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Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). We don’t have a verifiable source on file yet. Know one?
What happened
Isra, originally from Thailand, was a victim of sex trafficking and debt peonage, having been sold to a Toronto massage parlor owner for between $16,000 and $25,000 Canadian. Before any of the girls could start making a wage, they had to repay what amounted to nearly double their purchase fee - the reality of which is that most victims would have to service more than 500 men to just pay off their debts to the slave owners. Isra had a considerable debt to repay and was sold and bought multiple times by brothel owners in Toronto proper, Sheppard and Mississauga. She was forced to work a great deal but did not feel she had a way out because she owed her owners so much money. She was forced to take on many customers each day. Note: All of the above information is a synopsis of the passages related to this slave in the book "To Plead Our Own Cause" by Kevin Bales and Zoe Trodd. Book published 2008 by Cornell University Press.
Response and intervention
Police raided the brothels and arrested 68 people in connection with the Toronto massage parlors. The investigation had actually begun in 1996 when Canadian authorities learned of a trafficking ring that was bringing in women from Thailand and Malaysia ages "sixteen to thirty." Interviews with Free the Slaves/Anti-Slavery International