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peelerchic

New member
May 5, 2016
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How Canada’s Legislation Negatively Impacts Consensual Sex Work for Women

Our editor Jenn discusses Bill C-36 and Female-Identified Sex Workers

by Jennifer McDermid July 13, 2016, 9:50 am

http://fembotmag.com/2016/07/13/how...tively-impacts-consensual-sex-work-for-women/

In a 2014 report written by Canadian Conservative MP, Joy Smith, the ardent anti-sex work activist suggests “…prostitution dehumanizes and degrades individuals and reduces them to a commodity to be bought and sold.” Smith’s misguided statement is reflective of a larger political discussion that has emerged in Canada over the past several years, revolving around the rights of sex workers. Specifically, the argument turns on the ideological question of whether sex work is a legitimate form of labour or an indefensible kind of sexual exploitation. As policy-makers attempt to discern the best course of action, little attention is given to sex workers themselves.
..and because of her (their) view of sex workers and sex work, sps etc don't deserve to be protected? Or even to be able to protect themselves properly? Because they can't discern what to do with us....lol
 

HaywoodJabloemy

Dissident
Apr 3, 2002
657
0
0
Never the safest place
http://cnews.canoe.com/CNEWS/Canada/2016/10/17/22675279.html?cid=rssnewscanada#.WAWlk_iKr0k.twitter
As they make calls to unsuspecting sex workers and set up "dates," the door knocks.

A woman thinks she is there to meet a customer, a person who will pay her for sex. Instead, she meets officers...

The women all react differently to the initial contact with the detective. Some are hostile, as they realize the ruse means money has been lost...

The parade of workers continues, now into a third hour. Now, a fifth knock at the door...
Even though they can't (and don't) charge any of them, police set up what amounts to a 'sting' operation to confront unsuspecting escorts, under the pretense of helping them?
They don't find any of the under-aged women forced into the business they say they are looking for, but the women in their 40s having their time wasted by this idiocy are still allegedly societal 'victims'?
As was asked in Now a few years back after a local CTV report about a similar operation in Toronto, how about doing something real to reach out and help, if that is the supposed goal?
http://nowtoronto.com/lifestyle/special-report-hoes-in-toronto/
 

Terminator2000

Well-known member
Jun 16, 2007
3,364
101
63
Sex workers, advocates march against violence in downtown Vancouver

by KURTIS DOERING
Posted Dec 17, 2016 3:57 pm PST

http://www.news1130.com/2016/12/17/sex-workers-advocates-march-violence-downtown-vancouver/

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It may be known as the world’s oldest profession, but despite its long history, advocates say sex work remains clouded by stigma and misunderstanding.

So today, sex workers, their supporters, and their advocates are trying to clear the air with a public discussion and red umbrella march through downtown Vancouver.

The event is part of the international day to end violence against sex workers, which started in 2003 as a memorial for the victims of the Green River Killer in Seattle.

“Whether or not you believe that sex work is an okay thing for a person to do, I think we can all agree that nobody should be subjected to stigma or violence, that nobody should be shut out of their community,” says Brenna Bezanson, community liaison for the Providing Alternatives, Counselling and Education (PACE) Society, based on West Hastings.

“In any other industry, if there was a workplace death, we would look to labour standards, we would look to labour rights, we would look to human rights as a way of protecting those workers.”

Bezanson argues Canada’s legal system is still failing to keep sex workers from harm, and that the Harper government’s overhauls to prostitution laws only made penalties harsher.

Part of the problem, she says, is that public policy is being shaped by outside academics instead of by those within the sex worker community.

“For the most part, it’s people who aren’t sex workers speaking for sex workers, and making decisions over what is and isn’t acceptable for sex workers to do.”

