An Etobicoke councillor took to the streets of his ward alongside city bylaw officers over the long weekend to crack down on massage parlours breaking the rules.
Ward 5 councillor Peter Milczyn said he and three officers roamed the Queensway "from one end to the other" and Dundas Street on Friday, July 30 from around 9:30 p.m. until after 2 a.m. He said the team came across three establishments -- "one body rub parlour and two holistic places" -- on Queensway that were breaking the closing time curfew.
"We saw places operating after hours," he said. "They're supposed to be closed by 9 p.m."
While the councillor would not divulge the names of businesses breaking the rules that night, he said there were violations including being opened too late and an attendant not having a license.
But that wasn't all.
"One of the bylaw officers believes when he first went in that he actually saw one of the attendants having sex with a customer," Milczyn said.
He also noted a business "steadfastly refused to open one door" when being inspected, which he added could lead to an obstruction charge.
The bylaw department doesn't release a list of charges laid, according to Milczyn. But that's something he and other councillors want changed.
"I think part of the whole enforcement/deterrant aspect is make this information public ... shed more light on it," he said.
However, he did note bylaw officers that handle the city's west end have laid in excess of 300 charges relating to the illegal parlours so far this year.
He stressed that "prostitution is not illegal" but added, "solicitation is illegal, keeping a common bawdy house is illegal. Those are criminal charges, the city can't issue those."
He went on to say whatever information needed to be passed on to police, would be, adding shutting down an illegal parlour is a very involved process.
"We have to go to court, and to shut a place down you have to show an ongoing pattern of serious violations," said the councillor, who noted he does an annual sweep of the parlours. "We've had some success (in the past) in shutting some places down."
The councillor said the problem doesn't seem to be growing, but is "steady" and "not just a local problem."
Along with numerous unlicensed parlours in the city, he estimates there are "hundreds more in private residences."
But the activity seems to be limited to behind closed doors, said Milczyn. "Thankfully we don't seem to have any on-street prostitution in Ward 5."