Children of the Street

who is at risk for sexual exploitation?

It is important to keep in mind that sexual exploitation can happen to anyone and that sexually exploited children and youth come from all types of backgrounds, regardless of age, ethnicity, race, income, ability, gender or geographic location.

There is no simple cause or explanation for sexual exploitation, but some factors may increase a young person’s risk of sexual exploitation. These risk factors include:

• Low self-esteem / self worth
• Sexual, physical or emotional abuse
• Lack of self identity
• Lack of belonging or acceptance with family / peers / school
• Mental health issues
• Drug or alcohol addiction

age of protection

The legal age of protection, refers to the age at which the criminal law recognizes the legal capacity of a young person to consent to sexual activity. Below this age, all sexual activity with a young person, ranging from sexual touching to sexual intercourse is prohibited. The age of protection targets those predators that prey upon the vulnerability of youth.

The age of protection in Canada is 16 years old. Close-in-age exceptions exist to protect against the criminalization of consensual sexual activity between peers.

According to the Criminal Code of Canada, it is illegal:

for an adult to engage in sexual activity with a person under the age of 16 years old with the following close-in-age exceptions:

for any adult in a position of trust or authority to engage in sexual activity with another person under the age of 18 years old;

for any person to engage in sexual activity without the consent of another person of any age;

for any person to exploit sexually another person under the age of 18 years old. This includes: prostitution, pornography, or where the relationship of trust, authority, dependency or any other situation that is otherwise exploitative of a young person exists.