PRESS RELEASE

The Burnaby Teachers’ Association is taking on a very sensitive issue just as the skiers, skaters and sliders suit up for the Winter Olympics – human trafficking and the sex trade during the upcoming 2010 Olympic Games.

Marianne Neill, President of the BTA, is concerned about the darker side of the Games and what it means to our communities:

“Every society is on a continuum of sexualized violence and violent sexuality. The escalation of trafficking and the sex trade during the Olympics exposes a darker side of what is celebrated as a gathering of the ‘best in the world’.  Our panel will give the community a chance to reflect on this serious problem instead of sweeping it under the curling rink.”

The Social Justice Committee of the BTA is holding a public panel discussion on this timely topic, as the group is perplexed at the lack of media attention on human trafficking and major sporting events. As examples, the group points to the statistics of the World Cup in Germany in 2006, where experts had estimated that some 40,000 women and girls would be trafficked into Germany. It was only through much government and police surveillance and regulated and legalized prostitution that such results did not appear. The Olympic Games are not immune to such illegal activity – at the Summer Games in Greece in 2004, the country measured a 95% increase in human trafficking cases. Estimates for the World Cup of Soccer in South Africa are projected to reach the 2006 German numbers or even go higher.

Tina Anderson, Chairperson of the Social Justice Committee explains why teachers are involving themselves in such a controversial debate:

“Poverty and human trafficking go hand in hand, as human trafficking is a symptom of poverty. As BC has the highest rate of child poverty in Canada 6 years running, our children are becoming extremely vulnerable to human traffickers and those who would exploit young women in the sex trade.”

The panel will take place at Moscrop Secondary School Library on Tuesday, January 26^th, 2010 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.. The general public is invited to attend and refreshments will be served, with no admission charge. Panelists will include Robin Pike, the Executive Director of the Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons; Janneke Lewis, Lawyer and Activist; Winn Blackman of the Salvation Army; representatives from Vancouver Rape Relief; and West Coast LEAF – Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund.

For more information, contact BTA President, Marianne Neill at www.bctf.ca/local41  or email bta@bctf.ca