Bezanson adds however that Vancouver’s sex workers benefit from a police department which has committed to a more progressive approach to prostitution.
ya like this is going to reappeal c-36. [Sarcasm]
 

drlove

Ph.D. in Pussyology
Oct 14, 2001
4,709
52
48
The doctor is in
Canada: Racial and Gender Justice for Sex Workers

February 8, 2017 - 12:00pm

By Anna-Louise Crago and Robyn Maynard

http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/2017/02/08/canada-racial-and-gender-justice-sex-workers...Indeed, many local police departments had already adopted an “end demand” enforcement strategy. One study found that in Vancouver, this led to displacement, isolated working conditions, and high levels of violence against the most marginalized sex workers—cis and trans women street sex workers, a large proportion of whom are Indigenous or racialized. This echoes Amnesty International’s finding that, as Catherine Murphy describes in an article by Melissa Gira Grant in The Nation, Norway’s Nordic Model-laws are, “having the most detrimental impact on the most marginalized sex workers who are predominantly migrant women working on the street, of Nigerian descent.”...[/I]
I thought the Vancouver Police Department issued a statement that they weren't going after consenting adults...
 

MuffLover

Member
Aug 17, 2001
151
1
18
Richmond Hill
Toronto 'body rubber' advocates new laws for sale of sex

Guidelines should protect sex workers, says Onyx Ronin

Feb 16, 2017
By Jeremy Grimaldi

http://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/7077250-toronto-body-rubber-advocates-new-laws-for-sale-of-sex/

Onyx Ronin lives in the shadows when she's at work. She and countless women like her occupy the grey areas of law, somewhere between legitimacy and criminality. Society at large might prefer to forget her profession exists, rather than admit it's not only real, but a flourishing industry.

She's a "body rubber," as defined by the laws that govern her career. She has never been arrested and says she sees police “maybe once a year.”

People might think Ronin, her working name, and her peers destroy families and corrupt men. But she sees her job in a different light and believes you should, too.

"I feel that I relieve a lot of road rage," she said during a recent interview. "People are stressed in this world; when they're on the table, they are happy and relaxed. When I'm touching someone, I feel relaxed and comfortable and I'm sharing an experience with someone.

“It's about selling intimacy, the human touch, to feel connected to someone else.”

The 28-year-old employee of the female-owned MUSE Spa, which has locations in Vaughan and Toronto, is open about her work. She says “there's nothing wrong with having sex for money," although that's not what she does.

"People do all sorts of things for money," she says. "I don't understand why we are so stuck on this idea that sexuality can't be commodified in this one particular way when people accept it being commodified in so many other ways."

At the spa, she gives "full body erotic massages" largely to men aged 40 to 50. She says MUSE targets men at a higher price point, suggesting her clients are rarely, if ever, intoxicated, and very "respectful." But she says she can’t speak generally about her profession: "As for other girls, I don't know."

Ronin studied classical music at the University of Toronto, before studying sex work as part of her master’s degree at York University. After graduation, she worked retail jobs. She entered the industry at 25 and immediately saw an extraordinary jump in pay, she says, explaining she now makes between $80 and $300 an hour.

According to MUSE's website, 30 minutes with an attendant costs $120, $40 for a "door fee" and $80 of which goes to the attendant.

Ronin decided to share her story and opinions after MUSE's Vaughan location was robbed on Dec. 28, 2016. At the time, York Regional Police Det. Sgt. Dave Noseworthy said many massage parlours don't report robberies because neither employers nor employees want publicity. That, says Ronin, shows the law, in its current form, doesn't properly protect workers in the sex trade.

"I would like to see lawmakers looking through the lens that there's nothing morally wrong with providing sexual services for money," she said. "I would like them to ask, 'How can we help people work without shame and afford them the same rights that everyone else is protected by law?'"

The current law, a complicated set of guidelines, criminalizes the buying of sex and the advertising of “sexual services”, York police Det. Sgt. Thai Truong explained.

Ian McLeod, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice, says any person who purchases sexual services, including manual masturbation, in any place, including a massage parlour, commits an offence. McLeod added that the Minister of Justice has committed to monitoring the impacts of Bill C-36, which regulates prostitution.

Ronin, like others in her trade, needs a municipality-issued licence that has her name, photograph and home address to work as a “body rubber.” She must also pass a communicable disease test.

She suggests the federal government needs to draft new measures to ensure women and girls are not being forced into the profession and exploited. She envisions a society where all sex workers are in constant contact with the authorities, which would improve the chances of helping those that don't want to be there.

“It should be legal and protected, just like every other job,” she said.

Ronin says her job doesn’t suit everyone and businesses see a high turnover, but she insists that her experience has been positive.

