Toronto - more Body-Rub licenses?

[Guest W***ledi*Time]

Tom Godfrey reports for QMI, 12 Oct 2011:

[url]http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2011/10/12/18816851.html[/url]

[INDENT]TORONTO - Neon-lit city-licensed body rub parlours may soon be popping up everywhere in a neighbourhood near you if a staff committee at City Hall has its way.

At least one city councillor is fuming over [B]a committee suggesting that permits for body rub parlours be increased tenfold or more, from the existing 25 to "several hundreds" by early next year.[/B]

"This will make us the biggest pimps in North America," an outraged Giorgio Mammoliti said Wednesday. "These clubs will be springing up in strip malls and residential areas across the city."

More than two dozen body and massage club owners met with committee members at City Hall to discuss the issue, which has to be voted upon by the municipal licensing and standards committee and then the full city council.

"I am very concerned because there are already 35 such (illegal) clubs in my riding," Mammoliti said. "These clubs are run and operated by organized crime - no question."

Mammoliti is calling for the dismissal of committee members who made the proposal.

"People should know that some of these massage parlours may be coming to their community real soon," he said. "We will do everything we can to stop the process."

Some of the clubs, that are also listed as spas or salons, offer massage services on the Internet with near-naked female attendants who are offering a range of sexual services for a price. Police have said many are a front for prostitution. Bruce Robertson, acting director of municipal licensing and standards, said no final agreement has been reached.

"Right now, we are exploring options to address the illegal body rub parlours," Robertson said on Wednesday. "No recommendations have been finalized or formalized."

He said one option discussed at the meeting is to de-license holistic centres or remove the cap on body rub licenses.

There are now more about 400 licensed holistic centres and 25 massage parlours in Toronto, he said.

The number of illegal parlours isn't known.

But Josephine Toledo, of Josephine Massage Spa, said other owners like her are against more clubs being opened for business.

Toledo, who attended the City Hall meeting, said body rubs that are now illegal will be the first in line to obtain the new city permits if granted.

"They (clubs) are being rewarded with licences for doing business illegally," Toledo said. "What about all the time and money I have invested? This is not fair."

She said some owners stand to lose up to $500,000 they have invested in their clubs, which will now have to compete with other spas.

Downtown massage club owner Cathy, who didn't want to her last name used, called the move a tax grab by the city.

"We already pay a lot of money to the city," Cathy said. "My business is already losing a lot of money because of the bad economy."

Massage clubs pay $11,000 in annual fees to the city, as compared to holistic centres that only dish out $150 yearly, city staff said.

Tim Lambrinos, of the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada, said increasing the number of massage parlours will further drive prostitution indoors.

"More massage spas will only allow the criminal element behind them to prosper," Lambrinos said. "Our adult clubs receive way less complaints than massage clubs."[/INDENT]


Terry Davidson reports for the [I]Toronto Sun[/I]:

[url]http://www.torontosun.com/2011/10/12/licensing-would-make-massage-parlours-safer-expert[/url]

[INDENT]TORONTO - Handing out more licences to massage parlours will go a long way to securing the safety of prostitues that may be working in such places, said a leading voice in the sex trade.

[B]â??It would give bylaw officers access to these body rub parlours so they could go in and make sure there are no cases of exploitation,â? Sex Professionals of Canada executive director Nikki Thomas said[/B] in reaction to a staff committee at City Hall suggesting increasing the number of permits given to massage parlours in Toronto. [B]â??From our perspective, this is a good thing.â?[/B]

Unlicensed body-rub parlours are rife with exploitation, Thomas said â?? exploitation that could include a parlour pressuring girls to perform unprotected sex or undesirable sex acts, or workers having their identification and whereabouts controlled.

â??Any sex that comes with coercion is...exploitative in nature,â? Thomas said, adding that licensing would also help in the battle against underage sex workers being drawn into prostitution.

Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, long an opponent of the expansion of the sex trade in Toronto, takes the contrary view: Mammoliti sees an increase in licensing for body-rub parlours as opening the doors further to exploitation and crime.[/INDENT]