The Oldest Profession in Winnipeg

From 1909 to 1912 Winnipeg was home to the most notorious - but vibrant - state-sanctioned 'red light' district in Canada. Naked women allegedly paraded the streets. Booze and sex were sold around the clock. Police raids and social reformers' efforts did little to curtail the burgeoning trade. Eventually, though, the district fell apart. To find out why, journey back through the historical records, including lively testimony from a 1910 Royal Commission called to investigate these women's activities to determine if Winnipeg indeed had, as a prominent Toronto minister claimed, 'the rottenest conditions for social vice in all of Canada.'