“As much as this job is not for everyone, it is for me,” she said. “I’m a normal person, I am a happy person. I am choosing to do this.”
In addition to this article appearing in the Richmond Hill Liberal paper last week, which was a big surprise, I was even more surprised to read the editorial in the same issue saying that the editor agreed with the article. I also noted that the editor is a man, but his 2 superiors are both women. The paper is distributed free to all residents, but obviously depends upon revenues from advertisers. I really appreciate their open-minded attitude and courage of their convictions in an here-to-fore conservative community.

Mufflover
 

escapefromstress

New member
Mar 15, 2012
944
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HAMILTON - Sex worker assaulted near Barton Street

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/sex-worker-attacked-1.3993195

Police are looking for a man they say assaulted a sex worker on Sunday

Hamilton police need the public's help after someone attacked and sexually assaulted a sex worker this weekend.

Police say the woman was standing alone on Barton Street near Birch Avenue around 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 19 when a man approached her.

They walked to a secluded area a few blocks away, police say. Then the man physically attacked and sexually assaulted her.

In a news release, police said they were letting people know about this incident in case the man is intentionally targeting people working within the sex trade.

The suspect is described as a man with a dark complexion in his late 20s to early 30s. He is between five foot six and five foot seven, with a heavy build, short black hair and black scruffy facial hair.

Police say he wore a grey/black hooded sweatshirt and a black baseball cap.

Anyone with information should call Det. Candace Culp from the Hamilton Police Service sexual assault unit at 905-540-5545 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
 
I thought the Vancouver Police Department issued a statement that they weren't going after consenting adults...
I can't seem to find it but as I recall after C36 Vancover PD had a press release implying not going after IN PRIVATE consenting ADULTS. They are still enforcing street work due to the public nuisance factor. I recall Toronto PD said similar that there would be no change in enforcement. I am amazed at the number of under aged busts which of course we all support going after those that take advantage of under aged folks.

From my monitoring of Reverdy's great reporting since C36 seems like almost all arrests are street work and most of not all, complaint driven. Other than a few isolated cases in some conservative cities, I don't recall any in private C36 arrests in GTA, Vancouver, Victoria or Montreal, for IN PRIVATE consenting adults, but haven't read every report.

If anyone has a link to Toronto PD release I would appreciate it.

I found this in my records from Vancouver but think they had another one later:
November 7 2014 Vancouver City Hall
The City is concerned with the passing of Bill C-36, Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, as research confirms that criminalization of sex workers puts people engaged in sex work at further risk of increased violence.

The passing of Bill C-36:
Undermines the health and safety of sex workers Increases social exclusion and pushes sex workers to work in more isolated areas

What this decision means for the City going forward Going forward, the collective focus needs to continue to be on the health and safety of sex workers and the communities that they live and work. The City remains committed to this, and in October 2014, Mayor and Council adopted Vancouver’s Healthy City Strategy, which identifies 13 goals, including:

Safety and inclusion To promote health and well-being for all A target to make Vancouver the safest major city in Canada by reducing crimes, including sexual assault, year-over-year

The City will continue to work in partnership with community groups and the provincial government to minimize safety risks and harms for sex workers. This includes:

Addressing all forms of exploitation and abuse Providing opportunities for education and awareness Enabling access to health and social service gaps Creating transitioning opportunities for those seeking to exit

City urged the federal government to refer the proposed legislation to the Supreme Court In submissions to the Federal Government, the City urged that the proposed legislation be referred to the Supreme Court to ensure its compliance with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the spirit of the Bedford Decision: prioritizing the health, safety and dignity of those it’s declared to protect. The City also asked that there be consultation, which previously did not take place, with municipalities across the country on potential impacts.

In 2013 the City provided over $400,000 in grants to 11 community organizations to:
Promote sex worker health and safety
Address child and youth sexual exploitation

http://vancouver.ca/news-calendar/city-response-to-passing-of-bill-c-36.aspx

I also have:
Toronto According to Chief Bill Blair's spokesperson, Mark Pugash, the new law hasn't changed the way the force is dealing with prostitution. They continue to rely on complaints. Pugash says public safety is the force's "highest concern," but he seems to be talking more about residents' concerns than the safety of sex workers. "If the complaints we get require us to use tools we didn't have before, then we will do that."

