Staff members are being instructed on how to spot and deal with incidents of sexual exploitation by guests
Gerry Bellett
Sun
Diane Sowden says training sessions have already been held. Bill Keay, Vancouver Sun files
VANCOUVER – Vancouver’s hotel industry is supporting a program to prevent the sexual exploitation of children and youth by guests seeking to hire prostitutes.
Delta Vancouver Suites Hotel general manager Murray Kelsey said Friday his hotel and others in downtown Vancouver are backing a training program for staff designed by the Vancouver police and the Coquitlam-based Children of the Street Society.
The program is being pushed in the buildup to the 2010 Olympics, which Vancouver police have warned will likely result in a large increase in the numbers of prostitutes working downtown.
A training video has been produced by the police and the society that informs hotel staff how to spot possible incidents of sexual exploitation and how they should deal with guests who might want to take prostitutes to their rooms, or seek information on where to find them.
“We’re proud to be affiliated with this video,” said Kelsey whose hotel at 550 West Hastings was used to shoot it.
“We want to make sure hospitality employees are aware of sexual exploitation issues,” he said.
Kelsey said having guests using hotel rooms for prostitution purposes is “bad for business.”
“In terms of economics it’s bad. Most of our guests are from group tours, business travellers, family travellers and they don’t want to be around sexual exploitation and don’t want to be exposed to it,” said Kelsey.
The video will be used as a training tool for all downtown hotels, he said. Doormen and other staff will be told not to offer information to guests seeking prostitutes and how to act when they find someone in the hotel who might have been assaulted or in need of help.
Children of the Street Society executive director Diane Sowden said training sessions have already been held in a number of downtown hotels and more are planned.
“We’ve been working hard for the past two years to increase awareness within the hospitality industry about what sexual exploitation means to children and families. We know that when you get a hallmark event like the 2010 Olympics there’s an increased demand for sex trade workers,” said Sowden.
She said the average age of a child recruited into the sex trade is 14 years.
“What we are trying to do is prevent children being sexually exploited,” she said.
The Children of the Street Society is the leading non-profit agency in B.C. battling the exploitation of children by the sex trade industry. The society uses public education and various school-based programs to cast a light on how the industry operates. Sowden is an internationally recognized expert.
Next on the list for attention are the taxi and airline industries, she said.
“We’d like to work with taxi companies and airlines to alert them to the issue. The more people who are aware of the problem the more we can keep kids safe,” she said.
Vancouver vice squad detectives Oscar Ramos and Raymond Payette were instrumental in forming the partnership with Children of the Street and the hotel industry, said Sowden.
Ramos said some hotel employees would give information to guests on where to find prostitutes because they were afraid they’d be fired if a guest complained about them.
“If you’ve got some big spender or regular guest in the hotel and he wants that information, the doorman would have to think twice because he could lose his job if he refuses and someone complains. Now that management is supporting this they won’t have to worry,” said Ramos.
Sowden said she wasn’t sure if there was any similar program in North America but she has been asked for information from a child protection agency in Alberta.
“It could be used across the country because the problem is everywhere,” she said.
Payette said the police are reluctant to say how many children they believe are involved in the Vancouver sex trade.
“If we overestimate it causes panic, if we underestimate it does a disservice to the people who are actually there,” he said.
Insp. Scott Thompson, who is in charge of the police’s youth services section, said anyone who drives around the city can see numbers of young people involved in the sex trade.
“But this program is for hotels which are potential locations for this to happen. If hotels don’t provide a vehicle for it to take place then it will definitely have an impact on their industry,” Thompson said.