LAKE LOUISE — A new campaign in Alberta aims to help hotel staff spot and expose child molesters.
“The face of child sexual exploitation has changed,” Children Services Minister Janis Tarchuk said Monday. “Child sexual exploitation has increasingly moved away from the street and is happening behind closed doors.”
The campaign is in partnership with the Alberta Hotel and Lodging Association. It includes posters and other material to help staff recognize the signs of possible child abuse.
One such poster includes a child abuse hotline number and urges staff to report suspicious activity to a supervisor.
The poster tells staff to watch for a lot of male visitors to one room or a party room with lots of men, girls, drugs and alcohol.
It also says to keep an eye out for a lot of condom wrappers in the trash or men who pay for their rooms in cash.
Doug Shandro, board chairman of the hotel association, said its members “must be made aware of the possibility that their properties could be used for exploitation of children.”
“This campaign will give the people who work in our industry the information and tools they need to prevent this kind of child abuse in hotels and motels.”