The Beginning of everythng.
In 2003, the local police raided the “Wellness Centre” in Richmond revealing a scandal involving the issuing of fraudulent message therapy licenses to traffickers. Women who were invited to the major cities in Canada with the promise of a good paying job were instead sold into massage parlors to be exploited sexually by customers upon arrival. They were stripped of their identity and required to service large numbers of men every single day to pay off false debts, as high as $40,000, forced upon them by the traffickers. Many women did not speak English at all and had been living in pain from physical assaults and fear: fear of being criminalized by the law and fear of being deported.
The massage parlour that was raided was just 20 minutes from where Alex and Chuan lived. They had grown up on a farm together and this piece of news hit “home”. The flaws of reality has never before impacted them as strongly as it had in that moment. The reality being that slavery did not get abolished centuries ago as they had believed but that it is still ever present in society: Its grasp touching parts of the world that they never thought possible. Determined to find out more, Alex and Chuan followed the news of the police raid – “Operation Relaxation” closely and learned more about the sex trafficking industry and modern-day slavery in general.
They understand what it’s like to be sheltered away from knowing what’s happening in the rest of the world, what it’s like to live in one’s comfort-zone, and finally what it’s like to break-free and empathize with the plight of the human race in different parts of the world. This lead to the creation of the Emancip-Action movement to inspire others to do the same. As humans, we succeed when others succeed and it’s crucial for people in one part of the world to recognize the good and bag things occurring in other parts of the world. Knowledge has the power to bring about empathy and Emancip-Action focuses specifically on the power through personal stories. It is the best tool to bring a heart to start caring. Alex and Chuan knows that with an open mind, you will be touched as they take you on a journey to start seeing the injustice in Modern-day Slavery and start being an advocate for change.
The massage parlour that was raided was just 20 minutes from where Alex and Chuan lived. They had grown up on a farm together and this piece of news hit “home”. The flaws of reality has never before impacted them as strongly as it had in that moment. The reality being that slavery did not get abolished centuries ago as they had believed but that it is still ever present in society: Its grasp touching parts of the world that they never thought possible. Determined to find out more, Alex and Chuan followed the news of the police raid – “Operation Relaxation” closely and learned more about the sex trafficking industry and modern-day slavery in general.
They understand what it’s like to be sheltered away from knowing what’s happening in the rest of the world, what it’s like to live in one’s comfort-zone, and finally what it’s like to break-free and empathize with the plight of the human race in different parts of the world. This lead to the creation of the Emancip-Action movement to inspire others to do the same. As humans, we succeed when others succeed and it’s crucial for people in one part of the world to recognize the good and bag things occurring in other parts of the world. Knowledge has the power to bring about empathy and Emancip-Action focuses specifically on the power through personal stories. It is the best tool to bring a heart to start caring. Alex and Chuan knows that with an open mind, you will be touched as they take you on a journey to start seeing the injustice in Modern-day Slavery and start being an advocate for change.