Business, vacation, adventure and relaxation. A few Canadians travel for the purpose of engaging in sexual conduct with children. In doing so, they take advantage of the poverty and powerlessness of foreign children, expecting to exploit weaknesses in law enforcement. Such travel exploits children worldwide.
Experts estimate that more than a million children are lured or sold into the sex trade each year.
Many are forced into prostitution by their parents or by their own homelessness or poverty. Many in rural areas are promised respectable jobs in cities and then forced into the sex trade. The Canadian government is committed to protecting children from this abuse. Although the numbers are believed to be low, some Canadians do travel to other countries for the express purpose of sex with children. They travel to places where they wrongly assume that sex with children is acceptable or they think that there are no consequences.