Strip clubs set to recruit high school students

Recruiters of teenage strippers may soon be scouring Toronto high schools in search of female students who can be groomed into disrobing part-time as exotic dancers to earn college tuition.

A flyer praising the benefits of the burlesque trade has been produced to target students in high schools, colleges and universities in the Toronto area, says a group representing dancers and club owners.

The brochure claims working as a dancer pays well, offers flexible hours and makes a “great part-time job to raise college tuition.”

A scramble is underway by the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada to fill a demand for dancers after the federal government this month stopped issuing visas or extensions for foreign strippers to work here.

There are up to 800 foreign strippers in Canada and most vow to go underground and work in the sex trade if they can’t dance legally.

The foreign dancers, many of whom are from Eastern Europe and South America, represent about 5% of the 38,000 strippers working in clubs across Canada. Most of them dance in Toronto, Windsor, Ont., London, Ont., Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Calgary…

The association has created a “six-point action plan” to help keep the dancers in Canada. That includes more recruitment of women in high schools and colleges, lobbying the government for changes and if all else fails, the strippers plan to file refugee claims or marry Canadian citizens to sponsor them.

Lambrinos said girls 18 and older can work as dancers in Ontario, according to advice from their lawyers.

He said recruiters from strip clubs will try to attract students by attending job fairs at high schools, colleges and universities in Toronto and surrounding areas.

“We are already doing some outreach work in some areas,” Lambrinos said. “We will be taking a strippers’ dance pole with us to the schools.” He said overcrowded Toronto high schools can become a prime recruiting ground for potential dancers.

QMI Agency has obtained a draft copy of the flyer to be circulated to high school students. It advises them that they can earn tuition fees while working as an “exotic dance entertainer” and that no sex with customers is permitted.

“If you are visually appealing and comfortable with your naked body and are comfortable about taking all your clothes off,” the flyer states. “You can be working right now as an exotic dancer and earn your tuition fees for university or college.”

Students are told they must be “comfortable … onstage at a club and disrobing,” and are guaranteed that “no actual sex or sex acts (will) occur.”

It warns them that they will have to provide private dances, or table dances, in dark lounge areas and part-time, full-time or seasonal jobs are available.

Officials of the Toronto District School Board did not return phone calls or e-mails about the proposal despite repeated attempts by QMI Agency. Several high school students said they did not like the idea of strippers being recruited from among their peers. (more…)