Thank you, Chairman, and members of Parliament, for this fantastic opportunity.
I would like to take a brief moment to point out that I have not heard MP Joy Smith ask sex workers questions regarding the comments they have shared here. I would like to extend MP Smith an invitation to ask me anything she likes, and I will answer honestly.
I would like to state that it is an honour to speak to this committee. My name is Elizabeth Dussault, and I'm 30 years old. I would like to give you a little bit of my background to aid in understanding my points of view. I have been a sex worker for the past four and a half years. I started working in Australia in the sex industry, and when I came back to Canada I continued to work on and off. While in Australia and in Canada, I have worked for an escort company as an independent escort, and worked in several brothels. I have been advocating for improved and progressive laws and better working conditions for the sex industry for two years now. I have written a document for Edmonton’s bylaw enforcement services, been in the Metro News newspaper, the Edmonton Journal, and on Citytv's Breakfast Television Edmonton.
Then Prostitutes Involved, Empowered, Cogent—Edmonton, also known as PIECE, found me and gave me a home with their amazing group of women. As a brief aside, the median age of entry into sex work among the PIECE group is 26.5 years of age. We are fighting to speak for all prostitutes because so many of these women are fearful to speak due to what happens to them when they do. Let me tell you what happened to me.
I personally have lost my two jobs at brothels, as well as being fired from my lifeguarding and swimming teacher position, for being an advocate. PIECE knows that Bill C-36 will send sex workers further into the shadows, leaving them prey to abuse, rape, and serial killers such Pickton and others. I offer you another path. I have seen full legalization and ensuing regulations that leave sex workers safe, empowered, and treated as any human being in any job. I have partaken in a society that is progressive, where the clients are respectful and educated, the general society is accepting and enlightened, and where sex workers are upstanding citizens who contribute to their society.
Bill C-36 will not do this in the slightest. What will come if this bill passes will be disastrous and dangerous, unleashing further opportunities for fear, abuse, neglect, increased exploitation, and of course more deaths. My understanding of the Supreme Court's decision was that the current laws are not constitutional. Accepting this to be true, Bill C-36 is the rewriting of old stricken laws using similar, but different, terminology. However, buying it, advertising it, having a safe haven for workers, and criminalizing anyone who might be involved in protecting them equates to making the entire business of selling sex for money virtually illegal. This is in no way a solution to prostitution.
It is a very ancient profession and is not going anywhere. Canada will never be rid of it. Opting to stay in the dark ages and pushing sex workers into unsafe environments such as not having brothels where there is safety in numbers, not allowing them to be near one another on the streets, will effectively result in harm and death. In no other controversial job does the government remove workers' rights, make their jobs more unsafe, and turn a blind eye. Quite the contrary happens.
For example, liquor, gaming, guns, oil, and diamond mining are widely debated and fought against by religious groups, extremists, and other organizations. However, the government responded in kind with legalizing, regulating, and doing everything in its power to protect the general population from the detriment that can occur if these industries run amok. Canada created establishments and made zoning rules for these industries, devised and enforced rules to keep the public and the workers safe, and then taxed and benefited from these industries. This creates jobs, helps the economy, and establishes safety for all Canadians. This is what sex workers deserve in accordance with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Currently, sex workers are ostracized, neglected, and misunderstood by the government and the public. Workers are scared and fearful, even of the police who are supposed to serve and protect them. Bill C-36 will exacerbate these concerns. To me, coming from Australia to Canada and seeing the differences, the current laws here are appalling. To know that it could get even worse makes me sick to my stomach. I fear for every sex worker across Canada. I fear for every sex worker across Canada.
Since my media coverage I have been struggling to find a job in the sex industry and in respectable society. The sex industry fears hiring me because they will be arrested for their association with me. I am alienated from respectable society because I am a sex worker. I am ostracized from both sides. I said loud and proud that I choose to be a sex worker, that it exists, and that we are humans.
I have a clean criminal record. I am addiction free. I was an honour student who took all AP classes. I was also hand-picked as the only representative of my 2,000 person high school to go to Ottawa for a conference. I am an upstanding citizen who went to Grant MacEwan University majoring in political science and was selected to go to Ottawa to participate in a mock United Nations debate for a week.
I have travelled the world alone, worked for Environment Canada, Alberta Health, Telus, the University of Alberta, Grant MacEwan University, and the YMCA. I sit here now before you as a Canadian citizen, as a sex worker, and as a human imploring you to see reason and not allow this bill to go through. It will bring about chaos and death that our country does not have to endure.
Australian brothels and escort companies are run as legitimate businesses. They advertise, have open and honest discussions with their customers about services, and are zoned in specific areas away from schools and religious institutions.
I never saw a worker on the streets, as they are safe working as escorts or protected in studios. In Australia I could be open about my work and people would respond with kindness, respect, and general understanding of what I do, even if they disagreed with my choice. I have personally never met anybody who was human trafficked or underage in the industry.
I had an Australian working holiday visa, and immigration came in and checked up on me. They saw I was there by choice, had a visa, was capable of working and wished me good day.
I always felt safe and protected. I worked in a healthy, happy environment where we worked as a team and they educated me. I was even given a little red book that includes information on health issues, testing locations, consulates, and important phone numbers such as the police. It was in six different languages.
I had opportunities to get out of the industry if I wanted. I was never forced to do anything against my will. In fact I was supported to listen to my gut, be safe, and encouraged to have a healthy self-esteem and see myself as a productive member of society.
I arrived back in Canada and what I found was detestable. I expected Australia, New Zealand, and Canada to be fairly similar. What I found was disgraceful: the fear of the police, the segregation of sex workers from society, the laws implementing no drivers or security, the illegality of brothels, and the deprivation of open and honest communication.
Bill C-36 might be acceptable in Russia. However, let us be leaders along with New Zealand and Australia in a uniquely Canadian manner.
I am here today to plead with the government to do some more research, look to progressive countries, listen to people such as myself who choose to be in this industry and enjoy their work, and to look at human rights laws and give sex workers the respect they deserve.
I have seen how it can be. I have experienced an incredible model for Canada to emulate. As an educated, enlightened, and experienced young woman who at the age of 26 chose to enter into the sex industry, I appeal to your humanity. I beseech you to not move forward with Bill C-36.
I will leave you with this quote from Madam Justice McLachlin:
A law that prevents street prostitutes from resorting to safe havens...while a suspected serial killer prowls the streets, is a law that has lost sight of its purpose.
Thank you, again, Mr. Chair, and members of Parliament.