Vancouver Mayor 2018...

which as we all know, could spell disaster for our open pooning city....

so i reached out to kennedy stewart and asked if he supported continuing non enforcement;

Dear Sir,


My name is Susan Davis and I am a sex worker and long time activist for sex workers rights herein the City of Vancouver.


Gregor Robertson has been our great supporter and has supported the implementation of sex work response guidelines with the VPD and City of Vancouver. The following are links to those policies and their detailed description;


https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/sex-work-response-guidelines.pdf


https://vancouver.ca/police/assets/pdf/reports-policies/sex-enforcement-guidelines.pdf


Now that we are loosing Gregor, sex workers are worried about the ideas of the incoming government in this regard. There has been a recent uptick in human trafficking rhetoric which often leads to misguided policy and actions taken without consultation with or consideration for the safety of sex working people.


These 2 policies are a part of the City of Vancouver response to the "Forsaken" Report of the Missing Women's Commission of Inquiry and are intended to make sex workers feel safe when interacting with police or city staff. They also are intended to ensure that massage parlors - known as health enhancement centers - are not unfairly targeted simply for being a sex industry business. Safer indoor work spaces are critical to ensuring we never have another disaster like the case of the missing and murdered women.


These policies are not perfect but are none the less creating a safer city for sex workers. No sex worker has been murdered as a result of their job in over 9 years. Reporting of violence to police is also on the rise.


We do have a significant block of voters including business operators, sex workers and of course our customers.


Our question is, will you continue to make evidence based decisions about sex work in the City of Vancouver and will you uphold the spirit and principles of the hard fought for policies linked above? Will you ensure that fear based rhetoric about human trafficking will not interrupt the freedom from murder being enjoyed by Vancouver sex workers and uphold these policies?

Thank you,

Susan Davis
www.bccec.wordpress.com

Hi Susan,

Thank you so much for your call the other day. I had the chance to go over the work you have done and the policy in place with the city and police force.

Kennedy will you continue to make evidence-based decisions about sex work in the City of Vancouver and will uphold the spirit and principles of these policies. The policies in place in the city have been working to protect the safety of sex workers, and he agrees that these must remain in place.

Please let me know if you have any more questions.
Thanks so much for getting in touch about this issue.

Laurie

i also sent the same message to the npa guy, ken sim but have not heard back yet....

what do people think? any other candidates people are interested in hearing from?

these 2 guys are the most likely contenders in my view thus why i chose to reach out to them... i hope people remember how we swung the election last time and helped gregor to win. i understand why other issues come to the forefront when it's a provincial or federal election, but as a community we can protect our "poontopia" if we all vote for the right candidate...

i am interested to hear what people think about who the new mayor should be and will advocate with any and all serious candidates....(not writing to roller girl or the guy that looks like a nazi)

so, let me know ...who should we throw our support behind in this election to ensure continuation of our free life?

i will also post here when ken sim replies.

love susie

ok so no reply from the NPA...so i called them to inquire as to why....

they were rude and dismissive and then refused to take a position on "that issue".... which translates to...

we're a bunch of cowards who will throw you under the feminazi bus.

he even said that after being elected they would "review" any policies in that area...not a good sign..... we don't need a review, we need them to listen to evidence, we need them to uphold all of the hard work that has been done.....

so the NPA are out....do not vote for the mayor or Councillors from the NPA!!

next ...COPE.....we'll see where they stand on this issue

love susie

i understand that dd and thank you....

but if people are deciding based on other issues this could also play a factor...if 2 candidates are close on certain issues but one is for the feminazi abolition approach....pick the one who supports a safe free city for sex working people and their clients!!!

i spoke to One City and they are amazing, no candidate for mayor but hey have met with the living in community people and have openly stated their support for maintaining the non enforcement we have all come to enjoy here in the city...

so One City candidates for council, parks and school will be good...

love susie

https://www.straight.com/news/11372...rs-all-have-stake-stopping-wai-young-becoming

we must stop wai young, she is feminazi through and through. she has no business being the mayor in our free city. vote for anyone but wai...

love susie

rlock said:

This is a nice idea, but you know most of the ill-winds for SP's blow from Ottawa. How to affect this?

Well, Jagmeet Singh has decided to be a parachute candidate for MP in South Burnaby (Kennedy Stewart's old riding), so you could find out where he stands on it, where the NDP will stand on it, and then use that as a reason to mobilize votes either for or against him.

You may have a few hundred votes you can throw in either for or against him, which might decide his political career.

Why should South Burnaby be such a place? Well, because it's an RCMP jurisdiction, not VPD. Yet think about the number of SP's who ply their trade in that riding, around Metrotown and so on. If a sex-negative "Nordic model" politician lost an election because of being sex-negative, lesson learned.

Depending of course, if the opponent he'd lose to would be even worse.

Click to expand...

the canadian alliance for sex work law reform (which my group is a member of) are fighting on the national level, all the time, without stopping...the federal battle has not stopped in the entire time i have been an advocate.

i have spoke with both richmond and burnaby rcmp and both are trying to be more in line with the VPD approach of non enforcement. it is not an official policy in these places but at least they are trying to move in the right direction.

our city is the only place in canada where we enjoy the freedom from enforcement of prostitution laws. it is a local police policy and as such is not part of the federal discussion. in vancouver we have accepted the truth and evidence and there is no question, after 9 years of no sex workers being murdered as a result of their work (there was one murder which seems like it was a mental health or desperation thing) that non enforcement is the best way to protect marginalized people and increase successful prosecution of predators. exploiters and pimps.

anyway, the federal battle continues and includes show casing the success of defacto decrim in vancouver. so we need to keep our free city as a leg for the federal battle to stand on...

does that make sense rlock?

love susie

there are NPA signs all over my hood...please people, get out the vote! we can't let the fun police run our free city!!!

love susie

treveller said:

Should we try to get a formal sex work policy like Vancouver's adopted in Victoria? I recently read about an English police force that also formally adopted a progressive policy. Vancouver, Victoria, then how many other police departments might join in?

Click to expand...

sure treveller, is jamie graham still your police chief?

love susie