The BCCEW is a consortium of sex worker activists who live in the BC region.

1. The BCCEW is a consortium of sex worker activists who live in the BC region.  We were formed out of 2 regional meetings that took place between 2002 and 2004, where sex workers consulted with all levels of government for changing in: law enforcement responses, health services including detox centers housing, human rights, education and employment supports etc. The overall we wanted to see a continuum of services for individuals working in the sex industry who wanted to exit as well as human rights and labour law to apply for individuals wishing to stay involved in the many facets of the sex industry.

2. At our 2004 meeting there was an announcement from the Federal Government’s release of 20 million dollars to work on issues related to the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. This neighbourhood contains the poorest postal codes in the Canada, where there is a concentration of individuals suffering from mental health illnesses, drug addictions, homelessness and other poverty related conditions.

3. In January 2005 the BCCEW was officially formed. Although we have had to limit membership to ensure that activists from remote rural communities could participate, we currently have 8 members located in Vancouver, Surrey, White Rock, Prince George and Kamloops which are regions within British Columbia. We are comprised of women and men in and from the sex industry that have established or significantly contributed to the existence of various sex worker organizations.

5. Our backgrounds are in directing sex worker organizations, developing, implementing and evaluating services ranging from: • Direct crisis and ongoing support to active workers; • Community Education (Including: citizens, public servants, law enforcement, youth and adults in the sex industry, those incarcerated, Health Care professionals, policy makers and politicians…) • Also: work to employ sex workers to provide services to their peers and find ways for meaningful and compensated involvement. • We work to ensure find roles in leadership, decision making and collective advocacy for sex workers.

6. The BCCEW now includes male sex workers and is renamed the BC Coalition of Experiential Communities • BCCEC membership have over 70 years experience in all aspects of the sex industry including exotic dancing, on and off street sex work and working as independents. • Members of the BCCEW recently hosted and presented our research on violence and domestic trafficking at a Sex Work and Harm Reduction session of the recent International Conference for the Reduction of Drug Related Harm; • A member of the BCCEW presented in the United Nations Indigenous meeting in New York (May 2006); • A member of the BCCEW ran for provincial office; • Collectively we have over 30 years experience in advocacy, research and voluntary sector leadership and operations

7. Organizations established by BCCEW members: • The continued existence of PACE Society in Vancouver; • The creation of the Mobile Access Project (MAP) partnership, Vancouver; • New Hope drop in, Prince George; • The establishment of PEERS Vancouver, • SHOP, Kamloops; • SurreyGerlz-outreach services to sex workers; • Participation in The Living in Community (LIC) project, Vancouver

8. Mobile Access Project Van- Outreach to active street level sex workers 10pm – 5 am daily.

9. Established as a result of sex workers, the BCCEC, The Vancouver Agreement’s Women’s Task Team, WISH and PACE Society all collectively advocating for health, safety and human rights.This van is operated by former sex workers

10. The BCCEC works to:  · Influence policies at all levels of government; ·  Advocate for peer-driven programs and services; ·  Advocate for sex worker ownership of the sex industry; and ·   Works toward the elimination of the oppressive systems and forces that create harm within the sex industry and the women’s movement.

11. The BCCEW is a: • Consulted body of expertise on sex work issues from the perspectives we possess; • Host organization for sex worker workshops, events and initiatives; and • Research and data collection to increase the body about sex work by sex workers. • Data collection by active and former sex workers is a key initiative as we have developed Ethical Guidelines to ensure that information collected from sex workers and other marginalized populations are done so in keeping with established research principles of • Informed Consent • Confidentiality And works for research strikes a balance between the benefits and burdens/risks of participation for criminalized populations.

12. BCCEW 2005

13. Legislative Framework In Canada: Prostitution itself is legal, what is illegal are all the activities related to conducting business…communicating Section 213: • “Every person who in a public place or place open to public view • (a) stops or attempts to stop any motor vehicle, • (b) impedes the free flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic or ingress • egress from premises adjacent to that place, or • (c) stops or attempts to stop any person or in any manner communicates • attempts to communicate with any person • for the purpose of engaging in prostitution or of obtaining the sexual services • prostitute is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

