An activist against human trafficking has accused Winnipeg as being the worst among Canadian cities for selling children for sex.
And not only are the children standing on the streets, they are being sold online, said Prof. Benjamin Perrin from the University of British Columbia. He said he has found more than 300 advertisements for Winnipeg girls and women on the Craigslist website.
Perrin has notified Winnipeg police about the ads but has not been told whether an investigation is being conducted.
Perrin is in Winnipeg to speak this week at a conference on human trafficking. The issue has particular resonance given the discovery outside of Winnipeg last week of the body of 17-year-old Cherisse Houle.
'I've seen by far the most overt sales of children in this city of Winnipeg than I have anywhere else in Canada, and it's heartbreaking.'—Benjamin Perrin, University of British Columbia
Several sources close to the investigation and family told CBC News she was a chronic runaway and a sex-trade worker in the care of the provincial Child and Family Services (CFS) agency.
In an interview with CBC News, Perrin said he has been on rides with police in eight Canadian cities, including Winnipeg.
"I have to say, I've seen by far the most overt sales of children in this city of Winnipeg than I have anywhere else in Canada, and it's heartbreaking," Perrin said.
During a recent ride-along with Winnipeg police along Selkirk Avenue, he saw one girl whose age he estimated at 12 or 13, selling herself on the street. A man, presumed by Perrin to be the pimp, watched from half a block away.
Lack of shelter space in Winnipeg
Perrin believes a lack of resources, such as shelter space for aboriginal girls and teens, is a major part of the reason the child sex trade is able to thrive in Winnipeg. The city has only one shelter for aboriginal girls and teens.
"They have six beds and over the last several years they've had to turn away almost 150 aboriginal teenage girls and children who wanted their help," he said. "They had to turn them away [but for many] this is a last stop."
The conference runs Wednesday and Thursday. The Wednesday forum was put on by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, whose grand chief, Ron Evans, said 400 children and youth are involved in the sex trade on Winnipeg streets each year, and the average age they begin the practice is 13.
"Seventy to 80 per cent of the children and youth who are being exploited are aboriginal, and about 85 to 90 per cent of those are female," he said. "It's astounding. And, of course, 72 per cent of those are children are in CFS."
A solution to the issue will only come from increased awareness and dialogue, Evans said.
"The solutions will come when people … become aware of how we all need to do something about it," he said.
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