I guess the only comment is to completely agree with you. I think there has just been, for whatever reason--and I'm not really sure what the reason is, if it's some type of moral stigma, if it's some type of.... I could speculate until the cows come home on why we don't have exit programs. Perhaps it could be a lack of sustainability for programs. I think we've seen a lot of programs come and go and come and go and come and go. We have had programs. POWER in Winnipeg was foundational. Prostitutes and Other Women for Equal Rights was a foundational program, which, again, lost its funding. So it has had six or seven different iterations, and currently at Sage House.
So I'm not really sure that programs have necessarily gone away. I think they've been forced to reinvent themselves. I think, though, that it's a more complex process than simply very specific programs for prostitutes who want to leave because there's some stigma attached to that.
The women we talked to--half of them left and half of them were still involved--had trouble getting housing. So housing is an issue. They had trouble with sustainable employment. They mentioned good living conditions, national child care. These are all issues that are entwined for anybody who's trying to make a go in terms of a life change.
Specific programs are definitely necessary, but because the issues are much broader than that, I think it's the responsibility of a variety of different departments to assist.