Yes, of course.
It should be noted that protection isn't necessarily the main goal. We can't eliminate sex work and protect people engaged in prostitution at the same time. These two goals contradict each other.
We find that criminalization complicates all stages of sex work in every part of the industry. A woman working on the street is considered a criminal. She can be arrested if she works near a park, school or daycare. These places are everywhere in an urban setting. She can also be arrested if she blocks traffic while working. Her client is also considered a criminal.
Before the implementation of this legislation, when a client arrived, you could talk with the client for several minutes and look in the car to see whether it was safe. You would negotiate a price, a service, the use of condoms and the location. Once an agreement was reached, you would get in the car and leave with the client feeling safe.
Now the client can't stop for five minutes to have a conversation with a person engaging in prostitution before that person decides to get in the car. He can be arrested just for having that conversation. It's a crime to even talk about condom use. The person engaging in prostitution must then get into the car very quickly. As a result, she's completely at the mercy of a man driving a vehicle, who can take her anywhere he wants, and who can suddenly negotiate a different price or service.
At Stella, we often talk to women who tell us that a client has picked them up in a neighbourhood such as Montreal's Hochelaga‑Maisonneuve and they have ended up on Montreal's south shore or in the west end of the city. Obviously, they can't jump out of a moving vehicle. This legislation creates all sorts of very dangerous situations.
Take the example of a woman who works online and who posts advertisements on a website. First, websites are always closing. She must know how to use cryptocurrency or know other ways to post an advertisement, which aren't available to many women. Often, she must enlist the help of others and risk her privacy.
If the client tries to contact her, he's committing a crime. That's why clients don't want to give their real names and they don't want to negotiate the transaction in detail. All this is done through codes. Often, after the client has made an appointment and meets the sex worker in person, he makes his requests and negotiates a price. Again, this places the sex worker in a situation where violence can occur.
In addition, all third parties are considered criminals under the legislation. There are exceptions, but there are also exceptions to the exceptions. Anyone who helps a person engaging in prostitution is committing a crime. These people must hide from the police and must protect themselves. As a result, this doesn't encourage people to create good working conditions for themselves. On the contrary, it encourages people who use poor practices to work in the industry. An employer who provides good working conditions won't necessarily want to be involved in a crime. This situation leads to several forms of exploitation.
Sex workers are being prevented from negotiating good working conditions. This violence can take many forms. Third parties may be co‑workers, the driver, the receptionist, the boss or other sex workers. The spouse may also be considered someone who helps the sex worker do her job, rather than a spouse.
If the sex worker is a victim of domestic violence, she won't have access to domestic violence resources because everything will be viewed through the lens of sex work. The spouse may threaten to take custody of the children or contact a child protection agency concerning the children. These threats are often successful.
At Stella, we meet many women who live in complete fear because they have an abusive former or current partner who threatens them. They know that, if these men actually end up in family court and claim that they're committing crimes because they're sex workers, they will probably lose custody of their child.
This strips social workers who work in child protection, for example, of all the tools that they need to address the real issues in a family so that the children stay in that family. They must stand behind their professional association, which tells them that they can't help people who commit crimes. This prevents them from working with and protecting sex workers in difficult family situations.
We can also talk about the fact that advertisements have been criminalized and the resulting devastating impact. Before, many women would place an advertisement in the Journal de Montréal, for example. It was a very simple and inexpensive process. You would write a little blurb, go to the newspaper in person, pay cash and post an advertisement with a phone number. The newspapers have had to stop running these advertisements because it's now a crime. Women must turn to online advertisements.
These women may not have smart phones, internet access or credit cards to pay for their advertisements. They're now expected to post more photos and communicate more with clients. You can imagine the fear felt by these women, especially those in their 50s and 60s, who lined up in our office after this legislation was implemented. They wanted to know how to do everything. They had just lost their source of income overnight. They had to find new ways of working, which could put them at significant risk.