MONTREAL -- Quebec is continuing its fight against the sexual exploitation of minors by injecting $19 million over five years into the effort.

The money will be sent to organizations and projects that directly help victims, following the spirit of the lengthy report released by experts on the subject last December.

However, the Legault government hasn't yet followed up on all 58 recommendations made in this comprehensive report, which studied the problem, in most cases, of very young girls who fall under the control of pimps.

Ten months after the report was tabled, the province has adopted 17 of the recommendations from the experts, or 29 per cent of the total.

At a press conference Tuesday, Quebec's public safety minister, Genevieve Guilbault, said the government still intends to follow up on all 58, but the next steps aren't yet clear.

She was accompanied by Geneviève Quinty, a leader in the sector, and by a former victim of sexual exploitation who managed to escape the industry and who didn't want to make her last name public, going by just Clémentine.

She said wanted to tell her story publicly to prevent other young girls like her from experiencing what she did.

"I think that if I really had been told the patterns of these people, the way they work, if we had more prevention, I sincerely think that this situation could have been avoided," she said.

She said police could have helped inform her, and she could have been supported better by others as well. 

"It could have made a difference," she said.

When the current budget was tabled, last March, the government set aside $150 million to fight the sexual exploitation of young people.

In June, Guilbault announced an investment of nearly $100 million to finance an increase in police action. But recruiting police officers interested in this type of work, and able to do it, is hard, she said.

"Tracking pedophiles online from Monday to Friday, all day long -- not everyone has the profile to do these jobs," she said.

Quebec Solidaire MLA Alexandre Leduc said he's disappointed by the lack of transparency from the government around its plans on the issue. He also said policing isn't the only solution.

"Victims must feel supported and considered, but we must also think of more structural measures that would first help them get out of this hell," he said.

"I am thinking in particular of a reform of social assistance to take account of the specific financial realities with which they have to deal."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 5, 2021.