Thank you very much.
My name is Angela Wu, and I'm the executive director of SWAN Vancouver, a member group of the alliance.
I am calling in today from the traditional and unceded territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam nations.
For the last 20 years, SWAN has supported newcomer, migrant and immigrant women engaged in indoor sex work. We work to promote the health, rights and safety of these women through frontline services and systemic advocacy.
SWAN is also a member of the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, an alliance of more than 80 organizations from around the world working to end trafficking. As such, we are deeply familiar with issues relating to both sex work and trafficking.
At SWAN, upholding sex workers' rights and addressing trafficking are not mutually exclusive. As the committee has heard from other witnesses about the problematic conflation of trafficking and consensual sex work, I will not spend too much time on this point. All I will say is that sex work and trafficking are complex issues, and when they are presented as the same thing, the result is an oversimplification, which has led to well-intentioned but ineffective and even harmful initiatives, policies and laws. Sex workers are bearing the brunt of these policies and laws, particularly sex workers from marginalized and equity-seeking groups.
I'd like to take this time to address two recurring suggestions I have heard in this committee for improving Canada's human trafficking response. Many witnesses have called for, one, increased training and public awareness campaigns about the realities of trafficking and, two, more resources directed to law enforcement as a solution to the problem. While I agree that public education is important for addressing social issues, right now, most anti-trafficking initiatives perpetuate misinformation that does a disservice to both trafficking victims and other marginalized groups. Human trafficking awareness training continues to use vague, overly broad and, frankly, often racist “red flags” or “indicators” that trafficking is occurring. These red flags can be applied to many situations that are not human trafficking, which often leads to people seeing trafficking where it isn't and, ultimately, wasting resources.
For example, a common red flag is that a trafficker will limit or restrict a perceived victim's ability to speak in public, or that someone will speak for them, when in reality, many of the women SWAN supports may not speak English, and it's normal for newcomers to have family members or support workers translate for them.
Furthermore, there is the unacknowledged role and complex interplay of gender, race, ethnicity, language and culture in establishing these red flags. For example, when a number of non-white, and especially Asian, sex workers who speak accented English work together, this work situation can be perceived as a case of trafficking, whereas the same conclusion may not be drawn about a group of white, Canadian-born sex workers.
Although SWAN works with women who are often perceived to be trafficked, it's important to note that we very rarely come across any cases with the hallmarks of trafficking, such as coerced work. Instead, we find that women we support face a spectrum of exploitation and/or violence in their work, most often directly as a result of the stigma and criminalization they face.
To the second point, also embedded in most anti-trafficking initiatives is the idea that law enforcement is a solution to trafficking. Repeatedly, women have told SWAN that they fear the police more than predators. This fear means that some of the most marginalized and systemically vulnerable women do not report violence or exploitation. Our current laws and policies meant to address trafficking are self-contradictory. How can we expect law enforcement to protect the very same people who are criminalized by the laws they enforce?
Along with many other witnesses, I urge the Government of Canada to fully decriminalize sex work by repealing the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, or PCEPA, as well as the immigration and refugee protection regulations, which prohibit migrants from engaging in sex work. The Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights has already recommended repealing the IRPR ban on sex work. We urge the members of this committee to reiterate this recommendation and to hold the Government of Canada accountable for following through on repealing these regulations, which actually put migrant women engaged in sex work in precarious and exploitative situations.
I ask the committee to think critically about the issue of human trafficking and to recognize that, while it is absolutely important to address, we do not have to jeopardize sex workers' lives to do so. It is not enough to say we understand the difference between sex work and trafficking if the resulting response continues to be anti-sex work at its core and puts sex workers in harm's way. If Canada's anti-trafficking approach continues to be anti-sex work, the most marginalized people in the sex industry will continue to be at grave risk of violence and exploitation.
Thank you very much for your time.
I look forward to answering any questions.