Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you.
I am Lynne Kent, chair of the Vancouver Collective Against Sexual Exploitation. We are a collective of organizations and individuals with many years of work and experience in this field.
Bill C-36, in my understanding, is now a law called the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act. It is socially, legally and relationally transformative in its approach to addressing the objectification and commodification of women and girls. It is a leading-edge instrument, recognized globally, and it is focused on protecting the right to life, liberty and the security of persons, which the sex trade violates every day.
Our government has been a global champion of comprehensive health rights and gender equality, and PCEPA provides you with all the opportunities to achieve this. It addresses the most significant factor in the disempowerment of women: the commercialization of women's bodies, which comes from supporting male demand and a sense of entitlement to sex whenever, wherever and with whomever they want. PCEPA says no and, in a recent poll, five times as many Canadians agreed.
Safety for women is what we are all advocating for. Preventing exploitation within the sex trade has proven to be impossible. The harm done to the women and girls being exploited is well documented, and repealing the law will do nothing to change that. In fact, it will increase both the harm and danger to those in prostitution, all women and children, and communities.
It is a cruel lie to suggest that changing this law will make it safer for anyone in the sex trade. The evidence is everywhere. The lobby to repeal this law is more about safety for the exploiters. Don't be fooled; the pimps, johns and traffickers are the only ones to benefit here.
Yes, listen to those in the sex trade, but which ones? Do you listen to the privileged few who claim to be there by choice, or the vast majority, who are there because of lack of choice, who have been lured, seduced and coerced, want out, can't get out, are trapped and have no voice? You won't hear from them. They won't be at this table, because they are not free to speak up.
The closest you can get to the truth is from the survivors, those who manage to get out and care enough about others to endanger themselves—make no mistake—and tell the full story. Those who truly care about the safety and well-being of everyone in the sex trade know there is no meaningful harm reduction. Laws can't be made to serve a few. This law must focus on the protection and safety of the majority.
New Zealand prostitutes protested, campaigned and lobbied for full decriminalization, only to find out that their own agency was reduced and all the benefit, control and power went to the brothel owners, pimps, johns and exploiters. If you repeal, you will increase the harm and danger to all women and children, specifically those who are indigenous, immigrant, poor and racialized, as well as every single child from age 10 to 18.
Do you want that to be your legacy? Do you want that on your conscience? We will be here to hold you accountable, to point the finger and lay the blame where the fault belongs. It is your responsibility to protect exploited communities and persons, not to facilitate the sex trade and the inherent severe harm you have been told about again and again.
We have submitted a brief that identifies what is valuable about PCEPA. However, this gold-standard law will achieve its potential only if it is implemented. We need consistent enforcement across the country. We need training of the police, a public education campaign and robust support for those exiting.
Where will you align yourself, on the side of Canadian citizens and communities or on the side of organized crime? It's not the law that causes the harm. It is the men who buy sex. Until we address the demand, nothing will change.