Romanian Strippers in Canada 

Romanian Strippers in Canada

Many aspects of this story are hard to believe, especially if one takes at all seriously Canadians' claims to be morally superior.

The Minister of Immigration, Judy Sgro, granted a temporary resident permit to a Romanian stripper who was in Canada on an expired visa which restricted her to stripping for a living. The new permit is for two years during which she can look for work in a variety of fields. It turns out the stripper actually worked on the Minister's re-election campaign--although the Minister says she was unaware of this.

Greg Weston of the Sun chain here.

It seems no one has ever really explained why Canada has a program to ensure strippers are admitted on work visas--as if this is a skilled trade of which there is a shortage. Sgro repeats the message that the exotic dancing business is a legitimate, tax-paying business, like it or not, and people in that business keep telling the government there is a shortage of strippers.

The goverment requires proof that a woman is able/willing to dance nude--or experienced at doing so. One memo has surfaced in which an official boasts that a nude photo can be demanded. About 90% of the strippers who enter the country this way are from Romania.

Obviously, this could all be a front for organized crime. Canadian politicians might go along with it because the "business owners" come up with campaign donations, and ask no questions about any policies other than the "import a stripper" policy.

Do bureaucrats go along with it to prove they are somehow hip?

More
here. Some articles say it is difficult for researchers to find out exactly what goes on with the Romanian strippers, but one study has surfaced:

A July 4, 2000, internal cable message from Canadian immigration enforcement officer Dorothy Christie to Kenneth Hosley, a counterpart at the Canadian embassy in Mexico, described how entry visas for almost all East European dancers were fraudulently obtained.

"Most of the contracts submitted by dancers and agents are bogus, they claim to pay the girls, but no money has changed hands. The girls are paid by patrons to the bars and prostitution is being done in small VIP rooms," she wrote in a memo obtained under the Access to Information Act.

"We have also found that none of the girls are submitting income tax returns, which is against the law and the RCMP have contacted Revenue Canada and investigators will be attending clubs with us," she added.

Ms. Christie wrote that a joint law enforcement crackdown code-named Almonzo had arrested 500 women, including 140 who left Canada voluntarily under deportation orders. A slew of charges was also laid against strip club owners and the number of visas issued to dancers cut back by 50%.

But since then she said, East European dancers were using every trick in the book in order to enter Canada. "The girls are now attempting every way possible. Some applied as nuns, some actually got here to be folk dancers at restaurants and clubs that don't exist," she wrote.

Immigration Canada had sent letters to any dancer with a suspicious application to appear for interview at a government office but "to date, no one has appeared and warrants for their arrests have been issued."