Good afternoon. My name is Émilie-Cloé Laliberté, and I'm the general coordinator of the Stella organization.
Stella was founded in 1995. It's the only organization in Montreal created by and for sex workers. We do an enormous amount of work in the field of health and violence prevention, from an empowerment and harm reduction perspective We offer a medical clinic; we have street workers who go into the field, onto the street, into shooting galleries, to the places where sexual services are exchanged for money, other goods, alcohol or drugs. We have a legal clinic; we also reach out to women in prison. Our partnership with Doctors of the World enables us to take nurses into the street and in the places where there is sex work and substance abuse.
We make contact with a number of people that varies between 4,000 and 6,000 a year. In the past, we had an aboriginal project. Our services to aboriginal sex workers today are incorporated in our street work shifts. Services to aboriginal sex workers are still a priority for Stella. Moreover, we are the only group of sex workers fighting against violence. Stella really cannot talk about the general violence experience by aboriginal women. I believe the groups that are around us today really know the subject better that we do. However, we can talk about our experience in the fight against violence against aboriginal women sex workers.
Fourteen sex workers have been murdered in Quebec since 1990. Four of those victims were aboriginal women. Those incidents teach us a great deal about the lack of appropriate services in the fight against aboriginal street workers and women and about the lack of funding for appropriate services.
Based on our experience, the greatest sources of violence reported by sex workers are spousal abuse and attacks by those who specifically target sex workers. The attackers believe they are protected by a climate of impunity caused in large part by the criminalization and stigmatization of our work.
As regards aboriginal sex workers who are killed in Quebec, who have been mentioned, in at least one of those cases, the attacker was the woman's spouse. In another case, the victim requested help in the moments preceding her death. She was on one of the busiest streets in Montreal, but no one deigned to help her. She approached a bar to which she was denied access because she was a prostitute and drunk.
A number of findings and recommendations were issued following a consultation of aboriginal Stella members. We also consulted existing research and drew on our experience in the field. I don't know whether you want me to give you our recommendations right away or whether a period is set aside for that a little later.
