Canada must act on human trafficking: U.S. report

From: The Province

June 05, 2008

By: Suzanne Fournier

Perrin notes that human trafficking in Canada defies traditional stereotypes.  He says it’s not just women from Asia and Central and Eastern Europe brought here and exploited in the sex trade, but many cases he comes across relate to Canadian women and girls “for sale.” 

Yvonne Hubrechtsen

Risk of human-trafficking

From: Edmonton Sun

April 25, 2008

By: Glenn Kauth

Here in Edmonton, police last year said they were investigating two suspected rings believed to be part of an international network enslaving hundreds of Albertans a year.

Many of them end up in the sex trade in Las Vegas, something officials there believe happened to Jessie Foster, a Calgary woman who has been missing since March 2006.

Cash aims to spur response in missing woman case

From: Globe & Mail

January 1, 2008

By: Cathryn Atkinson

Ms. Foster's closest friend in Las Vegas, Yvonne Hubrechtsen, was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 16 and deported after entering Canada illegally. Ms. Grant said Ms. Hubrechtsen had refused to speak to her by phone, and she thought that police could have gained useful information about Ms. Foster's disappearance from her.

"I would have loved to speak to Yvonne," Ms. Grant said. "She was a person of interest because she was the only other person that Jessie knew down there that I knew of. You'd think people who were her friends would be at the top of the list of people wanting to help instead of avoiding us."

$40,000 boost in reward raises of of missing woman’s mom

From: The Province

December 27, 2007

By: Lena Sin

Grant is still trying to reach Yvonne Hubrechtsen, a friend of Jessie Foster in Las Vegas who was in Vancouver prior to being arrested and deported back to the U.S. on Dec. 19.

Hubrechtsen, 22, was taken into custody on a Canada Border Services warrant for not revealing her criminal record when she entered B.C. Grant believes Hubrechtsen may have information that could lead to her daughter’s whereabouts.

Jessie Foster reward upped to $50,000

From: Kamloops Daily News

December 27, 2007

By: Jason Hewlett

The family upped the reward after learning that a woman who may have information on Jessie’s disappearance seems to have slipped through the fingers of Canadian authorities.

Grant has been trying to speak to American Yvonne Hubrechtsen – an alleged sex-trade worker – since Jessie went missing.

Jessie gave her mom Hubrechtsen’s number as a contact number after moving to Vegas, but Grant never needed to use it until she lost contact with her daughter.

When Grant eventually tried the number, the woman who answered refused to co-operate.

“I have never been able to talk to her,” Grant said.

Then she learned through the media that Hubrechtsen had been living in Vancouver until authorities arrested and deported her back to the states on Dec. 19.

Vancouver police arrested Hubrechtsen on a Canada Border Services warrant for having illegally entered the country by not revealing her criminal record.

Grant is convinced Hubrechtsen, 22, is part of a group of acquaintances that brought her daughter to Vegas with promises of a lavish lifestyle, then forced her into a prostitution ring.

Jessie was 21 when she went missing in March 2006. Once a straight-A student, she traveled to the U.S. in the spring of 2005 with a man she met at a party who promised to pay the way.

Jessie remains mystery

From: Edmonton Sun

December 23, 2007

By: Daniel Macisaac

Members of Jessie Foster's family say they're frustrated a woman who may have information on her disappearance seems to have slipped through the fingers of Canadian authorities.

Foster's mother Glendene Grant has been trying to speak to American Yvonne Hubrechtsen since her 23-year-old daughter went missing after being lured from Alberta to Las Vegas in May 2005, a suspected victim of a prostitution ring.

"This has haunted me," Grant said from her Kamloops, B.C., home. "Because when she first went down to Las Vegas in May 2005 I asked her, 'If anything happens to you or if you go missing, who can I call?' "

Grant says Foster, who lived in Calgary, gave her the number for Yvonne "Angel" Hubrechtsen - but that Grant never needed to use it until all communication with her daughter broke off in March the following year.

When Grant eventually tried the number, the woman who answered refused to co-operate - and she's never been able to talk to her.

So, Grant says it was both shocking and distressing to learn from media reports this week that Hubrechtsen had been in Vancouver until authorities arrested and deported her back to the States on Wednesday.

