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Ottawa was host to a conference Friday on sex trade workers and safety in the wake of the Supreme Court’s December decision striking down some of Canada’s prostitution laws — and the federal government’s bill last week in response.
Members from across the community, from advocacy groups to police to lawyers to community groups, filled the packed a city hall room.
Crime Prevention Ottawa’s conference committee will produce a report in August or September based on the discussion and recommendations.
Here were some of the views:
Frederique Chabot, member of POWER, Prostitutes of Ottawa-Gatineau Work Educate & Resist
Chabot says Bill C-36 recriminalizes an industry and promotes displacement of sex workers.
“For example the communication piece of the new law basically reintroduces the old solicitation law with a little twist,” she says referring to the caveat preventing sex workers from communicating in a public place where a youth could be present.
“We know that (solicitation is) the most enforced laws against sex workers and the one that makes it impossible for sex workers to screen clients, to negotiate the services that they are not ready to provide, safer sex options, as well as location where the client will take the sex worker.
“The government for the first time ever criminalized sex work in criminalizing the purchase of sexual services. Some people think it would end demand and curb prostitution as an industry, but what we have seen … is criminalizing clients or half of the transaction doesn’t mitigate the risk faced by vulnerable members of our communities.”
Michelle Mann-Rempell, lawyer
As Friday’s keynote speaker, it was Mann-Rempell’s job to explain what the Bedford decision “did and didn’t say” and what the government’s response in Bill C-36 will mean for prostitution.
“If it’s passed in the form it is now, there’s no doubt there will be challenges to it. Certainly parts of it look like a repackaging, but there are new elements.”
Mann-Rempell specializes in aboriginal criminal justice and says this is an important aspect of conversations around street-level prostitution.
“They’re overrepresented in the street trade and often times the least likely to move indoors, and that may be because of drug addiction, health issues, STI’s, mental health issues. They’re often quite literally the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in the sex trade.”
Vicky Chief, works with Minwaashin Lodge’s STORM Van
“The criminalization of prostitution is a major safety issue for the women that we work with — street-involved sex trade workers.”
Chief told the group that in the past year, the mobile crew has worked with more than 300 street-based sex workers in Ottawa.
“STORM is not trying to push women out of the sex trade. We’re just trying to basically promote safety, whether that’s harm reduction, whether that’s providing them community resources or connecting them with housing services. (We) try to promote healthier relationships with police and other services they wouldn’t normally feel comfortable accessing on their own.”
Cheryl Parrott, Neighbourhood Connection, John School
Parrott says the program has continued since its pilot in 1996, and has expanded to all communities that experience street level prostitution.
“(John school) made a huge difference in our quality of life in the community. There was a big decrease in the boldness of the johns. Before that you couldn’t walk anywhere without the same car circling three, four, five times, without getting asked how much for a specific service.”
She says there are between four and eight John schools each year. Eligible “johns” must take responsibility for their actions, have no prior convictions and pay the $400 to $500 fee.
“They have a choice. They can go to court or they can go to john school,” says Parrott. “What the legislative changes will do, I’m not sure. It’ll certainly be an interesting process to see how it unfolds, but I can tell you that communities will continue to work so that communities are safe. And it has to be safe for everyone.”
Nancy Worsfold, Crime Prevention Ottawa executive director
“With the Supreme Court ruling back in December we were looking at what implications that would have for community safety and crime prevention here in the city and we thought the most important thing we could do is bring together the different spectrum of opinions and interested parties to look at how could we locally move forward in this changing context. There’s lots of pieces to this puzzle, but we can all agree on the importance of safety.
What are the relationships, what are the partnerships, what are the services necessary for us to move together locally to promote safety for everyone — for neighbourhoods, for sex workers, for young people? The point of this conversation is to figure out what needs to happen.”
查看原文...
Members from across the community, from advocacy groups to police to lawyers to community groups, filled the packed a city hall room.
Crime Prevention Ottawa’s conference committee will produce a report in August or September based on the discussion and recommendations.
Here were some of the views:
Frederique Chabot, member of POWER, Prostitutes of Ottawa-Gatineau Work Educate & Resist
Chabot says Bill C-36 recriminalizes an industry and promotes displacement of sex workers.
“For example the communication piece of the new law basically reintroduces the old solicitation law with a little twist,” she says referring to the caveat preventing sex workers from communicating in a public place where a youth could be present.
“We know that (solicitation is) the most enforced laws against sex workers and the one that makes it impossible for sex workers to screen clients, to negotiate the services that they are not ready to provide, safer sex options, as well as location where the client will take the sex worker.
“The government for the first time ever criminalized sex work in criminalizing the purchase of sexual services. Some people think it would end demand and curb prostitution as an industry, but what we have seen … is criminalizing clients or half of the transaction doesn’t mitigate the risk faced by vulnerable members of our communities.”
Michelle Mann-Rempell, lawyer
As Friday’s keynote speaker, it was Mann-Rempell’s job to explain what the Bedford decision “did and didn’t say” and what the government’s response in Bill C-36 will mean for prostitution.
“If it’s passed in the form it is now, there’s no doubt there will be challenges to it. Certainly parts of it look like a repackaging, but there are new elements.”
Mann-Rempell specializes in aboriginal criminal justice and says this is an important aspect of conversations around street-level prostitution.
“They’re overrepresented in the street trade and often times the least likely to move indoors, and that may be because of drug addiction, health issues, STI’s, mental health issues. They’re often quite literally the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in the sex trade.”
Vicky Chief, works with Minwaashin Lodge’s STORM Van
“The criminalization of prostitution is a major safety issue for the women that we work with — street-involved sex trade workers.”
Chief told the group that in the past year, the mobile crew has worked with more than 300 street-based sex workers in Ottawa.
“STORM is not trying to push women out of the sex trade. We’re just trying to basically promote safety, whether that’s harm reduction, whether that’s providing them community resources or connecting them with housing services. (We) try to promote healthier relationships with police and other services they wouldn’t normally feel comfortable accessing on their own.”
Cheryl Parrott, Neighbourhood Connection, John School
Parrott says the program has continued since its pilot in 1996, and has expanded to all communities that experience street level prostitution.
“(John school) made a huge difference in our quality of life in the community. There was a big decrease in the boldness of the johns. Before that you couldn’t walk anywhere without the same car circling three, four, five times, without getting asked how much for a specific service.”
She says there are between four and eight John schools each year. Eligible “johns” must take responsibility for their actions, have no prior convictions and pay the $400 to $500 fee.
“They have a choice. They can go to court or they can go to john school,” says Parrott. “What the legislative changes will do, I’m not sure. It’ll certainly be an interesting process to see how it unfolds, but I can tell you that communities will continue to work so that communities are safe. And it has to be safe for everyone.”
Nancy Worsfold, Crime Prevention Ottawa executive director
“With the Supreme Court ruling back in December we were looking at what implications that would have for community safety and crime prevention here in the city and we thought the most important thing we could do is bring together the different spectrum of opinions and interested parties to look at how could we locally move forward in this changing context. There’s lots of pieces to this puzzle, but we can all agree on the importance of safety.
What are the relationships, what are the partnerships, what are the services necessary for us to move together locally to promote safety for everyone — for neighbourhoods, for sex workers, for young people? The point of this conversation is to figure out what needs to happen.”
查看原文...
