Justice committee  I would agree with the statement that was made around concern around the bias and the folks who are represented in those numbers. As was previously mentioned, our study involved 10 years of evidence and is a community-based study. We have sex workers on our team, sex workers collecting data, sex workers informing all aspects of the project and community advisory activities.

Justice committee  Thank you so much. I think you raise a really important question. From what we've seen in the public health literature and our own experience working with sex workers in the context of our research, it's really clear that the stigmas and the values that we hold as a society are very much shaped by public policy and public discourse.

Justice committee  What would be consistent in our advocacy for the repeal of the laws because of the framework that we feel underpins them and the challenges that they pose as a whole.... However, if the committee is debating particular provisions, I would agree with our colleagues around the provisions around communication, advertising, the things that pose barriers to working with supportive third parties.

Justice committee  Maybe I'll jump in here. Yes, we very much agree with our colleagues. We think the overall framework is actually the problem. We do feel that this legislation, like many other similar pieces internationally and that have preceded it in Canada, is really based on this conflation of sex work with the idea of trafficking or exploitation that is very much based on stigmatizing beliefs and often inaccurate knowledge.