The ‘Slaves’ of Toronto
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Women from African countries are being smuggled into Canada as part of a “modern-day slavery” that forces them to work as prostitutes, domestics or nannies, a Toronto lawyer charges.
Amina Sherazee says she knows of more than a dozen women from African countries—Nigeria, Cameroon, Namibia, Djibuoti and Ivory Coast—who were snatched by smugglers and trafficked through two or three countries before ending up here.
Sherazee represents two west African women who have filed refugee claims to remain in Canada.
“This is the equivalent to modern-day slavery,” she said yesterday. “I think this has to be a crime against humanity.”
She said the women, who are vulnerable in the first place, are forcibly taken from their homelands, issued phony travel documents and spirited to safe houses in Europe, the U.S. or Canada, where they are forced into sex or servitude.
Sherazee said her clients did not want to reveal their identities out of concern for their safety and that of their families at home.
‘HUGE STIGMA’
She said one abducted woman is a university graduate. “Some of these women are intelligent and well-educated,” she said. “There is a huge stigma attached to these women.”
Sherazee said one woman was taken to a European country and forced to work as a prostitute before managing to flee. She said some end up contracting AIDS working as hookers.
Loly Rico of Toronto’s FCJ Refugee Centre said African women are among others from the Caribbean and Latin America being helped by her group.
“We have a number of African women who are refugees,” Rico said yesterday. “We have cases where the women were trafficked in their country.”
Her group works to help victimized women resettle in Canada.
Federal immigration spokesmman Karen Shadd-Evelyn said victims are not required to testify against their traffickers to obtain status in Canada.
“Trafficking victims are eligible to receive a temporary resident permit that allows them to stay in Canada for up to 180 days,” she said yesterday, adding they can also apply for a work permit and get health-care benefits.
“These measures are designed to help victims of trafficking escape the influence of their traffickers and begin to recover from their ordeal.”
Peel Regional Police morality officers said yesterday they hadn’t come across any sex-trade workers from Africa in their investigations.
Andrea Bertone, director of HumanTrafficking.org in Washington, said he wasn’t surprised by the smuggling of women from Africa.
COUNTRY OF DESTINATION
“This kind of case is common for people coming from developing countries to developed countries—Canada, the United States and other countries in western Europe,” Bertone said yesterday. “(Victims often) come to the country of destination and the situation is completely different from what they were told they were going to be doing.”
In 2004, the RCMP estimated 600 to 800 people are trafficked into Canada annually. But most experts agree no one knows for sure how big the problem is.
(Posted on March 7, 2008)
Comments
Because Russian and Ukrainian women are becoming rarer and more well-off, and as Southeast Asia’s economies improve, it looks like the flesh trade is shifting to the cheapest source: Sub-Saharan Africa.
Posted by Brendan at 7:30 PM on March 7
The sad fact is that many White men will pay for sex with these women as well.
Posted by Theodore at 3:07 AM on March 8
“… it looks like the flesh trade is shifting to the cheapest source: Sub-Saharan Africa.”
Posted by Brendan
— — — — — —
Assuming this story to be true, I would have to wonder what sort of customer pool they are serving. Might it be men from those very same countries? I hardly imagine white Canadian men letching for African prostitutes; and if they did have such a craving,there would have been a trade in this long before now.
Posted by browser at 4:34 AM on March 8
Here’s a partial copy of my letter sent to the reporter of this article. I’ve not received a response.
“Your story relating to Toronto’s sex “slave” women originating from Africa should be taken with a grain of salt.
I’m writing to you directly instead of a “letter to the editor” because my words wouldn’t be accepted for publication….too politically incorrect.
Black women prostitutes are not considered a desirable “commodity”, simply because most white men favour white women prostitutes and they won’t pay anything near premium prices for a black woman unless she was of actress Halle Berry caliber. Unless deluded or simply stupid, the smugglers are not going to risk thousands of dollars on a sex “product” that doesn’t sell well to the majority of customers.
Black johns also prefer white women by a wide margin, because, in their way of thinking, why purchase a “Lada” when “Buicks” are so much in abundance. Who does one see hanging onto the arms of black sports stars, black movie stars, or prominent black people of any stripe? A white trophy woman!
The domestic servitude portion of the story is the most likely scenario, but the sex slave angle is hardly plausible in the greater degree, unless domestics are sexually abused by their employers . I believe it was added to gain sympathy for these women who should be rightfully deported to their home countries, similar to many Ukranian women prostitutes in recent times.
Posted by at 11:47 AM on March 8
Browser:
As someone who has visited Canada recently, you are mistaken. Yes, there are White canadaina (and in some cases American) men who will actively seek out African prostitutes for sex.
