Lavender Spa Thread Gone?

[Jumpin’ Jack Flash]

Nope... York region has different cities, different mayors and different zonings.

Markham Richmond hill whitchurch-Stouffville Aurora Newmarket Vaughan are all in York region. Durham region Peel region are different.

 

[Pay2Play]

But one regional police force. It’s even in the name.

Please stop…

 

[Darksid3]

Licensing is done by municipalities but York region sets the tone.

Girls will move to another city the other municipalities will see and come down on them

It's a chain reaction

 

[bbtpongs]

Was that when it was all Russian and other Eastern European Spas or was that earlier? I do remember them but I wasn’t partaking at the time.

EBC? Same then as now, mostly Chinese. Don't know about Vaughan back then.

 

[hangul99]

I don't think so. EBC is not close to residential neighborhood. It's all industrial and commercial businesses except a newly built condo facing Bellagio. It could be complaints from other businesses around here and it's quite embarrassing for City to have spas lining up side by side with City bldg.

By residents I mean both residential and commercial. And local residents go to other businesses in the area. Throw in one or two angry wives and sooner or later there will be complaints.

 

[hangul99]

My guess is they will start working at other spas in the city. The spas with multiple locations might be less impacted for now at least, but yeah this is going to financially impact the ladies heavily.

To work in Toronto a mpa needs a license. Many of them don't want their name registered anywhere that could tie them back to being a mpa. Many will have to work underground for lack of a better word.

 

[hangul99]

Nothing's set in stone.

Things could be different thia time around.

Just sharing what happened last time.

There weren't as many spas then and they weren't as openly promoting the 'extra' services

There were just as many spas in the EBC area at the time of the raids that closed them all down last time. EBC, East Wilmot, Sims and 9005 Leslie and 9011 Leslie units were dominated by spas. I used to work in that area in its glory days.

 

[bbtpongs]

Did the spas just slowly start popping up again? Wonder how long they waited lol...

Based on old terb threads, they started coming back around 2009/2010, with just a couple, and then more and more around 2013.

Edit: Funny re-reading those old threads. A certain "marketing professional" here was playing at the same things back then as well. The more things change ...

 

[bbtpongs]

There were just as many spas in the EBC area at the time of the raids that closed them all down last time. EBC, East Wilmot, Sims and 9005 Leslie and 9011 Leslie units were dominated by spas. I used to work in that area in its glory days.

Yup.

 

[eyeswideshut]

There's an article about the 2003/2004 crackdown. Interesting read:

Massage parlours hard to rub out

Sex sells.

www.yorkregion.com

There were just as many spas in the EBC area at the time of the raids that closed them all down last time. EBC, East Wilmot, Sims and 9005 Leslie and 9011 Leslie units were dominated by spas. I used to work in that area in its glory days.

The article mentions 10 spas on EBC but there's got to be closer to 20 today, and way more if you include the surrounding streets

Based on old terb threads, they started coming back around 2009/2010, with just a couple, and then more and more around 2013

Damn, if that's the case and a similar 'clean up' is done now then it could be years before things get back to normal

On the other hand, the number of spas in the area seem to have exploded over the last few years, so I wouldn't exactly call the current situation 'normal'

 

[JimiNY]

literally the oldest corporation in the history of this country

Hudson’s Bay is the oldest in North America on 1670 and is the oldest incorporated joint-stock merchandising company in the English-speaking world

 

[boeing707]

The article mentions 10 spas on EBC but there's got to be closer to 20 today, and way more if you include the surrounding streets

Probably over a hundred if you include the surrounding areas.

The reason local municipalities are cracking down is obviously nuiscense for surrounding business, and the image of the city of Richmond Hill as a center of prostitution. The one reason that is not talked because operators are too afraid to speak out, are links between all those spas and organized crime, see this in light of fentanyl production, i.e. as per factual reports, billions of dollars are funneled back from North America to China to a handful of very large and influential syndicates. For all those reasons, the city has a strong motive to act. A very small number of spas in Richmond Hill are adapting to this by reducing risk and transforming from offering prostitution (well let's call it what it is), to reducing the extras, and focusing on room fee revenue from RMT massage and by attracting female clients.

 

[Lalallala]

Probably over a hundred if you include the surrounding areas.