York Region One of the officers overseeing York Region's vice squad, Detective Sergeant Peter Casey says the new law has changed the department's focus. The force is spending more time on human trafficking. "Not that it was legal before, but the government did say when proposing the bill that this was something they wanted to focus on, so we're putting some of our focus on that," he says, "particularly those who are seeking the services of young girls in the sex trade under the age of 18."
 

lenny2

Well-known member
Jan 18, 2012
3,574
729
113
I thought the Vancouver Police Department issued a statement that they weren't going after consenting adults...
They did.

Since Bill C-36, I am not aware of any case where they have gone after consenting adult sex participants, whether of the street scene or indoors. This inaction in that regard is in keeping with their word implying that they would not do so.

Before C-36 they sometimes set up street stings. Arrested clients were given the option of going to a "john's school".

https://terb.cc/vbulletin/showthrea...n-t-change-enforcing-priorities-with-Bill-c36
 

escapefromstress

New member
Mar 15, 2012
944
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Policy Brief: The Decriminalisation of Third Parties

http://www.nswp.org/resource/policy-brief-the-decriminalisation-third-parties

Submitted by NSWP on 13th March 2017
Download this resource:
PDF icon Policy Brief The Decriminalisation of Third Parties, NSWP - 2016.pdf
Year: 2017

This global policy brief summarises the research on the decriminalisation of third parties. It sets out in detail why NSWP and its members call for the decriminalisation of third parties. It explores some of the key harms that are caused to sex workers as a result of the criminalisation of third parties. The paper concludes by reviewing available evidence, showing that the decriminalisation of third parties protects sex workers rights, enabling them to challenge abusive and exploitative working conditions and exert greater control over their working environment. A community guide will be available soon.

Contents include:


  • Introduction
  • Who are third parties?
  • Criminalisation of third parties obstructs HIV prevention
  • Criminalisation of third parties forces sex workers to compromise their safety
  • Sex workers are prosecuted under third party laws
  • Family and friends of sex workers can be prosecuted under third party laws
  • Third party laws can be used by the police to limit sex workers’ ability to access services such as housing
  • Third party relationships under decriminalisation
  • Conclusions and recommendations
This resource is useful for policy makers and legislators interested in knowing more about the impacts of the criminalisation of third parties on sex workers. It is also useful for sex workers and sex workers’ rights activists in their advocacy work against the criminalisation of third parties.

You can download this 12 page PDF above. This resource will be available in Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish.
 

escapefromstress

New member
Mar 15, 2012
944
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Sex workers facing increased safety risks

Working alone, fear of police, inability to properly screen clients the norm since Bill C-36 passed 2 years ago
By Amanda Silliker
01/30/2017|Canadian Occupational Safety

http://www.cos-mag.com/ohs-laws-regu...-safety-risks/

Jade is going into a client meeting alone. She does not have a lone worker monitoring device and knows very little about the client. These meetings often occur after hours and out of public view. Like many jobs, she is at risk for a variety of occupational health and safety issues, such as workplace violence, mental health problems and musculoskeletal disorders. But unlike other workers, Jade does not have health and safety legislation to protect her. In fact, there is currently legislati**on in place that is exposing her to even more safety risks.

“It infringes on my right to safety and security… And the possibility of working with a network of people for both safety and camaraderie is near to impossible without breaking the criminal law,” says Jade. “I am disconnected from all the supports I previously had and the layers of security are gone.”

Jade is a 50-year-old sex worker who has been operating as an escort north of Toronto for 16 years. In December 2014, the Conservative government put the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA) in place, which made it an offense under the Criminal Code to purchase sexual services, communicate for that purpose and receive material benefit from sex work.

“Many people may believe that Canada’s new laws around sex work are having a big impact on buyers without bringing harm to the workers. But my experience has been the exact opposite since the laws were changed in 2014 and buying sex became a crime,” Jade says in a report by the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform.

The act was the Conservative government’s response to the prostitution laws that were struck down by the Supreme Court of Canada in the Canada (Attorney General) v. Bedford decision in December 2013. In a unanimous 9-0 decision, the highest court said the laws prohibiting bawdy houses, living off the avails of prostitution and communicating in public with clients infringed the rights of prostitutes by depriving them of security of the person.

