Backpage down, but concerns for youth remain

Sexual exploitation can happen anywhere to anyone, advocate says

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While many local advocates celebrate the demise of Backpage.com, there’s still a long way to go in stopping the underground sexual exploitation of Brandon’s youth.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/04/2018 (2171 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While many local advocates celebrate the demise of Backpage.com, there’s still a long way to go in stopping the underground sexual exploitation of Brandon’s youth.

Shut down by the United States Department of Justice a few weeks ago, Backpage.com — a classified advertising website well-known to facilitate prostitution and sex trafficking — served as a popular avenue in Brandon for sexually exploiting youth.

It’s a problem that generally happens behind closed doors, said Kaitlyn White, chair of the Westman Team Against Sexual Exploitation, and when one door closes, another opens.

Screenshot
For many sex workers who advertise services online, their main avenue of income was abruptly cut off this month when backpage.com, a U.S. website, was shut down by a slew of agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Screenshot For many sex workers who advertise services online, their main avenue of income was abruptly cut off this month when backpage.com, a U.S. website, was shut down by a slew of agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Justice.

“It takes away one of the streams for sexual exploitation, but we’ll have to sort of wait and see what exactly that means here in Brandon,” White said. “Whether it will just get pushed to other social media platforms, or if we’ll see a reduction in sexual exploitation — only time will tell.”

While Backpage.com was believed to be the largest facilitator of sexual trafficking in the world, 90 per cent of sexual exploitation is now done on social media, said Krystal Kayne, a Brandon University masters student focusing on the sexual exploitation of youth.

“There has been a movement toward Facebook and other social media, such as Snapchat, Twitter, Kijiji, there’s people that go on (local social media sites) … the wording is very subtle, but you can find advertisements almost everywhere,” Kayne said.

“People are always saying how surprised they are that it’s happening in Brandon, but it can happen anywhere. It doesn’t matter what your values are, what your beliefs are — it can happen to any group … anyone at any age can be a target, and it’s elevated to the degree that people in the community are actually taking notice.”

The concern has become so great the Brandon Police Service has created a position to focus primarily on sexually exploited youth and runaways, working with the Westman Team Against Sexual Exploitation to raise awareness and find solutions to end sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

In 2016, Brandon police charged seven people in investigations related to sexual exploitation, including charges for arranging a sexual offence against a child, according to BPS Sgt. Dave Andrew. Investigations in 2017 led to eight charges of sexual exploitation.

So far in 2018, five charges related to sexual exploitation have been laid.

“There’s a need for it, and I think a lot of community members felt there was a need for it … We are taking this serious in the community,” said Const. Dana McCallum, the new youth criminal intelligence officer with BPS.

“We’ve noticed (sexual exploitation of youth) has become more of an issue as meth has become more of an issue in our community. We find that a lot of times these youth do have addictions and are being exploited … selling their bodies in order to get money for meth.”

Coming from the Criminal Investigations Unit, McCallum said she has seen kids as young as 13 to 15 years old being sexually exploited.

“They don’t care about gender, it’s not a factor. It’s more about the age of the person — they’re vulnerable, they’re accessible, and they’re manipulatable,” Kayne said. “The grooming process can take weeks, if not months, and that still happens. But now what we’re finding is if they get them hooked on drugs, they’ve got them immediately, because they’ll want their next fix.”

The community needs to be aware of what’s going on and not be afraid to report it, Kayne said.

“If you see something … something that doesn’t seem quite right, trust your instincts and report it,” Kayne said. “It’s not your job to be an investigator, that’s what the police do. But people need to start being more aware — looking and listening.”

Suspected advertisements or other forms of online sexual exploitation can be reported anonymously on Cybertip.ca, Kayne said.

McCallum also urged that if you are concerned someone is possibly being sexually exploited to let BPS know.

“It needs to be brought to our attention … We’re in constant contact with The CanadianCentreforChild Protection, StreetReach, Klinic, different care programs that can help us assist anyone being sexually exploited to get out of that lifestyle,” McCallum said. “It’s a hard lifestyle to get out of.”

» edebooy@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @erindebooy

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