Back From Canada, Again

I was there on Saturday and fully enjoyed myself.
I didn't do any of the twirly swirly though as I found it warm. :)

[If you saw the hula-hoopers up on the knoll in front of the main stage I was the dad-looking one doing clown stunts. It was a lovely day though. Sorry I missed you, J. --fl]

With enough clear downsides (homelessness, a currently hot Mob war, Mob interference with sex work that includes trafficking and coerced workers) that you don't mistake what's good about the place for magic.

I had not heard of the organized crime interference with sex work (such as the trafficking and coercion) taking place in British Columbia. So if you have more info on this, I'd be interested in reading about this connection. Thanks, fl.

[I *really* could have been more clear couldn't I? By "interference" I meant that they're *forcing* people into sex work who might otherwise don't want to or at least don't want to under the conditions imposed on them. That's a problem. Sorry about the confusion, Kochanie. --fl]

I did see hula-hoopers on the knoll but didn't particularly notice the clowning...I was too fascinated with the hooping; I've lost the skill with age.

[Well *I* for one managed to actually hula-hoop around my waist for the first time on July 4th weekend (at a street fair in the Kootnays BTW.) Which explains why I'm better at clown hooping than real. Still sorry I missed you. Maybe next year (we're already talking about making reservations.) Thanks, J. --fl]

I understood what you meant, fl, so the lack of clarity is mine. So let me try again.

I was aware that Washington State, due to its geographic location, was an ideal site for bringing trafficked sex workers into the U.S. The fact that the Mob is involved does not surprise me, and by Mob I assume you are referring to the crime families who dominated narcotics, gambling and prostitution for most of the twentieth century. But I was not aware that organized crime had extended its operations into British Columbia, or that sex trafficking had proven to be so lucrative. And it would have to be lucrative in order for the organized crime to be involved.

So if you do have more information about this, I am very interested in learning more. Why? It will shed some light on whether the statistics quoted regarding trafficking of sex workers are reliable or inflated, as some critics have claimed.

[The US/Canadian border here, which is often pretty darn busy, evidently is a good place to slip through, and it's likely that some of the people who come in are trafficked in and not just smuggled. (Many, many others just come over, or at least try to, unassisted.) I get the impression a lot of others make it in in shipping containers, given that quite a few are caught coming in that way. Others make their way up from California. Finally, most migrants, and therefore presumably a lot of trafficked people (including specifically those trafficked as sex slaves rather than agricultural or industrials) arrive from Mexico. As for the mobs, rather than the old gangster-movie types, news reports both here and in Canada suggest they're made up of recent immigrants from Eastern Europe, Asia, and Central America. I don't know enough about the economics (yet) to say how the finances work out. Thanks, Kochanie. --fl]