Bridget Perrier

Bridget Perrier
Born1977 (age 46–47)
Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
Occupation(s)Anti-prostitution activist, former prostitute
OrganizationSex Trade 101
ChildrenTanner (deceased)

Bridget Perrier (born 1977) is an activist and former trafficked prostitute who cofounded Sex Trade 101[1] with Natasha Falle.[2] She became a child prostitute at the age of 12 while she was staying at a group home and an older girl there persuaded her to become a runaway in order to sell sex to a pedophile named Charlie.[3] She had a son, Tanner, who developed cancer as an infant and died at the age of five with the dying wish that his mother get out of the sex industry.[4] In 2000, she moved to Toronto from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.[5] She is the stepmother of Angel, whose biological mother was Brenda Wolfe, one of Robert Pickton's murder victims.[6] In 2009, Perrier accompanied Angel at Toronto's Native Women's Resource Centre for the Sisters in Spirit vigil in remembrance of Wolfe and the other more than 500 Canadian Aboriginal women who have been murdered or gone missing over the past 30 years.[7] In 2010, Perrier picketed a courthouse in downtown Toronto in recognition of International Day of No Prostitution. She was joined by Trisha Baptie, Natasha Falle, Katarina MacLeod, and Christine Barkhouse, all former human trafficking victims.[8] In 2012, after being removed from a news conference relating to Bedford v. Canada, Perrier demonstrated a pimp stick to the media, saying that she had been battered with a pimp stick by her pimp every day that he prostituted her.[9] Perrier opposed the legalization of brothels as proposed in Bedford v. Canada, saying, "Having a legal bawdy house is not going to make it any safer. You are still going to attract serial killers, rapists, perverts."[10] Bridget shared her story in the ground breaking article by Dr. Vincent J. Felitti in Cancer InCytes magazine (Volume 2, Issue 1) about how childhood trauma is associated with chronic diseases during adulthood and how child trafficking will eventually worsen the economic burden on civil governance.[11]

References

  1. ^ "Ontario court alters sex trade landscape". Occupational Health and Safety Canada. April 3, 2012. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  2. ^ Denis Langlois (July 16, 2012). "Survivors want to help people in sex trade". Owen Sound Sun Times. Archived from the original on December 27, 2013. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  3. ^ Jessica Smith (November 15, 2012). "Child prostitution victims call for group home changes". Metro International. Archived from the original on February 18, 2015. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  4. ^ Victoria Gray (October 3, 2010). "Court decision could accelerate human trafficking". The Toronto Observer. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  5. ^ Laurie Monsebraaten (February 6, 2012). "Poverty fight must go on despite deficit, activists say". Toronto Star. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  6. ^ Corey Mintz (July 5, 2013). "Family has appetite for social issues at dinner with Corey Mintz". Toronto Star. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  7. ^ Madhavi Acharya; Tom Yew (October 5, 2009). "Missing, slain women honoured at ceremony". Toronto Star. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  8. ^ Steffanie Petroni (June 18, 2013). "Legalizing Prostitution: Local and National Consequences". Local2. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved July 15, 2013.
  9. ^ Adrian Humphreys (March 26, 2012). "Former and current sex workers at odds over prostitution ruling". National Post. Retrieved July 21, 2013.
  10. ^ Julian Sher (June 12, 2013). "Should brothels be legal? Supreme Court of Canada ponders issue". Toronto Star. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  11. ^ Vincent J. Felitti. "Childhood Trauma Linked to Chronic Diseases in Adulthood." Cancer InCytes 2(2), 2013.