Vancouver police took Hubrechtsen into custody on a Canada Border Services warrant for having illegally entered the country by not revealing her criminal record.

Grant is convinced that Hubrechtsen, just 22-years-old herself, was part of the group of acquaintances that lured Jessie to Vegas with promises of a lavish lifestyle, and turned her into a sex slave.

Mom of missing daughter wants to speak with deported woman

From: The Province

December 21, 2008

By: Lena Sin

Hubrechtsen was one of the few friends her daughter talked about, according to mother Glendene Grant.

Jessie even gave her mother Hubrechtsen's phone number in case of emergencies.

But when Jessie vanished without a trace in Las Vegas in March 2006, Grant said she tried several times to reach Hubrechtsen to no avail.

So it was surprising for Grant to hear that Hubrechtsen was in Vancouver this week, until authorities picked her up and deported her back to the U.S. on Wednesday.

Grant believes her 23-year-old daughter has fallen into the hands of human-traffickers and forced into sex slavery. She says any information that Hubrechtsen may have about Jessie's life in Las Vegas could be helpful. "I'd like to get some information about what she knows about Jessie," says Grant.

Hubrechtsen tried to enter B.C. on Dec. 12, but was refused entry. The next day, she entered at a different border crossing, according to Christopher Papp of the Canada Border Services Agency.

Vancouver police spokesman Const. Tim Fanning says Hubrechtsen was pulled over in a black Hummer at Cambie and Robson on Sunday night. Police discovered she was wanted on a CBSA warrant and took her into custody.

Hubrechtsen claimed she was in Vancouver to see family. But CBSA officials wanted her deported for failing to disclose her criminal background when gaining entry to B.C.

The Immigration and Refugee Board has now ordered Hubrechtsen inadmissable for the next two years for misrepresenting herself.

Hubrechtsen's criminal record includes three convictions of soliciting or engaging in prostitution in Las Vegas in 2004. She was also charged with two counts of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, but the charges were dropped.

Grant says she doesn't know how Jessie befriended Hubrechtsen.

However, the mother says Hubrechtsen introduced Jessie to Peter Todd, who became Jessie's boyfriend in Las Vegas and is believed to be the last person to have seen her.

Social networking sites used for human trafficking

From: Edmonton Sun

November 11, 2007

By: Andrew Hanin

He said that while human-trafficking ‘criminal enterprises’ have operated in Western Canada for at least 20 years—and for decades longer in central Canada—they’re more sophisticated than ever before.

They do most of their recruiting on social networking websites like Facebook and MySpace, choosing naïve or vulnerable victims for “grooming” who are right around 18 years old in order to avoid detection by authorities looking for predators after underage kids.

Asked how many young Albertans are caught up in this web each year, Galvin replied simply, “hundreds.”  Most are women, he said, but young men are also targets.

Galvin said that typically, a man will develop an online relationship with the victim, selling himself as a glamourous high roller.

Once he begun to reel in the victim, he makes a date to meet her.  A whirlwind romance follows.

“She gets the red carpet treatment,” Galvin explained, “limos, expensive restaurants, VIP rooms at night clubs.  Everything mirrors the pop culture ideal of good times.  These guys can read the girls really well.  She thinks he’s her boyfriend.”

After four or five dizzyingly spectacular dates, the predator will invite her to a private party.

When she arrives, however, she might be the only woman there.  There are never more than one or two other women who are also victims.

She will be gang-raped and subjected to unspeakable humiliation.  She might be drugged.

“Her ‘boyfriend’ will tell her what’s expected of her,“ Galvin said.  “She’s told the event will occur anyways.  She can either fight or submit to it, but it’s going to happen.”

She will be threatened with death if she goes to police.  Her family might also be threatened.

Victims are typically taken to another city, where they’re further groomed by a group of women already in the sex trade.  They’re taught how to dress, act and how to avoid police.  At the same time they’re further broken down by beatings and threats.

Once they’re deemed ready and compliant, the victims are taken to the U.S. and pimped as high-priced call girls.

Galvin said Canadian women often end up in Las Vegas, and can be pimped to rich johns for up to $10,000 per weekend.