The reason local municipalities are cracking down is obviously nuiscense for surrounding business, and the image of the city of Richmond Hill as a center of prostitution. The one reason that is not talked because operators are too afraid to speak out, are links between all those spas and organized crime, see this in light of fentanyl production, i.e. as per factual reports, billions of dollars are funneled back from North America to China to a handful of very large and influential syndicates. For all those reasons, the city has a strong motive to act. A very small number of spas in Richmond Hill are adapting to this by reducing risk and transforming from offering prostitution (well let's call it what it is), to reducing the extras, and focusing on room fee revenue from RMT massage and by attracting female clients.

Do you have any evidence of these spas being linked to organized crime? Crime of any sort?

 

[boeing707]

Do you have any evidence of these spas being linked to organized crime? Crime of any sort?

Here are some links.

Sex traffickers are using shell companies to launder illicit profits in Canada

New research sheds light on how hundreds of potentially illicit massage parlours hide their money and the vulnerable people they prey on

www.theglobeandmail.com

Behind Illicit Massage Parlors Lie a Vast Crime Network and Modern Indentured Servitude (Published 2019)

In a $3 billion-a-year industry, many women stay on as prostitutes in order to pay debts to smugglers, spa owners and lawyers.

www.nytimes.com

Inside The $4.5 Billion Erotic Massage Parlor Economy

Massages involving sexual acts are everywhere in the United States. But the stories of the women who provide them reveal less about sex trafficking and more about the high price some immigrants pay for a chance at the American Dream.

www.forbes.com

BC Commission on Money Laundering: Asian Women for Equality presentation

police ignore opportunities to interfere with an income stream that benefits organized crime

www.asianwomenequality.org

We are talking about a 45 bilion dollar global industry. Chinese triads are incredibly well connected and have tentacles in various Chinese operated industries, especially in Ontario and British Columbia. They are also very brutal, and punishment can be very swift. You need to understand how close knit the Chinese communities are, as well as the inability to speak English and fear of deportation. All these factors ensure that this is not something, businesses or employees talk about openly, whether it concerns massage parlors, restaurants or nail salons.

 

[Lalallala]

Here are some links.

Sex traffickers are using shell companies to launder illicit profits in Canada

New research sheds light on how hundreds of potentially illicit massage parlours hide their money and the vulnerable people they prey on

www.theglobeandmail.com

Behind Illicit Massage Parlors Lie a Vast Crime Network and Modern Indentured Servitude (Published 2019)

In a $3 billion-a-year industry, many women stay on as prostitutes in order to pay debts to smugglers, spa owners and lawyers.

www.nytimes.com

Inside The $4.5 Billion Erotic Massage Parlor Economy

Massages involving sexual acts are everywhere in the United States. But the stories of the women who provide them reveal less about sex trafficking and more about the high price some immigrants pay for a chance at the American Dream.

www.forbes.com

BC Commission on Money Laundering: Asian Women for Equality presentation

police ignore opportunities to interfere with an income stream that benefits organized crime

www.asianwomenequality.org

We are talking about a 45 bilion dollar global industry. Chinese triads are incredibly well connected and have tentacles in various Chinese operated industries, especially in Ontario and British Columbia. They are also very brutal, and punishment can be very swift. You need to understand how close knit the Chinese communities are, as well as the inability to speak English and fear of deportation. All these factors ensure that this is not something, businesses or employees talk about openly, whether it concerns massage parlors, restaurants or nail salons.

Ok. I can’t read the TGAM article but the other three don’t relate to canada or Ontario. I don’t doubt that this may happen but there’s no specific cases. And the whole money laundering argument - might as well arrest every construction worker and gig employee while you are at it - the under ground economy is huge in Canada and the US. It’s basically the biggest part of the economy in places like Greece - are you going to shut down every Greek bakery in Toronto? And does shutting down the massage parlours do anything to correct that underground economy? I know there are audits of restaurants that use modified POS software to remove transactions - they are being used there to find actual rule breakers and not shutting down every restaurant. What is stopping the local government from auditing the businesses and their employees?

What is the harm done here? And how will these actions address these harms?

 

[Lalallala]

Here are some links.

