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DECEMBER 5, 2000

On Monday, the Canadian government and a child-rights organization released a report citing the disproportionate number of Native youth involved in the sex trade.

"The results of this study are alarming," said Adrienne Clements, executive director of Save the Children Canada. "We have a serious problem on our hands when so many Aboriginal youth end up sexually exploited."

The authors of the report, Cherry Kingsley and Melanie Mark, both Native, spent five months traveling across Canada to study the exploitation of First Nations youth. They interviewed 150 Aboriginal youth in 22 communities and discovered some shocking statistics.

In some communities, they report, up to 90 percent of the youth in the sex trade are Native. In Canada, Aboriginals make up about 2 percent of the population.

The report cities several factors for the large number of Native youth being exploited. Racism, disconnection from their culture and family life, limited access to education, and poverty all contribute to the problem and for author Kingsley, knowledge of exploitation comes first hand.

"The inspiration for this project is because of my own experiences in the sex trade and as an Aboriginal person. Not being able to access culture growing up and growing up in state care and growing up disconnected from community, culture, and family," said Kingsley.

"I'm really proud that all of the Aboriginal groups today have come together today to make a statement to Canada that our children are not for sale and they should not have to barter for their basic survival," she added.

Native organizations included the Assembly of First Nations, the Métis National Council, and the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples have joined with the National Association of Friendship Centres and the Aboriginal Healing Foundation in order to discuss how to prevent more of their youth from engaging in the sex trade. Making existing services more available to youth and helping Aboriginal youth re-establish their cultural connections are considered key steps in fighting the problem.

Relevant Links:
Save the Children Canada - www.savethechildren.ca
Aboriginal Healing Foundation - www.ahf.ca
National Association of Friendship Centres - www.nafc-aboriginal.com