Not releasing sex trade report earlier 'a bit of a tragedy,' advocate says

The director of the Thrive-Community Youth Network says that she would be hesitant to conduct research into the sex trade again after the Newfoundland and Labrador government refused to release a report on sexual exploitation in the province for four years.

"I can't imagine going back to many of the same people and saying, "Would you do this again? Probably not," said Angela Crockwell.

Crockwell is the executive director of Thrive, an organization that helps at-risk and vulnerable youth, Thrive sponsored a 2011 report into sexual exploitation and the sex trade in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I can't imagine going back to many of the same people and saying, 'Would you do this again? ' Probably not.- Angela Crockwell

"We would be very reluctant to participate in a process like that again. And not from our staff's perspective, but to go out and engage people who have that lived experience," said Crockwell.

She said that many of the people they spoke to about the sex trade only agreed to talk because they thought the public would benefit from hearing their stories.

The Newfoundland and Labrador government did not publicly release the report until Thursday, insisting that it would endanger vulnerable people if anyone even knew it existed.

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Minister responsible for the status of women, Susan Sullivan, now says the province will commission a new study on sexual exploitation issues.

However, Crockwell said it's unlikely that people involved in the sex trade will be willing to participate again, knowing that the information they provide might not be made public.

"We had engaged over 100 people in the production of the document with the understanding that this would be used and this would be a public document. An that's the information we provided people when they consented to that research," said Crockwell.

"We certainly had lots of people coming forward and saying, where is it? Then to have to say it's not being released. It's very disappointing."

Not releasing report 'a bit of a tragedy'

Crockwell said that by hiding the report for so long, the public lost out on critical information.

"To have such a valuable document that people can't use on a day-to-day basis to inform their work was for us, a bit of a tragedy," she said.

The report also made several recommendations for changes within government, the police force, communities and the justice system. Crockwell said not releasing the report earlier prevented many of these changes from happening.

"Without public's access to these records we didn't have the capacity to hold government's feet to the fire," she said.

"We still have way too many people who are being exploited and harmed and lured and groomed, and we need to take action. The final quote in that report is, it's not enough to care and be compassionate, it's time to act. And that really is the call to action."