Sex traffickers are using shell companies to launder illicit profits in Canada

New research sheds light on how hundreds of potentially illicit massage parlours hide their money and the vulnerable people they prey on

www.theglobeandmail.com

Behind Illicit Massage Parlors Lie a Vast Crime Network and Modern Indentured Servitude (Published 2019)

In a $3 billion-a-year industry, many women stay on as prostitutes in order to pay debts to smugglers, spa owners and lawyers.

www.nytimes.com

Inside The $4.5 Billion Erotic Massage Parlor Economy

Massages involving sexual acts are everywhere in the United States. But the stories of the women who provide them reveal less about sex trafficking and more about the high price some immigrants pay for a chance at the American Dream.

www.forbes.com

BC Commission on Money Laundering: Asian Women for Equality presentation

police ignore opportunities to interfere with an income stream that benefits organized crime

www.asianwomenequality.org

We are talking about a 45 bilion dollar global industry. Chinese triads are incredibly well connected and have tentacles in various Chinese operated industries, especially in Ontario and British Columbia. They are also very brutal, and punishment can be very swift. You need to understand how close knit the Chinese communities are, as well as the inability to speak English and fear of deportation. All these factors ensure that this is not something, businesses or employees talk about openly, whether it concerns massage parlors, restaurants or nail salons.

The B.C. article cites two specific cases but nothing about the massage parlours.

 

[Social-Misfit]

looks like you lot are back at home jerking off to porn

 

[Hornet]

looks like you lot are back at home jerking off to porn

good thing there is a lot of massage porn and nuru videos

 

[Lalallala]

Here are some links.

Sex traffickers are using shell companies to launder illicit profits in Canada

New research sheds light on how hundreds of potentially illicit massage parlours hide their money and the vulnerable people they prey on

www.theglobeandmail.com

Behind Illicit Massage Parlors Lie a Vast Crime Network and Modern Indentured Servitude (Published 2019)

In a $3 billion-a-year industry, many women stay on as prostitutes in order to pay debts to smugglers, spa owners and lawyers.

www.nytimes.com

Inside The $4.5 Billion Erotic Massage Parlor Economy

Massages involving sexual acts are everywhere in the United States. But the stories of the women who provide them reveal less about sex trafficking and more about the high price some immigrants pay for a chance at the American Dream.

www.forbes.com

BC Commission on Money Laundering: Asian Women for Equality presentation

police ignore opportunities to interfere with an income stream that benefits organized crime

www.asianwomenequality.org

We are talking about a 45 bilion dollar global industry. Chinese triads are incredibly well connected and have tentacles in various Chinese operated industries, especially in Ontario and British Columbia. They are also very brutal, and punishment can be very swift. You need to understand how close knit the Chinese communities are, as well as the inability to speak English and fear of deportation. All these factors ensure that this is not something, businesses or employees talk about openly, whether it concerns massage parlors, restaurants or nail salons.

Here’s another link that’s more relevant to what’s going on here than the three links that you provided that I was able to read:

York Region report, police refute targeting massage parlours for sex trafficking

Newmarket passed new bylaw regulating parlours last summer to stop alleged sexual activity

www.bradfordtoday.ca

In particular:

police found most human trafficking in the region happens within hotels, condos and short-term rentals.

Also

The report added that no children have been recovered from regional body rub parlours since 2008.

Robert Vallee of Parents Against Child Trafficking - Markham and Richmond Hill was critical of police and their handling of the issue.


“Our group’s goal is to make York Region the first region in Ontario that is free from sex trafficking, by pimps and traffickers, but also free from the crime of prostituting women,” he said. “At this time, both the police force and the board are not on the same page (as us) because of misinformation."

But prostitution isn’t a crime. Paying for it is.

Further, Newmarket’s efforts will probably be used as a template for other municipalities to regulate:

Newmarket’s rules aim to halt licences for alternative massage businesses that fail to meet new requirements, such as proof of qualification for employees, and add fines for issues such as sexual activity.

This is probably the bylaw route that they will go. But as noted in the first quote, it won’t actually do any harm reduction but possibly increase the risk to women.

 

[Lalallala]

I should have summarized the article for everyone:

Shutting down spas is not about criminal gangs or sex trafficking. It’s not about making things safer for women. It’s about controlling what adults can consensually do in private. It’s absolutely puritanical bullshit.