“The prohibitions all heighten the risk the applicants face in prostitution — itself a legal activity,” Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote in the decision. “They do not merely impose conditions on how prostitutes operate. They go a step further by imposing dangerous conditions on prostitution; they prevent people engaged in a risky — but legal — activity from taking steps to protect themselves from the risks.”

The Supreme Court gave the government one year to come up with new laws, saying although the challenged provisions violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it does not mean Parliament is precluded from imposing limits on where and how prostitution may be conducted, as long as it does so in a way that does not infringe on the constitutional rights of prostitutes. And PCEPA, formerly Bill C-36, was born, but it brought with it many of the same issues that were struck down in Bedford.

“My overall reaction to Bill C-36 was one of concern… because it appears as though the bill risks exacerbating as opposed to ameliorating the conditions that were identified in Bedford as posing risks to sex trade workers,” says Stephany Mandin, partner at Goldman Hine in Toronto.

Two years later, many of the health and safety concerns that scholars, lawyers and industry experts had around the act have materialized. Arlene Pitts at York University in Toronto interviewed street-based sex workers who said the new law, at times, increases daily fears around safety, arrest, police harassment and discrimination.

“Criminalization continues to force them to work in unsafe environments,” says Pitts in her report, Remembering Bedford. “The current anti-sex work laws and regulations governing sex workers’ lives, labour and bodies continue to gravely impact sex workers.”

continued ...
 

escapefromstress

New member
Mar 15, 2012
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... continued from previous post ...

Amendments

Prostitution is legal in Canada but PCEPA criminalizes several activities around it. For starters, the act amends the Criminal Code to make it an offence to purchase sexual services. However, the act does not actually define “sexual services.” This could include everything from services performed by street-level prostitutes, massage parlours attendants and escorts, to work done over web cam or telephone.

The purchasing provision is driving sex work further underground due to fear of arrest, and sex workers and their clients are seeking out more isolated and dangerous locations to engage in this work, says Mandin. The penalties include jail time, up to five years in some cases (if the sex worker is over 18), and fines. The act outlines specific penalties for purchasing sexual services both from someone under the age of 18 and from an adult.

In addition, making the purchase of these services illegal means sex workers have decreased ability to screen clients, increasing their risk of violence.

“Now that purchasing sexual services is a crime in Canada, screening is more difficult than ever. I used to be able to get a new client’s name and references easily. The new laws have created a climate of fear and clients are afraid of providing personal information,” says Carmen, a sex worker in Vancouver who was interviewed as part of the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform report.

PCEPA also amends the Criminal Code to create an offence that prohibits receiving a material benefit from sex work. This would result in up to 10 years in prison, if the benefit was from an adult providing the sexual services. This is essentially the same as the previous “living off the avails of prostitution” law that was struck down in Bedford. While the purpose of the law was to “target pimps and the parasitic, exploitative conduct in which they engage,” the law actually punished “everyone who lives off the avails of prostitution without distinguishing between those who exploit prostitutes and those who could increase the safety and security of prostitutes, for example, legitimate drivers, managers or bodyguards,” McLachlin wrote in her decision. This would hold true for the PCEPA provision as well. It also punishes anyone involved in business with a sex worker, such as accountants or receptionists.

Both of these provisions — purchasing sexual services and receiving a material benefit from sex work — essentially make it illegal to run a bawdy house, despite the fact that this is widely accepted as one of the safest ways to conduct sex work. The Bedford decision noted that bawdy houses improve prostitutes’ safety by providing “proximity to others, familiarity with surroundings, security staff, closed-circuit television and other such monitoring that a permanent indoor location can facilitate.”

The court noted that preventing sex workers from working in a safe indoor location is “grossly disproportionate to the deterrence of community disruption,” also noting that “Parliament has the power to regulate against nuisances, but not at the cost of the health, safety and lives of prostitutes.”

Since the escort agency Jade was working for closed after PCEPA came into force in 2014, she operates alone and says she is more at risk than ever before.

“I worked with agencies because it afforded me greater safety. Callers are aware that there is a driver with you and that you are part of a network of people who know exactly where you are. That’s why being able to work in groups is so important, but it’s illegal under current laws,” she says.

