Calgary, 2003:
www.rootsweb.com
Back in 2003 the Calgary Police arrested 16 people on suspicion of human trafficking related to prostitution. THe police say as many as 80 women entered the country from Thailand and neighboring South East Asian countries and were forced to work in massage parlours. They were then told they had to work off the debts, some as high as 40,000 dollars, after they were charged a series of fees for their transportation to Canada.
Edmonton, 2006
www.jessiefoster.ca
In 2006 Jessie Foster had met a man online through Facebook and ended up going to Las Vegas to meet him. Since her departure she has not been heard from since. Edmonton police said they investigated two suspected trafficking rings believed to be involved with the abduction of Jessie Foster. These rings are believed to be part of an international network which enslaves hundreds of Canadians a year. Many of those who are enslaved end up in Nevada. Jessie still has not been heard from since and is believed to be lost somewhere in the global trafficking trade.
Edmonton/Toronto, 2008
www.torontopolice.ca
Taken from a case out of the Sex Crimes Unit, a 19 year old was lured from Edmonton to Toronto under false pretences. She was instead tricked and forced to work in the sex trade in Toronto. The charges that were laid on the three suspects involved with the luring were dropped as part of a plea bargain .
Calgary, 2009
www.cbc.ca
Linh Quy was charged with unlawfully keeping a common bawdy house, trafficking in persons, material benefit from trafficking in persons, conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, possession of property obtained by crime and living of avails of prostitution. The case was initiated after suspected advertising of sexual services online from young Asian women at a hair solon in NE Calgary. Undercover officers were sent to investigate and they were offered services as well as the opportunity to purchase two Asian women for $4000 each.
Edmonton, 2009
Two people were charged with human trafficking after a massage parlour was raided in Edmonton's west end. The women who were being exploited at the parlour came to work in Canada after they answered adds in foreign countries promising money to work in the massage industry. At the parlour they were expected to perform sexual acts 24 hours of the day, seven days a week. The women were forced to eat, drink and sleep in the same room they worked in. The charges laid on the traffickers were dropped after the victims refused to testify.
Calgary, 2009
Codie Toby Cardinal (aka Brooklyn Cardinal, 38) was charged with numourous counts of trafficking in 2009. She allegedly recruited girls and young women from Alberta and Saskatchewant to come to Calgary with offers of modelling contracts but instead they were tricked into prostitution. These young girls and women were advertised online and consequently exploited out of a Calgary hotel.
All cases were taken from the Act Alberta (2012) website