14. Sex workers working out of an inside venue that is not municipally licensed: Section 210. (1) Every one who keeps a common bawdy-house is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years. (2) Every one who • (a) is an inmate of a common bawdy-house, • (b) is found, without lawful excuse, in a common bawdy-house, or • (c) as owner, landlord, lessor, tenant, occupier, agent or otherwise having charge or • control of any place, knowingly permits the place or any part thereof to be let or used • for the purposes of a common bawdy-house, • is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

15. Recently, Pivot Legal Society release their report: Beyond Decriminalization: Sex Work, Human Rights and a New Framework for Law Reform, In which they consulted with sex workers to explore what will come after decriminalization. • Credibility • Partnership

16. The Subcommittee on Solicitation Laws (SCSL) was established by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Security and Emergency Preparedness in November 2004. The SCSL’s mandate was to study solicitation laws in order to improve the safety of sex-trade workers and to Recommend changes that would reduce the exploitation of and violence against sex-trade workers.

17. The BCCEC together with sex workers and other allies from academics, civil liberties engaged in political advocacy and called for the repeal of sections 210 and 213 of the criminal code. BCCEW argued that • “Street level enforcement … leads to the displacement of sex workers to more remote times of day, in areas of any given city and [therefore] isolates them from their selective kinships making them increasingly susceptible to violence.”

18. that “… the criminalization of negotiation [between a sex worker and her client] infantilizes sex workers and forces them to communicate services and boundaries in a non-verbal way which leaves the customer in a position of power.” • Creates ambiguity and leads to situational violence, when expectations are not met. • BCCEW submitted that we were “… firmly saying no to the Swedish model as it makes it illegal to pay sex workers directly. Sex workers already have brokers, so this would just formalize the brokerage system, and we don't need that.”

19. A Federal election brought the committee to a standstill. We argued that out of respect for the risk that sex workers took to speak to them, they should at the very least release their report. Very recently the committee has been reconstituted to release their report.

20. Results of sex worker organizing • Provincial and Federally recognized organizations exist; • Some workers have improved working conditions; • Some affects of community education and advocacy for human rights have been felt; • Allies have been made in the women’s movement, health and enforcement who believe in the preservation of human rights.

21. Ongoing Challenges of sex worker organizing: • Rallying sex workers to work on policy change and advocacy continues to be a challenge because their focus is on their own survival as • Women, men, transgendered individuals and youth continue to be abducted, raped, murdered and otherwise assaulted as well as stigmatized within our communities • And they tend not to fall under the protective potential of law enforcement, nor are they able to access main stream services and be treated with dignity and respect.

22. Sex workers call for a police complaints process where they can file complaints without being forced to disclose their identities. They risk retaliation from officers, especially those in small communities who work where they live. • First Nations individuals and people of color continue to be marginalized and disenfranchised, especially those within the sex industry; • On street selective enforcement of 213 driven by community pressure continues to displace workers. • This social isolation from previously established de facto strolls leads to increased predation.

23. Although human rights organizing itself is encouraged by our governments, there remains no consistent support of organizations and coalitions in the form of core funding. • Sex worker groups themselves are marginalized within the voluntary sector. • There are rifts among groups and we are forced to compete against each other for meagre funds and spend most of our time writing grants and reporting. • Municipally our governments in all parts of the country receive revenue from the licensing of off street sex work venues. However, sex workers who refuse to work in such venues where they are extorted are then forced to work on the streets.

24. Proponents of sex workers are lent greater credibility in sharing the lived experiences of sex workers. • Sex workers want to partner with those who have expertise in changing conditions, however, workers are clear about not wanting to be represented or included in a tokenistic way. • It remains challenging to request that sex workers be treated as the experts in their own lives and be permitted to organize, advocate, research and implement initiatives based in Harm Reduction principles, when most see sex workers as diminished individuals or victims in need of saving.

25. Their Words: “Violence against sex workers should be a hate crime” “We cannot allow others to silence us, reticule us or shame us into oblivion” “We must organize, garner support and partner for change on the basis of human rights, health and safety”.

26. More Words: “Find a way for us to report dirty cops without worrying about retaliation” “People believe we are not worth protecting and shouldn’t be alive.” “Hospitals out here are trying to KILL us” “Get over our differences, Unite, Organize or Die”

27. “It’s a big world, we just want a small corner”

28. “Don’t watch us at the bottom of the ladder you have made”, “See us eye to eye, we’re standing face to face…”