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In 2011, Ottawa police took the unprecedented step of publicly warning local sex workers to take extra precautions because of concerns that a serial killer was targeting prostitutes.
That advice — to work in groups or pairs in well-lit areas and carefully screen customers — will be much more difficult for sex workers to follow under proposed federal legislation, the head of a group representing Ottawa prostitutes told the House of Commons Justice Committee on Tuesday.
“Bill C-36 will put sex workers at increased risk of violence,” said Emily Symons, who chairs a group called Prostitutes of Ottawa-Gatineau Work Educate and Resist.
Symons said there is an active sex trade in Ottawa, although she didn’t have numbers. She said that john sweeps and other efforts to move street prostitutes out of neighbourhoods do not reduce the sex trade in the city, but often make the work more difficult.
Some Ottawa area prostitutes work full-time, on the street or indoors; others work just until they have made enough money to cover bills, she said. “Sex workers will do sex work when their oven breaks down, when they have bills to pay.”
Symons said her organization would like to see Canada follow New Zealand’s example and legalize prostitution which, she believes, would help create safer working conditions for prostitutes, answering concerns raised by the Supreme Court of Canada when it struck down existing laws last year.
“We envision a world in which people freely choose to do sex work or not to do sex work, and those who choose to can do so safely.”
She said she would like to see more social supports for those who choose sex work so they are free of harassment or fear of arrest.
Symons’s concerns that the new law would push sex work further underground, making it more dangerous, were echoed by others representing sex workers.
“Sex workers know better than anyone else how these laws will affect their work,” she said.
In contrast to voices such as Symons, the committee has also heard from those — including, notably, Justice Minister Peter McKay - who hope new laws lead to the eradication of prostitution in Canada.
Calgary police Chief Rick Hanson, who also testified Tuesday, said Canadian policy should be the “complete abolition of prostitution, and passing Bill C-36 is required in order for us to reach this goal.”
In order to do that, he said, Canada needs a national strategy including significantly more money than the $20 million allocated in the bill to support exit strategies for people working in prostitution. That amount, he said, is woefully inadequate and would amount to about $125,000 a year for the City of Calgary, for example.
Hanson also said police should use provisions in the bill to arrest prostitutes to help direct them toward other options and “extract” themselves from sex work.
“Research tells us that, regardless of which regime or laws are implemented, those who sell sex are exposed to violence, exploitation, degradation and unpreventable harm. Sex trade workers are overrepresented by aboriginal people and youth, the mentally ill and those suffering from addictions. The only safe regard for those trapped in the sex trade is removal and support.”
Somewhere between those who favour legalization and those who prefer abolition, Portuguese member of parliament Jose Mendes Bota told the committee he believes the Nordic model — which criminalizes johns and pimps and includes social spending for sex workers — is the most successful and workable. He studied prostitution laws across Europe and found the industry grew, as did the control of organized crime, in countries such as Germany in which prostitution is legal.
He also said countries in which prostitution is criminalized did not see a decrease in the industry.
Sweden and other countries where the Nordic model is followed saw a reduction in trafficking, Bota said.
The Supreme Court of Canada struck down existing prostitution laws last December, saying they created severe dangers for vulnerable women. The court gave the federal government one year to bring in new legislation.
Ottawa’s Symons said the new prostitution laws proposed by the government “are even worse than what we had before.”
epayne@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
That advice — to work in groups or pairs in well-lit areas and carefully screen customers — will be much more difficult for sex workers to follow under proposed federal legislation, the head of a group representing Ottawa prostitutes told the House of Commons Justice Committee on Tuesday.
“Bill C-36 will put sex workers at increased risk of violence,” said Emily Symons, who chairs a group called Prostitutes of Ottawa-Gatineau Work Educate and Resist.
Symons said there is an active sex trade in Ottawa, although she didn’t have numbers. She said that john sweeps and other efforts to move street prostitutes out of neighbourhoods do not reduce the sex trade in the city, but often make the work more difficult.
Some Ottawa area prostitutes work full-time, on the street or indoors; others work just until they have made enough money to cover bills, she said. “Sex workers will do sex work when their oven breaks down, when they have bills to pay.”
Symons said her organization would like to see Canada follow New Zealand’s example and legalize prostitution which, she believes, would help create safer working conditions for prostitutes, answering concerns raised by the Supreme Court of Canada when it struck down existing laws last year.
“We envision a world in which people freely choose to do sex work or not to do sex work, and those who choose to can do so safely.”
She said she would like to see more social supports for those who choose sex work so they are free of harassment or fear of arrest.
Symons’s concerns that the new law would push sex work further underground, making it more dangerous, were echoed by others representing sex workers.
“Sex workers know better than anyone else how these laws will affect their work,” she said.
In contrast to voices such as Symons, the committee has also heard from those — including, notably, Justice Minister Peter McKay - who hope new laws lead to the eradication of prostitution in Canada.
Calgary police Chief Rick Hanson, who also testified Tuesday, said Canadian policy should be the “complete abolition of prostitution, and passing Bill C-36 is required in order for us to reach this goal.”
In order to do that, he said, Canada needs a national strategy including significantly more money than the $20 million allocated in the bill to support exit strategies for people working in prostitution. That amount, he said, is woefully inadequate and would amount to about $125,000 a year for the City of Calgary, for example.
Hanson also said police should use provisions in the bill to arrest prostitutes to help direct them toward other options and “extract” themselves from sex work.
“Research tells us that, regardless of which regime or laws are implemented, those who sell sex are exposed to violence, exploitation, degradation and unpreventable harm. Sex trade workers are overrepresented by aboriginal people and youth, the mentally ill and those suffering from addictions. The only safe regard for those trapped in the sex trade is removal and support.”
Somewhere between those who favour legalization and those who prefer abolition, Portuguese member of parliament Jose Mendes Bota told the committee he believes the Nordic model — which criminalizes johns and pimps and includes social spending for sex workers — is the most successful and workable. He studied prostitution laws across Europe and found the industry grew, as did the control of organized crime, in countries such as Germany in which prostitution is legal.
He also said countries in which prostitution is criminalized did not see a decrease in the industry.
Sweden and other countries where the Nordic model is followed saw a reduction in trafficking, Bota said.
The Supreme Court of Canada struck down existing prostitution laws last December, saying they created severe dangers for vulnerable women. The court gave the federal government one year to bring in new legislation.
Ottawa’s Symons said the new prostitution laws proposed by the government “are even worse than what we had before.”
epayne@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
