Justice committee  Thanks for asking that question. To begin, I'll just point to the research I had pointed out that just was done with the sex workers in the Downtown Eastside, regarding the Vancouver police's decision to focus more on the clients. They did note there was a slightly improved re

Justice committee  If I could just add to that, we see the same. As much as people are glad to not have to fear going to prison, the police are still pushing people away and giving them tickets, and all this other kind of thing, the harassment, because they are really trying to close the red light

Justice committee  This isn't clear. The criminalization of clients isn't something that's new. The criminalization of clients came in with the communication law in 1985, so this criminalization of clients isn't something that was a new policy. It was just to focus less on the sex workers for commu

Justice committee  Okay, thank you. As an alternative, we really recommend the New Zealand model, in which sex workers have an entrenched right to say no to clients, even if the client has paid, with recourse if they're being abused in the workplace. Really, the “workplaces” that Casandra had outl

Justice committee  Thank you. My name is Robyn Maynard and I'm an outreach worker at Stella. Stella is sex-worker led, a “by and for” sex worker organization. We offer service and advocacy to Montreal-based sex workers. Stella has been around since 1995. Because there were a few comments levelle