SlaveryMap

Vancouver Downtown Eastside, Canada

"In 2005 Michael Ng was the first person to be arrested and charged under Canada’s human trafficking laws after two Chinese women escaped from his massage parlour in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and called the police claiming they had been brought from China and forced into prostitution. One of the women testified that she worked from 11:00am to 2:00am in order to meet her financial obligations to Ng. “In one year and five months I [made] him well over $100,000 plus the $50-an-hour he charged customers for a massage”. Ng was cleared of human trafficking, but found guilty of a number of related offences instead, including operating a common bawdy house, helping create false travel documents and procuring a person to have illicit sexual intercourse with another. In April 2008 he was sentenced to 15 months in jail. The Chinese women returned to China at their request, but came back briefly to Canada to assist in Ng’s prosecution." http://www.pssg.gov.bc.ca/octip/identifying.htm

Location
Canada · Vancouver Downtown Eastside · 2005 (location generalized to protect survivors)
Response & intervention
April 2008, Ng was sentenced with 15 months in prison The women escaped and contacted the police

Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). Use “Report a problem” below to add a source or flag an issue.

← All documented cases