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Police meet with hotel representatives to review telltale signs continued from p.3 the World Cup where you have a lot of twentysomething guys coming in and drinking a great deal and partying. The Pan Am Games... it would tend to be a different crowd of people who would show up for that sort of thing. They perhaps wouldn't be so interested in ending the night in a brothel." While police may not be worried about an escalation in human trafficking during the games, they are not turning a blind eye to the possibility. Brown said officers speak with local hotel managers almost daily to make them aware of the signs of human trafficking and to see if there is any strange activity. Telltale signs of human trafficking These signs can include people who are unable to present identity documents; have no cell phone; lack access to their own money and resources; work excessively long hours with no or few days off; cannot go out unaccompanied; are branded with tattoos of the trafficker's name; exhibit signs of chronic fear, guilt, shame, distrust of authority; and have bruises and other signs of physical abuse. Brown noted the police practice of looking for these signs and investigating potential human trafficking incidents will not stop during the Pan Am Games and that if there is a spike in local forced prostitution, police will intervene. Police may not believe the Pan Am crowd will Social worker Katarina MacLeod Former sex worker Katarina MacLeod, who now runs an organization to assist women who want to leave the sex trade, says she is already hearing from women still in the business that pimps across the GTA are excited about the approaching games. "We're finding that a lot of the pimps and traffickers are bringing the girls where these big events are happening because they are going to make a lot more money because it is busy ," she said. "I can tell you personally, when we would have sporting events coming to town, I would be posting my ad... and the calls I got were double and even triple what I would usually get in clientele." MacLeod spent 15 years as a prostitute working out of massage parlors and strip clubs all over the GTA, including in Oakville and other parts of Halton. A victim of sexual abuse, she was lured into a life of prostitution at age 21 when she went to a women's support group to help deal with a violent relationship. She said one of the other women at the support group owned a massage parlor and convinced her she had few other options for making the money she needed to get away from her abuser. "I kind of thought, `Why not? Everyone has just used me for sex anyway.' That started a 15-year spiral of being trapped in this where I became such a huge drug addict," said MacLeod. "It was unbelievable. I was doing crack cocaine, I was doing opiates, I was doing everything I could get my hands on because I hated myself. I had no support. Nobody telling me what I was doing was wrong and nobody offering me an out. This became my normal. For most of these women this becomes your normal. You don't see it as bad anymore." · · · While acknowledging the presence of human trafficking during the Pan Am Games is one thing, dealing with it is something completely different. Invidiata said Free-Them is combating the practice by attempting to get both the City of Toronto and the Province of Ontario to fund awareness campaigns. The idea, she said, is to educate visitors and locals that just because a woman is working as a prostitute, it doesn't mean she is there by choice or of her own free will. So far, Free-Them and other participating anti-human trafficking groups have yet to get a response to their funding requests. Free-Them hopes Bill C-36, passed in December 2014, which makes it illegal to purchase sex in Canada, will help. "That bill is really going to empower and enable law enforcement to do their job without having their hands tied," said Invidiata. see Local on p.15 5 | Thursday, June 18, 2015 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Kathryn Baker-Reed be seeking to buy sex entertainment to go with the games, but others are not convinced. Adult Entertainment Association In April, the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada, which represents hundreds of workers at 30 licensed clubs in the GTA, issued a press release welcoming visitors of the Pan Am/ Parapan Am Games. The Association stated surveys have shown sales at these clubs rise as much as 25 per cent across-the-board whenever there are large events taking place in Toronto. In the release, Toronto lawyer Calvin Barry , who acts for the Association, said the group wants to ensure its entertainers are aware that foreign visitors will be attending their clubs and that there will be sufficient numbers of staff available. INJURED? I Can Help! YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY UNLESS I GET YOU MONEY My team of experienced lawyers can help you with: · Car accidents · Slip and Falls · Disability Claims (Short-Term Disability, Long-Term Disability, CPP) · Wrongful Dismissal OFFICES IN OAKVILLE AND TORONTO For a free consultation call: Oakville: 905.842.2022 or Toronto: 416.351.9222 email: sspadafora@slspc.ca PLATINUM Sam Spadafora Injury and Employment Law