According to Amnesty International, “working in isolation places sex workers in a vulnerable situation at risk of robbery, physical assault and rape.”

The purchasing of sex and material benefit provisions also eliminate the ability to have “safe houses” where street-level sex workers — the most vulnerable — can take their clients. The Bedford decision noted that safe houses for some prostitutes may be critical. For example, around the same time as convicted serial killer Robert Pickton was preying on prostitutes in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, a safe house called Grandma’s House was established, only to be shut down.

“A law that prevents street prostitutes from resorting to a safe haven such as Grandma’s House while a suspected serial killer prowls the streets is a law that has lost sight of its purpose,” McLachlin wrote in the Supreme Court decision.

Maud, a street-based sex worker who participated in research by POWER (Prostitutes of Ottawa-Gatineau Work Educate & Resist), says a safe place to take clients would increase safety.

“Then they could also monitor a little. Girls are missing and get beat up and we still haven’t found them years later. Nobody has a clue where they are,” she says. “We need a place where we can go.”

Another amendment in PCEPA is around communication. The act not only says it is an offence to communicate in any place for the purpose of purchasing sexual services, it also expressly prohibits such communication in a public place (or place that is open to public view) that is next to a school ground, playground or daycare centre.

The issue of communication in a public place was already struck down in the Bedford decision and McLachlin said it prevented prostitutes from screening potential clients for intoxication and propensity to violence. She said this was a “grossly disproportionate response to the possibility of nuisance caused by street prostitution.” The decision noted face-to-face communication for screening is “an essential tool” for enhancing the safety of street prostitutes.

“(It’s about) allowing the sex trade worker himself or herself to have control. To be able to say yae or nay, to have an open public space where they can call for help, where they can accept or reject a client,” says Mandin.

It also allows the sex worker to negotiate services, set boundaries and establish fees.

But the new communication laws in PCEPA have the continued effect of displacing sex workers to more secluded, less secure locations, says Mandin.

“Find me a place in downtown Toronto that doesn’t have a school, park or child. What they are doing is forcing this work… into the dark spaces, alleyways, literally the underground.”

Another amendment from the exploited persons act is creating an offence that prohibits the advertisement of sexual services. This means sex workers are using a lot of euphemisms and not really explaining what services they offer, which ultimately creates a health and safety issue, says Jenn Clamen, co-ordinator of the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform, a group of 28 sex worker rights and allied groups based in 17 cities across Canada.

“When you are not able to openly and adequately advertise and speak to what it is that’s happening in a session, there is a lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding and that’s not fun for anyone in any kind of service,” she says. “That creates a climate of tension and stress and discomfort.”

Overall, the amendments in PCEPA have created an increased fear of police, which only further harms their health and safety.

“The problem with criminalizing any aspect of sex work is it creates and maintains and promotes an antagonism with police,” says Clamen. “And so sex workers are at every moment avoiding police and that means in conditions where there is exploitation or where violence is being experienced, they are still avoiding police.”

Violence can include everything from physical violence to verbal abuse and sexual assault. Street-level sex workers are the most vulnerable, with 78 per cent of these workers being victims of physical assault during their sex work careers, according to POWER. Comparatively, 25 per cent of indoor workers have been physically assaulted.

Beth, a street-based sex worker who participated in POWER’s research, was a victim of violence, but was not able to get help from police.

“I was just coming out of an alley; I had just been raped. I had been hit over my head with a brick. My head was gushing blood. I flagged a cop and he told me to call my own fucking ambulance… and he told me he had no time for me. Then he left,” says Beth. “I couldn’t even walk.”

Beth says she is so used to violence that she considers it “part of the job.”

Other OHS issues

Aside from the health and safety issues identified in Bedford and that PCEPA brings to light, sex workers face a variety of occupational health and safety concerns. While sexual health may be the first issue to come to mind, it is often not always the primary health concern.

“Sex workers, for the most part, are quite skilled at sexual health because their body is their working tool and they know how to protect it,” says Clamen.

Like others working in personal service and manual jobs, musculoskeletal problems can be a “real concern” for sex workers, according to the May 2015 report Sex Work in Canada by Cecilia Benoit and Leah Shumka. For example, they often experience muscle and joint paint as well as chronic pain in their upper backs, shoulders, feet and ankles.

