Quebec adopts motion on sexual exploitation of minors

The Quebec National Assembly. (Daniel J. Rowe/ CTV News)

The Quebec legislature has adopted a motion to denounce a publicly funded organization that promotes “forms of sexual exploitation of minors,” according to the Parti Québécois (PQ).

The PQ specifically targeted Projet d'intervention auprès des mineurs prostitués (PIAMP), a Montreal-based organization that received $350,000 in public funding last year.

PIAMP even received $2,000 in 2023-2024 from Mercier MNA Ruba Ghazal, Quebec solidaire's new women's co-spokesperson.

The motion adopted calls on the government to cease all public funding of organizations that encourage forms of sexual exploitation of minors.

All parties voted in favour, with 100 MNAs present at the time of the vote. Only independent MNA Youri Chassin abstained.

The PIAMP's mission is “to listen to, support and accompany in (its) steps any person aged between 12 and 25 who exchanges or is likely to exchange sexual services for any form of remuneration,” according to its website.

The PQ is particularly critical of the organization's offer of “legal sexting” workshops, but also of its position on “sugar daddy,” i.e. a relationship between an adult and a young person who “offers his or her company for various activities,” according to a document produced by PIAMP.

“This organisation is not fighting the prostitution of minors, but rather offering support in which this ‘sugar daddy’ story is presented as a kind of business plan, or self-development, or a way out of prostitution,” said PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon at a press scrum.

The PIAMP document states that “sugaring” is “presented as sexual exploitation,” but “in reality, it suits some people, for example because they (sic) build relationships of trust and feel respected and supported by their SD (sugar daddy).”

The Health and Social Services Ministry (MSSS) has allocated nearly $230,000 to PIAMP through the Programme de soutien aux organismes communautaires.

The Public Security Ministry has granted a total of $120,000 to the organization.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 4, 2024.