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Summary

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Child sex phone line not illegal, police say

NAMBLA link is considered

BY HENRY HESS

Crime Reporter

TORONTO — When you dial the seven-digit Toronto number, no phone rings. Immediately, a recorded voice comes on the line:

You have reached the boys and men’s sex rights group. We are extremely busy on the line or away from the desk. We are a discussion group trying to change the laws regarding child sex rights. We have over 5,000 boys ages 6 to 16, and 25,000 men from the age of 17 to 60.

If you want to become a member, leave your name, your phone number and your area code and the best time to call you. We’ll get back to you. There is a membership fee, $25 yearly for adults. Child membership is free. Come and join, and meet a new adventure. Discretion is assured. Now wait for the tone.

Police officers involved in the fight against child sexual exploitation and pornography say the message is clearly a thinly veiled invitation to pedophiles. They also say it’s not illegal.

The elliptical approach is typical of the way people who desire sex with children communicate with each other, said Superintendent Jim Balmain, a member of the London, Ont., police team spearheading what has become Canada’s most vigorous attack on child prostitution and pornography.

The phone messages in and of themselves, break no laws, he noted, “but the innuendo is that we’ll supply these kids for sexual pleasures.”

He said the London investigation has found that pedophile rings are well organized but extremely circumspect, because sex with children is anathema to the rest of society.

These guys are very quiet because they know everybody else looks at them and goes: ‘What? He does what with a kid?’ — because they know it’s only sickies out there they can communicate with.

Supt. Balmain said most people would be shocked to learn how many such groups exist. They’re all over the country. This is not a local problem — or a Canadian one. Some of these kids are actually flown abroad sometimes.

Detective Noreen Wolff, a member of an anti-pornography task force in Vancouver, speculated that the group could be affiliated with a U.S.-based organization called the North American Man-Boy Love Association.

Det. Wolff said pedophiles are constantly seeking to legitimize their activities by aligning themselves with the gay community. A new NAMBLA publication is called Gay Me, she said, which makes them sound more legitimate, and a message on the group’s New York hotline boasts that its members were part of the recent Stonewall gay-rights march, supporting the liberation of our society in this particular regard.

In Toronto, Detective Constable Brian Hopkins of the Metro police youth division, who said he first learned of the phone message from a caller on Tuesday, agreed that he probably can’t do much about it because the message doesn’t explicitly counsel anyone to commit a crime.

He’s not soliciting them to do anything, just telling them about a club that’s available if they wish to attend.

He said police have an idea who is behind the message. Basically, it’s a guy … who we’ve had calls about before. He’s been looked at in the past for other things and we’ve checked into it and everything’s been legal and above-board.

Bell Canada spokesman Perry Blocher said the phone number is part of a block of numbers assigned to a Toronto company called Pagecanada, which in turn rents them to its customers.

He said Bell isn’t responsible for the way people use its phone lines. In terms of what goes over the telephone network, phone companies are not in a position to censor or discriminate. We provide the facility; we certainly don’t control the content.

But Pagecanada manager Chris Shaw expressed shock upon having the message read to her yesterday. My goodness! she exclaimed. It doesn’t sound like something I want to be associated with.

Ms. Shaw said she had no idea the phone line was being used this way. To protect customer confidentiality, we’re not allowed to go in and listen to the messages, she explained.

She said she would contact her legal department to see what can be done about getting rid of it. I certainly wouldn’t want to be associated with it and Pagecanada wouldn’t want to be associated with it.