Other health problems, such as arthritis, fibromyalgia and gastrointestinal illnesses appear to be common among women working in the sex industry, found the report.

Many sex workers consider their mental and emotional health to be the most important and the hardest to maintain, found the report. Sex workers have reported post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, psychosis and eating disorders.

A lot of the health issues sex workers face stem from the stigma and the stress of being marginalized, the report says.

Next steps

Since the Liberal government came into power, the new Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould has met with a number of groups about PCEPA, including sex-worker advocacy groups, anti-human trafficking groups, law enforcement and the legal community, according to her press secretary Valérie Gervais.

“The minister has specifically committed to reviewing whether or not former Bill C-36 addresses all of the issues identified in the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2013 Bedford decision,” she says. “Engagement with groups representing those most affected by C-36 has begun and will continue throughout the review process.”

Gervais was not able to confirm a timeline or specific outcomes at this point.

Clamen is “slightly optimistic” that the current government will give sex workers more room to engage with lawmakers and that they will consult with them in a meaningful way.

“This is quite urgent. This isn’t a joke; it’s not an opinion, not an ideology lobby. These are really important pieces of legislation that are having very real impacts on people every day,” she says.

As a starting point, the Liberal government should go back to Bedford and see what the Supreme Court said about protecting the human dignity and security of sex workers, says Mandin.

Then it should look at “revising the bill with the view of creating laws that instead of having the effect of a back-door criminalization, actually address the issues and improve on those risks to sex trade workers,” she says.

Some provisions need defined exceptions, such as the material benefit law, so sex workers can hire drivers but are protected from exploitation by pimps, for example, says Mandin.

Most importantly, the purchasing of sexual services needs to be decriminalized, she says.

“By prohibiting the purchase of sexual services you’re recreating the situation that the court in Bedford was trying to prevent,” says Mandin, who suspects the act will come up against a charter challenge. “I understand limits but I think that a blanket criminalization is problematic.”

Clamen and the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform do not believe there needs to be any specific criminal laws to regulate prostitution. Clamen points to a “whole slew” of other laws against sexual assault, kidnapping and confinement, abuse, underage issues and trafficking that would protect sex workers and address some of the broader concerns without specific legislation.

“Other industries don’t have police engaged with their work at all times. If there is a noise complaint, there’s a noise complaint — in a bakery, a brothel or a nightclub. But the police are not engaged in the regulation of your industry. It’s that element we are really looking to remove,” says Clamen.

Prostitution is legal in many countries around the world and there are myriad examples, each with pros and cons, that Canada could follow. The most expansive is New Zealand where sex work is recognized as legitimate work and treated the same as other workplaces. For example, licensed brothels operate under public health, occupational health and safety and employment laws. This model is most similar to what Clamen and the alliance are looking for.

At the end of May, Amnesty International published a policy and research on the protection of sex workers’ rights. It makes several calls on governments, including the participation of sex workers in the development of laws that affect their safety. It recommends the decriminalization of consensual sex work, including those laws that prohibit associated activities, such as bans on “buying, solicitation and general organization of sex work.” It says this is based on evidence that these laws make sex workers less safe.

http://www.cos-mag.com/ohs-laws-regulations/32364-sex-workers-facing-increased-safety-risks/
 

The "Bone" Ranger

tits lover
Aug 5, 2006
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Does anybody know if the cops have been more active in York Region - I went to a hotel today near Woodbine/7 and while I was waiting in my car a marked car went by really close, even stopped and then continued on.

I was speaking to the SP and she said that sometimes they will come into her room and talk to her to make sure "she is safe" (translation not being pimped). I had another SP tell me the same thing where they will note down their ID and take a picture.

This all sounds very disturbing...
 
Is it just me? Using Chome latest - I cannot read this thread beyond page 56. All links to later pages or "last" just wind up back at page 56 of 63 :(

Tried IE and pages are different and stuck on page 70 of 79 this same thread!!

On Firefox its same as Chrome stuck on page 56 of 63 and cannot see more recent.

edit; And this note of mine also shows on page 56 of 63 below the prior note 1660 from 2/10/2018. Maybe this is the latest and there is no pages 57 etc like the forum shows.
 
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