[SWAF-Potluck] Montreal gearing up to snuff out erotic massage parlours

[Andy Sorfleet]

http://www.torontosun.com/
TORONTO SUN
Saturday, November 30, 2013

Giuseppe Valiante, QMI Agency




Montreal gearing up to snuff out erotic massage parlours

[image: Inline image 1]

[photo caption]
(ALEX UROSEVIC/QMI Agency file photo)

MONTREAL -- It was only last spring that north Montreal borough mayor Anie
Samson said she clued in to how serious the prevalence of brothel-style
massage parlours in Montreal had become.

Samson told QMI Agency that her borough, last spring, began receiving
between 10 and 15 applications a month from people who wanted to open
massage parlours.

Samson, mayor of Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension, suspected that those
filing applications weren't looking to relieve aches and pains in the
traditional manner.

Denis Coderre, Montreal's new mayor, promised to try and rid the city of
its so-called erotic massage parlours, which are little more than fronts
for sex dens, whose owners have been suspected of employing underage and
trafficked women.

The RCMP arrested three alleged erotic massage operators on Thursday and
charged them with running a prostitution ring with ties to Marius Trifu
Miclescu, 39.

Miclescu was arrested in October and charged with trafficking young women
from Romania whom the RCMP said were "coerced and threatened to keep them
under control of his network."

Samson, vice-president of the mayor's executive team, said she is heading a
recently created committee that will begin sitting next week, and which is
tasked with figuring out how to eliminate brothel-style parlours.

Erotic massage parlours are an open secret in the city; a simple Internet
search will offer several forums where men rate and share their Montreal
massage-brothel experiences.

Samson said the number of parlours started to climb rapidly two years ago
when there was a push by the city to remove street sex workers from
Montreal's notorious red-light district in the east end.

Samson, who is responsible for public security, told QMI Agency that
prostitutes, pimps and other organized criminals moved indoors.

"They realized that if they can't do it in the street, they'll do it
inside, where there is more (money) and plenty of repeat customers," she
said.

Eliane Legault-Roy, spokeswoman for CLES, a group that advocates against
the sexual exploitation of women, said her organization counted 348
businesses on the island of Montreal area that offer sexual services, up
from 339 two years ago. She said there are 420 such locations in the
Greater Montreal Area.

Legault-Roy said she welcomed the mayor's plan to tackle massage parlours,
but suggested that the city also provide resources for sex workers.

"There is a real desire at city hall (to eliminate massage brothels)," she
said. "But that doesn't solve the problem of women in poverty. They'll just
go elsewhere."
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