Last day....Respond to government survey today !!

[Fred Zed]

________________________________________________

only one day left

Speak out NOW: Let your voice heard. Be counted.

Respond anonymously:
http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cons/curr-cours/proscons-conspros/index.html#2014_02_17

Or exercise the email option
Consultations.Prostitution@justice.gc.ca

 

[Fred Zed]

____________________________________________________________

According to the Department of justice web page, the consultation is still open, and will be until March 17.

People, this is not just about defending your hobby, it's about defending the fundamental rights of all Canadian sex workers to health, safety, security and respect!

I submitted my response. In order to (hopefully) inspire some of you who might still be hesitant, here are my answers: (Please don't just copy/paste them. It will have a stronger impact if every answer is different. Express yourself in your own words.)

1. Do you think that [FONT="]purchasing[/FONT][/B] sexual services from an adult should be a criminal offence? Should there be any exceptions? Please explain.

No, it should never be illegal. Making the purchasing of these services illegal would only drive this industry underground and harm the sex workers. If their customers are criminalized, the sex workers will be forced to make compromises that will be dangerous for their health and safety, like lowering their screening practices. Customers will also be more unlikely to report any abuse or violence they might witness against the sex workers. In my opinion, it is also fundamentally immoral to criminalize whatever happens between consenting adults, even if it involves an exchange of money and sex.



2. Do you think that [B][FONT="]selling[/FONT] sexual services by an adult should be a criminal offence? Should there be any exceptions? Please explain.
No, it should never be illegal. This would result in reducing the possibility of getting help for sex workers who require it (from the police, social workers or the law). It would also increase the social stigma they suffer. It would also drive the industry underground by making criminals out of them. Sex work is not a problem in itself. It is a work like any other kind of work. What it problematic is some of the things that sometimes come with it, like violence, mental or physical abuse, alcohol and drug addictions, etc. Not all sex workers suffer from those problems but, for those who do, the last thing they need is to fear the police and be isolated from social resources and help. Again, there is nothing wrong with whatever happens between consenting adults, even if it involves an exchange of money and sex.



3. If you support allowing the sale or purchase of sexual services, what limitations should there be, if any, on where or how this can be conducted? Please explain.
Laws and regulations should be designed with the rights of sex workers in mind. They should be allowed to work in safe environments of their choosing. Regulations could be established to partially limit the locations of those workplaces, similar to those that already exist to regulate the location of strip clubs (ex. Not too close to a school, not in a residential area, etc.), as far as those regulation are not used to significantly limit the possibility of doing sex work.



4. Do you think that it should be a criminal offence for a person to benefit economically from the prostitution of an adult? Should there be any exceptions? Please explain.
Receiving an economic benefit from the prostitution of an adult does not necessarily indicates any form of abuse or exploitation. There are already criminal laws that specifically address these things. If a sex worker is willingly paying someone to receive some services that are useful to their work, they should be allowed to do so. Those services might include security, managing of a permanent or temporary work place, phone receptionist, etc. Anyone receiving financial benefit in exchange for these services to the sex workers should be considered like any other employers, hired employees, business partners or contractors. The end results will include more safety, less isolation, healthier, more efficient and more humane working conditions for the sex workers.



5. Are there any other comments you wish to offer to inform the Government's response to the [FONT="]Bedford[/FONT] decision?
I support the Supreme Court of Canada in its Bedford decision. I think this is a major improvement of canadian Law because the three criminal offenses that were struck down did not legally allow sex workers to take measures to protect themselves. Among other things, it greatly restricted sreening of clients, sharing a workplace with other sex workers, hiring security or other help, etc. I strongly believe that any future regulation and legislation should be devised based on the input and in collaboration with sex workers.



6. Are you writing on behalf of an organization? If so, please identify the organization and your title or role:
No, I am not writing on behalf of anybody but myself. These are my own opinions.

 

[Fred Zed]

____________________________________________________________

According to the Department of justice web page, the consultation is still open, and will be until March 17.

People, this is not just about defending your hobby, it's about defending the fundamental rights of all Canadian sex workers to health, safety, security and respect!

I submitted my response. In order to (hopefully) inspire some of you who might still be hesitant, here are my answers: (Please don't just copy/paste them. It will have a stronger impact if every answer is different. Express yourself in your own words.)

1. Do you think that [FONT="]purchasing[/FONT][/B] sexual services from an adult should be a criminal offence? Should there be any exceptions? Please explain.

No, it should never be illegal. Making the purchasing of these services illegal would only drive this industry underground and harm the sex workers. If their customers are criminalized, the sex workers will be forced to make compromises that will be dangerous for their health and safety, like lowering their screening practices. Customers will also be more unlikely to report any abuse or violence they might witness against the sex workers. In my opinion, it is also fundamentally immoral to criminalize whatever happens between consenting adults, even if it involves an exchange of money and sex.



