Craigslist, cops fight web trade in child sex

THE Winnipeg Police Service has agreed to work with an online classified advertising service to try and stop the sale of children for sex.

The police and Craigslist are teaming up thanks to a forum on the sexual exploitation of aboriginal women and children hosted by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

"Craigslist is the new kiddie-stroll for men who are seeking to pay for sex with children," said Prof. Benjamin Perrin from the University of British Columbia, a keynote speaker at the forum. "It's free and anonymous and well-known."

"In Winnipeg, there were more than 300 ads (for children and women) in the last week alone," he said at the forum that ended Thursday in Winnipeg.

"I invited the Winnipeg police vice (unit) to join in the Craigslist consultation," Perrin said. "Their input would be appreciated."

On Thursday, Winnipeg police Patrol Sgt. Gene Bowers said the police are aware of the problem and willing to work with Perrin and Craigslist. But the classified service isn't the only problem.

"There's more than Craigslist that have these ads," Bowers said. "But it is one of the most used." Social-networking sites and other online and phone services are also being used to exploit kids, and police are investigating them, he said.

Perrin, a law professor, has studied the problem across Canada and the U.S.

In the U.S., Craigslist brought in preventive measures to identify missing children and stricter filters to verify users' identification.

"They brought the measure in the U.S., but not Canada because there was no interest in working with Craigslist. The attorney general of each (U.S.) state signed on," said Perrin, who was involved in the process.

"Now what we see in Canada is a growing number on Craigslist using it to advertise minors and... what we're told is the numbers in most Canadian cities are spiking."

Police, meanwhile, still have to deal with kids being sold for sex on the street. "It's all a priority," said Bowers outside the AMC forum. "You don't give up."

Manitoba has 75 missing or murdered aboriginal women and children, according to the Native Women's Association of Canada. Some have been sexually exploited and linked to the sex trade.

After the death of Cherisse Houle, 17, whose body was found last week outside Winnipeg, Manitoba shouldn't need another wake-up call, Perrin said.

"The buck needs to stop at the premier's office. It needs to launch a task force on the missing and murdered aboriginal girls and women in this province who are disproportionately targeted."

Perrin said lack of shelter for aboriginal girls is one of the problems.

One Winnipeg agency has six beds and has turned away more than 100 girls since it opened. For a province that has a strategy to deal with the sexual exploitation of youth, there are some gaping holes in the system, Perrin said.

"A few people are responsible -- first of all the men who are paying for this."

Bowers said John School -- for those arrested for solicitation -- can make a difference. The victims of exploitation are usually kids with a lot of problems, including addictions and poverty. The johns exploiting them sometimes don't understand that they are the problem.

"They think they are helping them," Bowers said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 10, 2009 B2