Ending sexual exploitation of children must be a Quebec priority, panel says

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The fight against the sexual exploitation of minors, the vast majority of them girls and some as young as 12, must become a provincial priority, a panel of MNAs from all parties has concluded.

After studying the issue for 18 months, the panel found that in many cases that exploitation is being imposed on runaways who see their lives destroyed overnight by pimps.

The 13-member panel on Thursday made public its report, which includes 58 recommendations targeting pimps and their clients and calling for better protections for their young victims.

The panel received 63 briefs and heard from 67 witnesses, many of them experts.

The report recommends more financial aid to police forces to fund operations targeting pimps and their clients, the latter regularly referred to by the panel as “abusers.”

Those found guilty should be entered into the national sexual offenders registry, and courts hearing cases involving the sexual exploitation of multiple minors should favour consecutive rather than concurrent sentences. The panel wants Quebec to pressure Ottawa to make the necessary amendments to the Criminal Code to make those changes possible.

The trafficking of young girls is profitable, with one victim bringing up to $300,000 annually to her pimp while not pocketing a cent.

Last August, then-panel chair Ian Lafrenière, a CAQ MNA and former police officer who has since been named minister of Indigenous affairs, described Quebec as a hub for child exploitation in Canada.

The report, which is divided into five sections, also focuses on prevention, more publicity around the dangers of child exploitation and better sex education for young people.

Another recommendation calls for victims of pimps to be officially designated as victims of a criminal act and made eligible for Quebec’s compensation program for crime victims, which could help them avoid going back into prostitution.

The panel wants better training for teachers and nurses to allow them to more easily detect whether a child is being sexually exploited or in danger of being so. There is also a call for improved police training.

The panel has heard that an adult male seeking sex with a minor can obtain it in more than 600 businesses in Quebec, most of them in the Montreal area where there are an estimated 300 strip bars, massage parlours and escort agencies with links to the illegal sex industry.

The report notes that social media plays a key role in the recruitment of young girls by pimps.