Canada Police Stymie Effort To Remove Stigma From Sex Workers

LOS ANGELES—A project in Newfoundland, Canada, that showed promise in improving relations between sex workers and police there, with the aim of removing the societal stigma surrounding sex work, has fallen apart after a six-year effort. Now sex worker activists there say the police are to blame — and that relations between the two groups have actually declined, according to a report by Canada’s Guardian newspaper. Sex work is technically legal in Canada, but most related activities, other than the actual selling of sexual services, remain criminalized. In addition to ongoing harassment by the police and social stigma, sex workers in Newfoundland have been hit particularly hard by economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. As AVN reported earlier this year, not only did sex workers find work drying up, but the government did not include them in financial relief packages due to the illegality surrounding their profession. Now sex workers there have suffered another setback with the demise of the Safe Harbor Outreach Project Liaison Officer Partnership — partnership between sex worker groups and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary police. The goal was to improve communication between sex workers and law enforcement, educating police officers on the everyday struggles that sex workers face. But police have continued to harass sex workers there, leading to what the St. John’s Status of Women Council, in a statement, called “judgment, stigma and a lack of safety in their interactions with the RNC.”  “It hasn’t resulted in improved conditions for the people SHOP serves,” said Women’s Council Executive Director Laura Winters, as quoted by The Guardian.  “So at this point we thought let's redirect our efforts towards supporting people in the sex industry — which is what SHOP does — and stop putting that effort into this relationship that really is not having fruitful outcomes for us.” Winters said that the problem was not simply one of individual “bad apples” on the police force, but instead stemmed from deeper, systemic issues with policing.  “It’s about a need for structural and cultural change at the RNC. A lot of the effort we put forward was in requesting meetings, requesting to offer training, creating opportunities for collaboration that went (without response),” Winters said. Local Police Chief Joe Boland issued a statement in response to the breakdown, saying simply that, “The RNC is entirely committed to protecting vulnerable people, and will continue our work with community partners to identify best practices.”  Photo By SG ZA / Wikimedia Commons