2. Do you think that [B][FONT="]selling[/FONT] sexual services by an adult should be a criminal offence? Should there be any exceptions? Please explain.
No, it should never be illegal. This would result in reducing the possibility of getting help for sex workers who require it (from the police, social workers or the law). It would also increase the social stigma they suffer. It would also drive the industry underground by making criminals out of them. Sex work is not a problem in itself. It is a work like any other kind of work. What it problematic is some of the things that sometimes come with it, like violence, mental or physical abuse, alcohol and drug addictions, etc. Not all sex workers suffer from those problems but, for those who do, the last thing they need is to fear the police and be isolated from social resources and help. Again, there is nothing wrong with whatever happens between consenting adults, even if it involves an exchange of money and sex.



3. If you support allowing the sale or purchase of sexual services, what limitations should there be, if any, on where or how this can be conducted? Please explain.
Laws and regulations should be designed with the rights of sex workers in mind. They should be allowed to work in safe environments of their choosing. Regulations could be established to partially limit the locations of those workplaces, similar to those that already exist to regulate the location of strip clubs (ex. Not too close to a school, not in a residential area, etc.), as far as those regulation are not used to significantly limit the possibility of doing sex work.



4. Do you think that it should be a criminal offence for a person to benefit economically from the prostitution of an adult? Should there be any exceptions? Please explain.
Receiving an economic benefit from the prostitution of an adult does not necessarily indicates any form of abuse or exploitation. There are already criminal laws that specifically address these things. If a sex worker is willingly paying someone to receive some services that are useful to their work, they should be allowed to do so. Those services might include security, managing of a permanent or temporary work place, phone receptionist, etc. Anyone receiving financial benefit in exchange for these services to the sex workers should be considered like any other employers, hired employees, business partners or contractors. The end results will include more safety, less isolation, healthier, more efficient and more humane working conditions for the sex workers.



5. Are there any other comments you wish to offer to inform the Government's response to the [FONT="]Bedford[/FONT] decision?
I support the Supreme Court of Canada in its Bedford decision. I think this is a major improvement of canadian Law because the three criminal offenses that were struck down did not legally allow sex workers to take measures to protect themselves. Among other things, it greatly restricted sreening of clients, sharing a workplace with other sex workers, hiring security or other help, etc. I strongly believe that any future regulation and legislation should be devised based on the input and in collaboration with sex workers.



6. Are you writing on behalf of an organization? If so, please identify the organization and your title or role:
No, I am not writing on behalf of anybody but myself. These are my own opinions.

 

[Fred Zed]

Today is the last day ....send in your submission today!!!

 

[Fred Zed]

Last day today

LAST DAY LAST CHANCE DO YOUR DUTY AS A CONCERNED CITIZEN AND COMPLETE THE SURVEY. PROTECT YOUR SEX WORKERS AND THE HOBBYISTS FROM BAD LAWS:

Peter MacKay promises that he will take YOUR input unto consideration when drafting the laws: Here is what he said recently

I can assure you that our legislative response to prostitution will take into account the views heard in our consultation process, and that the new laws we present will truly reflect Canadian values. I encourage all Canadians to participate in our online consultation found at justice.gc.ca, which remains open until Monday, March 17.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/lett...3/16/consultation_is_key_on_prostitution.html

Join the many thousands who have responded already:

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[susi]

yes, this letter is a reminder of what's at stake... they feel they have done their due diligence and the mainstream community will also believe it to at least appear to be a consultative process...

its time to cross our finders and toes now....

across canada, delegations of sex workers have been engaging and meeting with the mp's and some of the organizations we are affiliated with were a part of the 2 hour meeting with "special interest groups"...one of whom was "real women of canada" who are calling for full criminalization to protect families....ugh

there have also been awareness events, panel discussions, engagement with faith based groups....(i have been doing alot of that....its exhausting...they are blind zealots for the most part and very difficult to reason with - we have had some success and i have a met with some church leaders and pastors in particular around the screening of the "red light green light film")

anyway, even when the consultation is over, there will be lots of work to do...

if anyone wants to contribute or to see the "mp meeting notes" and make a meet with your mp, or if people would like to take part in the communications campaign, let me know....pm me....

also the city of vancouver are set to adopt and equal treatment protocol for inspections and licensing of sex industry businesses in vancouver. that means that they will publicly commit to non interference in adult consensual activities, as the vpd have already done.

i am hoping this will draw some businesses back into the city of vancouver. the idea has always been to stabilize safe indoor work environments and to ensure that police/ city staff intervention does not put people at risk by unfairly targeting a business simply because it is a sex industry business.

i hope we see more legitimate businesses and business owners taking part in defining safe/ healthy work environments...

for example by distributing the www.tradesecretsguide.blogspot.com along with other info from support orgs....like PIVOT has legal pull outs etc. ...to the workers who work in their business.

there are by-laws prohibiting dancing in windows so sorry, no amsterdam...but i hope at least to bring our community back out into the open a bit...

anyway, susie update i guess...

love susie