That's a really good example.
I'll share a story from law school. I was sitting in law school in constitutional litigation class and working on a theoretical challenge to Bill C-36, PCEPA, which we're here on today. We were building our fact pattern, and I remember my constitutional law prof saying, “That doesn't happen.” I said, “Yes, it does.”
What he was referring to was my personal experience. Working in the northern region, you have to have a driver. If you don't have a driver, you will be hitchhiking. There is no Greyhound bus. There are no cabs. Cabs will not take an indigenous person anywhere unless they charge exorbitant fees. If you do the research that's out there, the cabs even will drop off indigenous women in particular in spots that they didn't ask to be brought to. I said, “You know, PCEPA prevents indigenous women—in particular, young indigenous women—from having those supports.”
The reason I talk about my story so much is that it's not heard. It's not considered. I entered when I was 18. I was still in high school. I was learning to live with a brain injury. I had just survived a horrible car accident and had almost died. I was working two minimum-wage jobs. When you have a brain injury, you have headaches—migraines. You're tired. I was like, “I can't achieve my education goals to go to university if I'm working two minimum-wage jobs.” I was not living at home, and sex work was there.
If you attack minimum wage, if you attack safe housing, if you tackle those other supports.... Maybe I never would have gone into sex work. I don't know, but it got me out. It led me to where I am today. I'm a lawyer and I help other victims and survivors. I think that's key.