
- ABORIGINAL POPULATIONS AFFECTED DISPROPORTIONATELY 
 
OTTAWA 00000549  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  (U)  This cable was prepared by APP Winnipeg. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Summary: In the Canadian central plains, trafficking in 
persons is tied inextricably to the prostitution of aboriginal women 
and female children in the largest cities. A conference hosted by 
the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs July 8-9 brought together 
stakeholders and experts - including University of British Columbia 
professor Benjamin Perrin, who was named as a TIP "hero" in this 
year's TIP report - to gauge the extent of the problem and develop a 
strategy to combat it. According to the evidence presented at the 
conference, there is a verifiable problem, but participants spent 
more time looking for someone to blame than at possible solutions. 
End summary. 
 
Who is Trafficked and Why? 
---------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U)  Trafficking in Persons in Manitoba consists primarily of 
aboriginal women and children who are lured to the city from 
impoverished reservations in northern Manitoba with promises of a 
better life, a good job, and exciting lifestyle. Some find their own 
way to the city; others reportedly are transported by either gangs 
or individual pimps who seek to profit from the women once they get 
to the city. Others were born and raised in the city. In almost all 
cases, women make the initial trip voluntarily. Once they arrive in 
the city, they quickly find that their lack of education and 
cultural understanding disqualifies them for all but the most menial 
of jobs, and without any means of support or social network to help 
them. Prostitution offers quick money - reportedly up to C$900 per 
day - and a seemingly more glamorous lifestyle.  Many women and 
children are attracted to it initially. Some rationalize that they 
will only participate in the trade until "they have enough money to 
go home" or until "they get enough education to get something else." 
However, once they get involved in the sex trade, workers often 
become addicted to narcotics, and find that the only way they can 
support their habit is through continued participation in the sex 
trade. 
 
 
¶4. (U)  Conference participants heard that the subjugation of 
aboriginal women for prostitution has gone on since the time of 
European contact, and has gained momentum recently due to grinding 
poverty on reservations, glamorization of an urban, promiscuous 
lifestyle in popular culture, and easy and anonymous marketing on 
the Internet. According to statistics from the "Stop Sex with Kids" 
initiative of the Manitoba provincial government, 70 - 80 percent of 
the 400 children and youth involved in prostitution in the city of 
Winnipeg are aboriginal, 85 - 90 percent are female, and 72 percent 
were already in the care of child welfare agencies. There were some 
anecdotal remarks about aboriginal women and children being 
trafficked to other cities in Canada or even to the United States, 
but this does not appear to be widespread. 
 
Where to from here? 
---------------------- 
 
¶5. (U)  The conference featured many speakers who described the size 
and scope of the problem, and there were many personal testimonials 
from those who have escaped from the lifestyle about the terrible 
impact prostitution has on the women and children involved.  Several 
speakers introduced controversial neo-Marxist analyses and 
historical perspectives of the situation. Some claimed that the 
problems of trafficking and prostitution are a result of the 
colonial legacy - one presenter referred to herself as an aboriginal 
woman living on occupied territory - as well as capitalism, poverty, 
Qwoman living on occupied territory - as well as capitalism, poverty, 
and cultural oppression by mainstream society. Police were often 
faulted for putting too much emphasis on picking up prostitutes 
rather than "johns" - the men who solicit sex from them. Federal and 
provincial justice agencies also faced harsh criticism for the lack 
of prosecutions and convictions in prostitution-related offenses. 
Police and justice officials acknowledged the frustration and agreed 
that they need to do better, within the laws that exist. 
 
¶6. (U)  Winnipeg Member of Parliament Joy Smith served as a co-chair 
of the conference; her private members' bill, C-268, was widely 
praised for promising longer sentences for those convicted of human 
trafficking offenses and to make it a crime in Canada to traffic 
minors. The Salvation Army runs reportedly the most effective series 
of programs designed to help girls get out of the sex trade, 
including one that takes girls to summer camps for a few days to get 
them away from the lifestyle and talk to them about alternatives to 
prostitution. 
 
¶7. (SBU) 2009 State Department TIP "hero" Benjamin Perrin was a very 
active participant in the conference and was highly sought-after by 
the media after making controversial remarks on the first day. He 
gave the United States high marks for the TIP report, and innovative 
programs at the state and local levels such as the joint statement 
 
OTTAWA 00000549  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
by Craigslist, the National Center for Missing and Exploited 
Children, and forty state Attorneys General in which online auction 
sites agreed to obtain credit card information for each listing. He 
also claimed to have found 300 ads on Craigslist for women and 
children prostitutes in Winnipeg in the previous week and said that 
Winnipeg has by far the highest prevalence of overt acts of children 
being prostituted on the streets of any city he has ever seen. 
Perrin was featured on every media outlet in the region for two 
days. 
 
¶8. (SBU)  Comment:  While part of the media ate up Perrin's 
statements, others questioned which contributors to human 
trafficking and prostitution the conference missed.  The prevalence 
of aboriginal gangs in certain parts of the city and their role in 
human trafficking was not even mentioned. The collapse of 
traditional aboriginal society in Manitoba, where a large percentage 
of children are in custody of child welfare agencies, was only 
mentioned as another consequence of the colonial legacy and 
oppression. Aboriginal leaders appear only to have found human 
trafficking to be an issue this year, yet no one asked what they 
have done about an issue that has obviously decimating their 
community for years. Social workers and others in aid agencies - who 
made up a majority of the 100 participants in the conference - also 
did not come in for any scrutiny, despite more than 70 percent of 
prostituted youth being in care of child welfare agencies. That 
said, the conference was a good first start at getting the issue out 
in the open in Manitoba, and APP Winnipeg will stay in contact with 
organizers and conference participants to look at the full array of 
issues that buttress TIP in Manitoba. 
BREESE