Good afternoon, and thank you for having us here today.
Pivot Legal Society works in partnership with communities affected by poverty and social exclusion across Vancouver, B.C. and Canada to identify priorities and develop solutions to complex human rights issues.
Our work engages all levels of government, including federal laws and policies. Pivot’s work includes challenging laws and policies that force people to the margins of society and keep them there.
The last time I testified before a government committee on behalf of Pivot was in September of 2014, when PCEPA was in its study phase. At that time, Senator Donald Plett said this to me:
Of course, we don’t want to make life safe for prostitutes; we want to do away with prostitution. That’s the intent of this bill.
My first point is that the purposes of PCEPA, as expressed in its preamble, are contradictory. Laws that are intended to stop sex work from happening cannot help but put sex workers in harm’s way.
We have several recommendations to make to this committee. At the heart of all our recommendations is the necessity of centring the lived experiences of people who do sex work and experience the realities of criminalization.
One, don’t conflate trafficking and sex work. Sex work, which we define as “the consensual exchange of money for sexual services” is not trafficking, and trafficking laws should not be used as a reason to investigate sex workers and sex work businesses.
Two, repeal the laws that criminalize adult sex work. We recommend repealing all criminal laws that prohibit the purchase or sale of sexual services by adults and that limit adults selling sex from working with others in non-coercive situations. This includes the PCEPA and provisions such as section 213(1)(a) and (b), which were not constitutionally challenged in Bedford. We also recommend that you remove the immigration and refugee protection regulations that prohibit migrants from working in the sex industry.
Three, create appropriate provincial laws and municipal bylaws in consultation with sex workers. Decriminalizing sex work would not necessarily mean that there are no restrictions on sex work. However, the boundaries on sex work should be developed with sex workers, who are the true authorities in their lives and work.
Four, recognize the complex realities of indigenous peoples who sell and trade sex. Narratives about indigenous people in sex work tend to focus on their overrepresentation. Indigenous sex workers Pivot has worked with say this is due to their lack of economic opportunities and the fact that sex work is an occupation that does not require formal training.
Indigenous people across Canada also have a great diversity of experiences and may use sex work as a way of resisting the colonization of their communities, perpetuated through displacement from lands and the repercussions of the genocidal residential school system. Provincial systems for youth in care, also disproportionately indigenous, often do not meet their needs. As a result, indigenous youth often struggle to support themselves when they try to escape abusive circumstances.
The federal government should increase broad-based supports, thereby positioning indigenous people to decide whether they want to participate in the sex industry, and if so, under what conditions.
Five, learn from other jurisdictions. New Zealand provides a model for decriminalization of sex work, which was developed in consultation with sex workers and which respects and promotes their human rights and safety. Over the past decade, research has suggested that this legal regime has resulted in sex workers' having greatly enhanced control over the conditions of their work, including their ability to refuse clients and to insist on condom use.
Finally, six, work on undoing the stigma that surrounds sex work. The greatest commonality between sex workers in Canada is the stigma they face. Most sex workers live in fear that their work will be revealed to family and neighbours. This stigma perpetuates over-policing and supports conditions that have allowed predators to murder, sexually assault, rape and abuse sex workers with impunity.
Education is also needed to dismantle negative stereotypes about sex workers, but law reform is essential. Changing the law would be a first step towards undoing the stigma, accepting sex work as an occupation and accepting people who do sex work as full members of our communities.
Thank you.