Montreal is already known as a tourist destination for its museums, festivals and fine cuisine. According to the Quebec Council on the Status of Women, it's also becoming a top draw for the sex trade.
Officials from the Quebec agency said yesterday in a study on prostitution that the lower Canadian dollar and the city's reputation for permissiveness are turning Montreal into a haven for sex tourism.
"Montreal, sometimes called Bangkok West, is considered by many as the Canadian capital of prostitution," said a brief passage in a report by the Conseil du statut de la femme, made public yesterday. "The tourists come mainly from neighbouring Canadian provinces and the United States."
The agency said it compiled its findings from sources including the police, the courts, former prostitutes and groups working with sex workers.
Diane Lavallée, president of the council, said Americans are attracted to the city because Canadian prostitution legislation is more permissive than in the United States. And sex services in Montreal are viewed as being "good quality at a lower cost."
"The city is a hub for prostitution and a choice spot for sexual tourism," she said in an interview. "It seems that Quebec has a label of being open-minded compared with English Canada and the United States."
The agency said it released the report to fuel a debate and a "reflection" about prostitution in Quebec.
The agency's report noted that strip clubs, some of which are covers for prostitution, often operate close to the U.S. border.
"This indicates that the clientele comes mainly from outside Quebec," the report said.
The agency said the phenomenon underscores the global reach of the sex trade. Like other Canadian cities, Montreal has also been home to sex-trafficking operations run by organized crime rings out of Russia and Asia, the agency said.
Officials said women from Russia have been brought to work in massage parlours in Montreal and, speaking neither English nor French, found themselves driven to work as prostitutes.
Chief Inspector Jean-Guy Gagnon of the Montreal police, who oversees prostitution-related crime, said yesterday that he has not been aware of Russian-operated sex rings in Montreal since 2000. As for the city's reputation for sex tourism, he said nothing suggests it is any more coveted than Toronto or Vancouver.
Chief Inspector Gagnon said 90 per cent of streetwalkers' customers are from the Montreal area, based on arrests in the past two years. Police have no details for customers for other kinds of services, such as escort agencies.
Sex tourism is a world phenomenon that usually targets Third World nations.
In other findings, the study says juvenile prostitution is on the rise in Quebec, and organized crime controls large chunks of the sex trade, including many escort services and 80 per cent of strip clubs outside Montreal.