Free Invisible Chains by Benjamin Perrin Page B

demands of the traffickers without recourse or opportunity for help.
    A law enforcement officer in Peel Region, a suburb of Metropolitan Toronto, has participated in several raids on micro-brothels in his jurisdiction and constantly is appalled at what he discovers. “When you look around,” he explains, “what do they have in there? A little bit of food. There are no pictures of their family. The first thing you notice is this does not look lived in. You might see a little suitcase in the closet, with just some clothing. No personal effects at all. They don’t live there. They are taken somewhere every night.”
    The benefits of micro-brothels to human traffickers are significant. Massage parlours, as noted earlier, practically identify the true nature of their business and attract attention from law enforcement and citizens’ groups. Escort services may provide the women with a measure of temporary freedom, increasing the risk that they mayflee and turn against their captors. Micro-brothels involve neither disadvantage. If, as anticipated, law enforcement officers more actively investigate and prosecute human traffickers in Canada, these secretive outlets for exploitation are expected to multiply rapidly as traffickers take their victims even further underground.

4
    ACROSS THE UNDEFENDED BORDER
    O soyoos is a dry, dusty town of about five thousand people in the British Columbia interior, roughly four hundred kilometres east of Vancouver. The community lies close to Washington State, a crossing point along the almost nine-thousand-kilometre Canada–U.S. border. Historically, Osoyoos first served as a north–south trading route for fur and cattle and more recently as a cross-border transfer point for agricultural products. At least once in recent times, it became an entry point for the attempted trade in people.
    In June 2006, local citizens in Osoyoos grew suspicious when a man in a large rental van accompanied by a group of Asian women began asking about nearby remote routes for entering the United States. In a small town, word travels fast. When local police learned of the traveller, his cadre of women, and his interest in a clandestine point of entry to the United States, they began keeping an eye on him and contacted the RCMP.
    The police eventually arrested the man and the women. All of the women were South Korean and none spoke English, but the signs of intent to cross the border were clear. The women were terrified at having been apprehended, and following a series of interviews, it became apparent that they’d been duped into coming to the United States through Canada, their destiny to be sold for sex.
    This revelation shocked the six women who ranged in age from twenty-two to twenty-eight, all of whom expected to be employedin restaurants. Lou Berube, the RCMP’s human trafficking awareness coordinator for British Columbia and the Yukon, believed them. “I’m absolutely convinced at this point that we have human trafficking victims here,” he says, suggesting the women had been recruited and transported for sexual exploitation. Although the women could have applied for temporary immigrant status to ensure they would not be mistreated or victimized if they returned home, all six chose to leave Canada.
    We Canadians may be proud of many aspects of life in our country, but for the majority of people worldwide, the United States of America remains the magnet for prosperity. For some criminals, this prosperity is built upon the backs of slave labour—and for those who plan to achieve their wealth in this manner, Canada is a stepping stone to the United States, even with the heightened border restrictions since 9/11.
    An attractive transit hub
    For almost a decade, the U.S. State Department has identified Canada in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report as a transit point for human trafficking into the United States. While not required for human trafficking, the