From July 8-10, 2011, thousands of people descended on the Comox Valley Exhibition grounds, many of them youth, for three days of good music, good food and great community. While festivals are a fun part of summer, the nature of the event can make it a space where youth and young adults can be at risk. People who attend festivals join a small group who are thrown together for a few days in a miniature version of community. Depending on who attends, what their motives are, and what the overall feel of the festival is, the predominant culture can be either positive or negative.
Music Fest has done an excellent job of ensuring that the festival has a caring, safe, and fun culture. The broader festival has used the motto ‘RUOK?’ (Are you okay?) to create a temporary culture where festival goers look out for one another. The festival asks that participants do no harm to self, no harm to others, and no harm to festival. CASEY members Kristine Klupsas, Isabel McKinnon, and Miranda Blomquist assisted a team of six local youth workers in ensuring that youth were safe during the festival. While operating on the harm reduction model, the Youth Outreach Team checked in on youth and offered local resources, safety information, and condoms.
“Our main message was one of safety. We constantly pressed home the point about making good choices and thinking about the effects of their behaviour,” said Miranda Blomquist. The team was utilized by both security and first aid as a first point of contact with youth before more extreme measures needed to take place. The team also built relationships with the youth so that if a crisis did arise they would be more likely to reach out.
“We’ve only been in operation for two years,” said Kristine Klupsas, Youth Outreach Team Co-coordinator, “but already we’ve had youth who remembered us from the previous year. It can only get better in the years to come as youth continue to build relationships with us and feel comfortable to come to us with any issues that may arise at the festival.”
The Youth Outreach Team took the opportunity to brand themselves by wearing pink tiaras, offering candy as incentives, and keeping the conversations focused on making sure youth were having a safe, enjoyable time. Isabel McKinnon, a first time Music Fest Outreach member, was very surprised at how well the youth received the team. “Whether it was the tiaras, the candy, or our names that they recognized, the youth were happy to see us and were open to engaging with us.”
The team was well received by all the youth, who were open to the information that the Youth Outreach Workers had to share. Look for the Youth Outreach Team and CASEY members at Vancouver Island Music Fest next year.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Friday, January 8, 2010
Youth Workers See Rise in Sex Trade Recruitment
NEWS RELEASE – JANUARY 8th, 2010
Youth workers in the Comox Valley have noticed an increase in activities associated with sexual exploitation of youth. “We have been expecting this as the Olympics get closer,” said Community Against Sexual Exploitation of Youth (CASEY) member, Alison Fox. “Any time there is an event that draws tourists, there are people working to supply some of those tourists with sex. This doesn’t just happen in the big cities. Even in remote communities, young people are targets for sexual exploitation. And it doesn’t just happen to girls. Young people of any gender can be victims of sexual exploitation.
“If you are under 18 and trading any sexual service for food, a place to stay, money, cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, clothes or rides, you are being exploited. This is child abuse and the person giving you stuff can be charged. Stuff for sex is not a fair trade, and it’s not love. Caring adults do not look for sex from teens.”
Warning signs that a person may be recruiting youth to be sexually exploited are: age difference between the youth and the recruiter, isolating a youth physically or emotionally, gifts which will later have to be paid back, gut feeling or bad vibe about a person, and the person having a reputation for being involved with crime or using or selling drugs, according to Childrenofthestreetsociety.com. Recruiters also send other teens into schools to connect with youth, invite them to parties and introduce them to pimps.
Comox Valley’s CASEY formed about three years ago, after a presentation by Diane Sowden of Coquitlam’s Children of the Street Society. Sowden, an advocate for sexually exploited youth since her own daughter was recruited into the sex trade at age 13, says that sexual exploitation can happen to anyone. “Young people who do not have strong support networks, GLBTQ (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, queer or questioning) youth, youth who have previously been abused, youth who use drugs, and youth who have low self-esteem or feel alone are among those especially vulnerable to sexual exploitation,” adds Fox.
“CASEY wants the whole community to be aware that sex trade recruitment happens here, and to watch out for each other. Youth heading for sexual exploitation may think that they will have control over their lives, and they can leave when they want to, but that’s not how it really is.”
For more information on sexual exploitation and on safe and healthy relationships, visit Children of the Street, The Safe OnLine Outreach Society, Project Respect, or try the Sex for Stuff Jeopardy. To talk to someone local, call the Child and Youth Sexuality Clinic at the Sexual Abuse Intervention Program (SAIP) at 338-7575 (extension 222 or 223), Community-Based Victim Services at 338-7575 (extension 224), or the John Howard youth outreach worker at 218-0483.
Youth workers in the Comox Valley have noticed an increase in activities associated with sexual exploitation of youth. “We have been expecting this as the Olympics get closer,” said Community Against Sexual Exploitation of Youth (CASEY) member, Alison Fox. “Any time there is an event that draws tourists, there are people working to supply some of those tourists with sex. This doesn’t just happen in the big cities. Even in remote communities, young people are targets for sexual exploitation. And it doesn’t just happen to girls. Young people of any gender can be victims of sexual exploitation.
“If you are under 18 and trading any sexual service for food, a place to stay, money, cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, clothes or rides, you are being exploited. This is child abuse and the person giving you stuff can be charged. Stuff for sex is not a fair trade, and it’s not love. Caring adults do not look for sex from teens.”
Warning signs that a person may be recruiting youth to be sexually exploited are: age difference between the youth and the recruiter, isolating a youth physically or emotionally, gifts which will later have to be paid back, gut feeling or bad vibe about a person, and the person having a reputation for being involved with crime or using or selling drugs, according to Childrenofthestreetsociety.com. Recruiters also send other teens into schools to connect with youth, invite them to parties and introduce them to pimps.
Comox Valley’s CASEY formed about three years ago, after a presentation by Diane Sowden of Coquitlam’s Children of the Street Society. Sowden, an advocate for sexually exploited youth since her own daughter was recruited into the sex trade at age 13, says that sexual exploitation can happen to anyone. “Young people who do not have strong support networks, GLBTQ (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, queer or questioning) youth, youth who have previously been abused, youth who use drugs, and youth who have low self-esteem or feel alone are among those especially vulnerable to sexual exploitation,” adds Fox.
“CASEY wants the whole community to be aware that sex trade recruitment happens here, and to watch out for each other. Youth heading for sexual exploitation may think that they will have control over their lives, and they can leave when they want to, but that’s not how it really is.”
For more information on sexual exploitation and on safe and healthy relationships, visit Children of the Street, The Safe OnLine Outreach Society, Project Respect, or try the Sex for Stuff Jeopardy. To talk to someone local, call the Child and Youth Sexuality Clinic at the Sexual Abuse Intervention Program (SAIP) at 338-7575 (extension 222 or 223), Community-Based Victim Services at 338-7575 (extension 224), or the John Howard youth outreach worker at 218-0483.
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