Holiday Massage in Richmond Shut Down

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The City of Richmond has suspended the business licence of a local massage parlour that hired South Korean women with no work visas and repeatedly flouted local bylaws.

City council Monday voted to close Holiday Body Care (No. 151 - 5951 Minoru Boulevard) for 30 days. The suspension takes effect April 18 and ends May 17.

The business, which has had several different owners in the past five years, has received 11 fines for bylaw infractions since Apri1 2004.

Infractions included failing to require masseuses to wear proper garments.

Asked what some of the women at the studio were wearing, city licence inspector Victor Duarte told the Richmond News, "in one instance, nothing."

Other infractions include failing to inform the city of a change in personnel.

That requirement was put in the city's bylaws to address concerns about human trafficking, Duarte said. It was hoped it would allow authorities to track the movement of women in massage parlours.

"The rationale was for the safety of the employees," Duarte said.

Some body rub studios in the Lower Mainland - particularly those located in private homes - have been identified as a clearing house of sorts for an international human trafficking ring that sees South Korean women brought first to Canada, then sent to the U.S.

They often end up working in prostitution to pay off debts.

There is no evidence that Holiday Body Care is suspected of being involved in such a scheme.

"I would imagine they (RCMP) would have brought charges if they thought here was activity of that nature going on," said Nicholas Preovolous, a lawyer representing the business's owner, To Hak Lee.

Asked if the business will be investigated, Paula Shore, a spokesperson for Canada Border Services Agency, said she could not comment on a particular business. However, she said, "I can assure you that this kind of situation is investigated."

This is not the first time Holiday Body Care has come under the city's scrutiny.

On previous occasions, under different owners, RCMP and city officials have found South Korean women without work visas working at Holiday Body Care.

Lee did not attend Monday's council meeting. But in a letter to city council, Lee said the problems at Holiday Body Care have arisen "primarily because I have limited my role in the business to hiring managers."

Since he does not have any involvement in the day-to-day operations, he said he was unaware of the city's concerns.

The business's ownership appears to be a revolving door.

"From 2000 to present, there have been six (owners)," Duarte said.

Preovolous said his client was serious about addressing the city's concerns.

Since some of the problems resulted from Lee's poor comprehension of English, he is having the city's bylaws regulating body rub studios translated into Korean.

"Mr. Lee is contrite. He's made efforts to fix the problem," Preovolous said.

He therefore asked that the suspension period be reduced.

Some city council members were inclined to reduce the suspension period to 21 days, based on the fact Lee has already voluntarily closed his business, on the misunderstanding that the fines he had received meant he had to close down.

Coun. Kiichi Kumagai said the infractions seemed to be a result of the fact Lee has problems understanding English. He suggested that city bylaws be translated into the native languages of the business owners.

Mayor Malcolm Brodie argued in favour of a reduced suspension, saying the problem seemed related to the fact Lee was largely unaware what was going on.

"It seems that all of these establishments have the weakness that they're usually run by managers, and then the owners come along after there's been all kinds of infractions and when they find out about them, they try to take remedial steps," Brodie said.

Coun. Bill McNulty wasn't buying the argument that Lee did not understand that he was doing something wrong. After 11 tickets, he said Lee should have guessed he was doing something wrong.

"I think we're going light on this one, quite frankly," McNulty said.

"I can have little sympathy for someone who gets 11 tickets and, only at the end of it, says I did not know," agreed Coun. Evelina Halsey-Brandt."I'm sorry, if you're going to do business in any country, you need to follow its laws."

What concerned Coun. Linda Barnes most was the hiring of South Korean women who did not have Canadian work visas.

"Not only is this a violation of our bylaws, but also the idea that they've got people working without working visas, really, really bothers me," she said..
 
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