A Halifax radio station is under fire from a local MP who has publicly denounced its “mail-order bride” contest.
On February 20, Q104 launched “The Male is in the Czech” contest, which includes five nights in Prague, and four dates with a woman from www.czech-bride.com.
The website showcases photographs in the aptly named “Czech women gallery.” The homepage promises a “trustworthy, professional and exclusive matchmaking service” for Czech women and foreign men.
Halifax NDP MP Megan Leslie expressed her anger in the House of Commons on Wednesday after having reportedly received complaints about the contest.
“As a woman, I am furious. As a Canadian, I want to apologize to all Czech women and to the 50,000 women of Czech descent living in Canada,” said Leslie.
Protesters call the contest sexist and dangerous.
“Presenting women as prizes to be won in a contest is kind of appalling at this point, I think,” says Derek Dixon, who helped organized a demonstration outside Q104 on Thursday.
Get daily National news
But the radio station’s program director, J.C. Douglas, is offering no apologies. He says the contest has been misunderstood. While a provocative title was chosen, Douglas says there is no mail-order bride involved, no guarantee of marriage, or intimate contact of any kind.
“If you look beyond the name of the contest… you’ll see that it’s really not a lot more than a European dating game,” he told Postmedia News.
He also insists the agency is not involved in human trafficking, but rather, Czech women who’ve joined an international dating service, which the radio station says it has verified as legitimate. If it wasn’t, “it would have been gone in a minute,” Douglas told Global National‘s Ross Lord on Thursday.
“They are a matchmaking service that has the ultimate goal of putting people together that could lead to matrimony. ”
But protesters don’t buy it.
“We certainly don’t believe that it’s just a dating site,” says Laurie Ehler of the Bryony House Women’s Shelter.
“This is an all-women dating site. Men pay high amounts of membership fees.”
Ehler adds, “(The site) talks about lawyers that help with immigration, to bring your brides to Canada. And…if you go and dig through the site, they’re also linked to other organizations that talk about Czech mail-order brides.”
As Q104 tried to create connections with this controversial contest, some advertisers have called it quits with the radio station.
The contest, open to Nova Scotia residents only, closes Thursday night, which was also International Women’s Day.
SOUND OFF: What do you think of the contest? Would this be an issue if it was for women to win dates with a Czech man? Share your thoughts on the Global News Facebook page or Global National’s Facebook page.
With files from Global National’s Ross Lord and Postmedia News
Comments