Offensive to counter prostitution at the Canadian Grand Prix

In an unprecedented advertising campaign, Quebec will for the first time target clients of prostitution, to remind them that they are defying the law by paying for sex.

“If there was no demand, there would be no pimps, no victims. Clients must understand that they are the cause of the problem, that there are people who are being exploited because of them,” insisted Jennie-Laure Sully, community organizer at the Concertation des Luttes contre l’Exploitation Sexual ( KEYS).

The organization overseeing this first advertising campaign aimed at customers is financed by the Secrétariat à la condition féminine.

The objective is of course to address clients of prostitution, but also sex tourists, who see the Grand Prix du Canada as an opportunity to offer themselves sexual services.

An unknown law

“Paying for sex is illegal in Canada”. From next week, we will be able to read this slogan on various posters posted on the edges of the streets, in bus shelters as well as on social networks.

On one of the posters, we see a man pulling banknotes from the fly of his pants.

In its report following the Special Commission on the Sexual Exploitation of Minors, the Government of Quebec had also undertaken to recall the criminal nature of the purchase of sexual services.

“The law dates from 2014 and it is still unknown to people. Women come to see us, and they are surprised when we tell them that they are considered victims,” said Ms.^me Sully.

“Those who buy sexual services, they do so with impunity because they don’t know it’s criminal, or because there are few customer operations. Montreal is stuck with this reputation of being a paradise for buying sex,” lamented Martine B. Côté, who has worked with victims of sexual exploitation.

“Pimps know there’s money to be made with demand that’s going to explode, they’re going to want to find girls. All of this starts from the demand of men, ”she added.

The awareness campaign is organized in collaboration with the Un trop grand prix committee, made up of the Y des femmes, Prévention jeunesse Longueuil and Laval.

Recruitment intensifies

Pimps are also in full recruitment at the approach of the Grand Prix (see text below).

Tricia Murray, who quit the sex industry more than two years ago, is concerned about seeing various “subtle recruiting” techniques on social media.

The pimps let the dream sparkle there, offer quick money.

“We promise glamour, […] but most end up in a prostitution ring,” noted France Clément, from the Center for Aid and the Fight against Sexual Assault (CALACS) La Chrysalide.

Events popular with pimps

After two years of forced break, experts fear that the return of the Montreal Grand Prix and festivals this summer will attract more young women into the world of prostitution.

“It is known, the pimps, they are currently recruiting the girls, preparing them, training them well”, launched the criminologist and columnist at the Log Maria Mourani.

For the past two years, the health crisis has got the better of the Canadian Grand Prix. But starting next week, F1 racing cars will turn around the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit in Montreal. This is one of the first major events to be held in the city since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We expect slippages, because there have been each time the sanitary measures have been lifted,” said Rose Sullivan, of the Collective to help sexually exploited women.

“Young” prostitution

According to her, the pandemic has made more vulnerable young people who have been isolated, have turned to the internet, and further trivialize sexuality and prostitution. She sees it as a “perfect recipe for it to be more catastrophic than ever” for some.

“I really hope I am wrong, but I think there is going to be more supply from pimps, and even from those who offer themselves,” added M.^me Sullivan.

The organization of the Grand Prix has tried for years to dissociate itself from what happens outside the circuit, especially in parties, despite everything, prostitution remains an “image stuck to the skin” of F1, believes M^me Mourani.

“With F1, prostitution is part of the package, unlike other festivals, she added. There is a specific F1 clientele, which comes for the party and the prostitution, which seeks sport and sex. “And this prostitution, it is “young”, she believes.

“Never have I been asked so much if I was underage as during the Grand Prix in Montreal, or if I knew any,” said Tricia Murray, a 29-year-old woman who left the sex more than two years ago.