Duncan church hosting speaker on child sex trafficking in B.C.
On Wednesday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. New Life Church in Duncan will be hosting guest speaker Cathy Peters on “The New Pandemic: Child Sex Trafficking in B.C. and How to Stop it.
Peters has been raising awareness about the problem of child sex trafficking in B.C. for the last five years; at the federal level and now at the municipal and provincial levels of government. Peters is a former inner city high school teacher from the Southern Okanagan and Delta School districts. She has done 170 presentation on this specific issue in B.C. over the last three years since the Protection of Communities and Exploited Person Act became federal law.
She will give a presentation first at New Life Church, then to the local RCMP and last to Quamichan School students. Her presentations include a lot of research materials and Q & A time. The evening at New Life is open to the public, though it is recommended people do not bring children younger than Grade 10. Traffickers are targeting children as young as nine years of age.
Peters has been awarded five RCMP Challenge Coins for her work/advocacy from Coquitlam, Richmond, Surrey, RCMP Headquarters Child Exploitation Unit and the Chilliwack RCMP detachments.
Some facts: child sex trafficking is the fastest growing crime in Canada and the world and is a form of modern day slavery. A trafficker can make $280,000 per victim, per year, and the average age of entry into prostitution is 12 to 14 years old in Canada, though children as young as nine are being targeted.
There is a dramatic increase in child exploitation and child pornography in both production and consumption. Unchecked pornography on the internet fuels the sex trade, creating and increasing demand for paid sex.
Series of rapid-fire talks makes up Voices of Our Watersheds Thursday
Cowichan Watershed Board’s monthly speaker series at VIU Cowichan Campus in Duncan continues Thursday, Nov. 22, with Voices of Our Watersheds.
This free public event will feature a series of rapid-fire talks by regional watershed stewards sharing nuggets of knowledge about the places they know and love. Guests include Haley Guest of the Cowichan Estuary Nature Centre, Guy Dauncey of Yellow Point Ecological Society, Rick Bryan of the Recreational Canoeing Association of B.C., Dave Preikshot of the Somenos Marsh Wildlife Society and Erik Piikila of GreenBlue.
Presenters are each tasked with teaching us about something they know well using just 18 slides that appear for 18 seconds each, or about 5.5 minutes.
“It’s speed dating with our watersheds. Prepare to listen, learn, and laugh,” say organizers.
This event celebrates the final Cowichan Watershed Board-VIU Speakers Night of 2018, and the new regional watershed services bylaw which was just created to provide better planning and protection for the future of all watersheds.
The event runs from 7-8:30 p.m. in room 140.