Posted by Thomas at 3:40 PM on March 8
“Assuming this story to be true, I would have to wonder what sort of customer pool they are serving. Might it be men from those very same countries? I hardly imagine white Canadian men letching for African prostitutes; and if they did have such a craving,there would have been a trade in this long before now.”
He’s hit on the answer right there. The prostitution trade and smuggling is the follow on of the unchecked immigration legal and illegal from third world countries. First the men come “looking for work” and when enough of them are here, they bring in their third world customs and infrastructure - gangs, crime, drugs, prostitutes and violence.
Posted by at 4:34 PM on March 8
?”The sad fact is that many White men will pay for sex with these women as well.”
Posted by Theodore
……………………
No, I doubt it.
Make that “just a few” instead of “many” and then you might be closer to right.
Posted by ghw at 4:41 PM on March 8
Thomas is correct. As a canadian native (Ontario), more than a few White men solicit Black prostitutes.
Posted by Vance at 5:46 PM on March 8
Not everybody is as disgusted with race mixing as us. Men who go to prostitutes or stip clubs (from what I’ve been told) tend not to be the most picky. Of course they’ll take a white woman or even a Latina for the same price, but its absurd to think that white men won’t pay to have sex with black women.
Posted by Samuel at 6:44 PM on March 8
Canadian Immigrations idiotic decisions to allow everything black and brown into the country ,regardless of any needed skills or qualities , is responsible for this. Every legit white tourist is harrassed by these goons when arriving at a canadian airports including returning canadian residents.
Posted by A.Wallacher at 7:12 PM on March 8
When I lived in Holland for eigfht months in 1999, there were a number of African prostitutes who serviced european and American men. The overwhelming majority of these men were White.
So yes, Samuel is correct, there are White men who will pay for sex with non-White women. Not that I think that any of you would assume otherwise.
Posted by Mark at 3:57 AM on March 9
When I lived in Holland …..The overwhelming majority of these men were White.
Was the predominant population there also white? Well, then! It’s just a matter of arithmetic.
(And how could you know what clients they had among their own people?)
Samuel is correct, there are White men who will pay for sex with non-White women.
Posted by Mark
No doubt there are SOME, and there always will be. But given a choice, MOST white men will not be interested. (Also, there is another factor involved in Europe — and Canada. They have less experience with blacks, but they have heard rumors about “wild African sex” and would tend to be curious.)
Look at the recent Duke case for a good example. The young men had specifically ordered white dancers. Despite that, black ones showed up instead. The young men were very disappointed and didn’t want them, but then accepted the blacks RELUCTANTLY as better than nothing.
(Of course, as they now have painfully learned, they would have been wiser to slam the door. Mingling with blacks brought them nothing but trouble.)
Posted by ghw at 4:22 PM on March 9
GHW:
No they did not!
That’s the falsehood of what you and some posters on this board keep repeating! This is not true! They said they wanted two dancers period! They requested that one be Latino. They did not care what race the other dancer was! In fact, Reade Seligman and a number of Duke Lacrosse players were known to associate with and date Black and other non-White women. Men like this would have no problem requesting and dancing with Black strippers!
In fact, like Charles Tiffany and a few other posters said, they were bitten by the Blac cobras. They asked for it.
Posted by Paul at 7:33 PM on March 9
Ghw:
I am not so sure. Maybe older White males 45 and older. However, I would argue that a growing number of young White men have very little racial consciousness.
Look at the growning number of interracial liasions taking place in our society. It may not be exploding, but it is continuing to grow. Where I live I see an increasing number of White men with Black and other non-White women.
It is clear that these men are not lower income, slouchy looking men either. A number of them are upscale, well educated, good looking men. Thus, this story does not surprise me.
Posted by Daryl at 7:38 PM on March 9
Ghw: I am not so sure. Maybe older White males 45 and older. However, I would argue that a growing number of young White men have very little racial consciousness.
…………………………..
I seem to be outnumbered here! Well, I’ll concede that being myself a male over 45, those are the ones whose views I am familiar with. So maybe.
As for the others, I hope you’re wrong, but perhaps you’re not. If that’s so, it’s the end result of all those years of incessant indoctination from the schools and the media which have made their mark. But I still don’t see blatant examples of this in the USA to the degree that I do abroad.
Posted by ghw at 10:00 PM on March 9
While some whites may be involved in this, I doubt it is very many. How many white Canadians actually have the connections in Africa that would be needed in order to smuggle women from there?
I will bet anything you like that this was much rarer before Canada loosened its immigration laws and allowed in the resulting tsunami of Third-Worlders.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 2:41 PM on March 10
It is, in my humble opinion, becoming more common to see White men with asian, black and latina women. Not all of them are from low economic backgrounds either.
Posted by Louis from Montreal at 11:57 AM on March 16