revised terms of reference

[susi]

Terms of Reference for Canadian Adult Entertainment Commission

Draft 2009​

Sex Industry Stakeholder- A person who has lived experience either working within, running a business in or purchasing services/products of the sex industry.

These Terms of Reference were created to ensure localized organizing in various constituencies across Canada have a common set of goals and processes.

Vision/ Goals:

• To come together as an industry for the purpose of increased safety and stability for all stakeholders in the sex industry inclusive of workers, support workers, business owners and consumers.

• To empower and unify sex industry communities inclusive of all genres and genders to increase the security and stability of the sex industry.

• Build community relationships, forge partnerships, identify and engage allies and external expertise in pursuit of CAEC goals.

• Create a community where all sex industry stakeholders are respected and honoured for their experiences.

• To improve the occupational health, safety and capacities of sex industry professionals as employees and contractors within a legitimized profession

• To ensure consumers have access to resources, are safe engaging in sex industry consumption, can maintain discretion, are treated fairly and have clear and choices for ethical purchasing.

• To protect ethical business owners from arbitrary attacks upon their honour, reputation and livelihood by law enforcement, former employees and the system at large,


• Design a complaints process and penalty system in partnership with all stakeholders to provide a system of self governance for the sex industry.

• Support the formation of craft unions, business improvement associations, consumer groups or trade guilds for all aspects, businesses, consumers or workers within the sex industry.


Guiding principles

• Work towards safety and respect of all sex industry stakeholders regardless of their location within the industry;

• Ensure the inclusion of diverse communities, perspectives, capacities and expertise from the sex industry;

• Promote progressive thought, forward thinking and continual positive
change for the empowerment and education of sex industry stakeholders and the community at large;

• Keep harm reduction frameworks at the forefront and work toward social justice and social change to increase quality of life for sex industry stakeholders.



Membership/composition:

• Members must be active or former sex industry stakeholders , inclusive of but not limited to; street level, bath houses, massage parlours, ads/ internet, dancers, adult film, off street, phone sex, web cam etc customers, support staff and business owners.;

• Must be 19 years and over;

• vouched for by another stakeholder ;

Confidentiality

• Events that happen at meetings stay at meetings;
  
• Project membership and personal identities of members and their
• contact information must remain confidential;
  
• Intellectual property and details about projects, strategies and plans are not to be shared with outside entities or individuals except when in the form of a communication strategy that has been designed and approved by the members of CAEC;
  
• Confidentiality extends even after leaving CAEC and must respect the
• sex industry stakeholders rights of movement and the anonymity of those involved;
  
• Breach of confidentiality will lead to the immediate revocation of
• membership from CAEC.
  
• All existing and new members must sign a confidentiality agreement and sign on to the most current Terms of Reference.

Decision-Making

Decisions will be made through a consensus model. All members in good
standing are voting members and will enter any of the following 5 responses to issues that are being considered:

1. Agree,
2. Disagree,
3. Disagree and can’t live with the decision and will resign my
membership (Last resort)
4. Abstain


Meeting Structure-Minutes

• Agenda and previous meeting minutes circulated via email prior to
meetings.

• Action column and recommendations will be read at the following meeting.

• A rotating chair will facilitate meetings or an external facilitator may be hired.

• The CAEC recognizes that the meeting procedures and minutes may be available to the public but will refrain from identifying members.

Code of Conduct for meetings

• Never speak in anger; Try to limit disputes;

• Attend meetings ready to work and ready to contribute: alert and present in mind and body. Those on medication or using harm reduction
strategies must employ drug management strategies;

• Honour everyone’s opinion and be inclusive of a range of opinions;

• Be mindful and accepting of diversity and varying capacities: honouring individual members opinions, choices, experiences and knowledge;

• Respect meeting space- from set up to clean up;

• Zero Tolerance to Violence: verbal abuse, physical abuse and threats will lead to revocation of membership in CAEC.

• No personal politics, leave outside issues outside and leave the street on the street

 

[treveller]

I Try to be Opinionated

Here are the bits that you might want to change ("**" around the bits to remove, "()" around my comments). Generally I suspect the material needs to either provide for a national organization or provide for the conduct of local meetings. This seems to be trying to do both and that may be a problem. Also, the material talks about the sex industry but the title refers to the adult entertainment industry. You may want to settle on one term or the other.

Terms of Reference for Canadian Adult Entertainment Commission (check the meaning/use of "commission", you may need to use "association")

Sex Industry Stakeholder- A person who has **lived** experience either working within, running a business in or purchasing services/products of the sex industry.

These Terms of Reference were created to ensure localized organizing in various constituencies across Canada will have a common set of goals and processes. (Is this intended as a framework for a national organization or as a framework for organization of local groups)

Vision/ Goals:

• Build community relationships, forge partnerships, identify and engage allies and (work with) external expertise in pursuit of CAEC goals.

• To ensure consumers have access to resources, are safe engaging in sex industry consumption, can maintain discretion, are treated fairly and have clear **and** choices for ethical purchasing.

• Design a **complaints** process **and penalty system** in partnership with all stakeholders to provide a system of self governance for the sex industry.

("Design a process in partnership with all stakeholders to provide a system of self governance for the sex industry." No need to talk about complaints and penalties so soon. If penalties are needed they will be difficult to design and apply. That will all have to follow after an association is well established. It is when you have the ability to set and enforce standards that you change from an occupational association to a professional organization or create a separate regulatory body. Nurses for example have two distinct professional bodies, the BC Nurse's Union (BCNU) and the Registered Nurses Association of BC (RNABC). The BCNU is the occupational advocate and the RNABC is the regulatory body. Doctors have the same split with the BC Medical Association and the BC College of Physicians. Massage Therapists have a single body with the membership that allows billing MSP contingent on meeting their standards.


Guiding principles

• Work toward safety and respect **of** (for) all sex industry stakeholders regardless of their location within the industry;


Membership/composition:

• Members must be active or former sex industry stakeholders , inclusive of but not limited to; street level, bath houses, massage parlors, ads/ internet, dancers, adult film, off street, phone sex, web cam etc customers, support staff and business owners.;

(? Include progressive organizations ? POWER, STELLA, BCCEC, WCCSIP, CNCEW, MAGGIES, WISH, PACE, Pivot Legal. With these sorts of groups on board you are established and have a head start at signing individual members.)

Decisions will be made through a consensus model. All members in good
standing are voting members and will enter any of the following **5** (4) responses to issues that are being considered:

1. Agree,
2. Disagree,
3. Disagree and can’t live with the decision and will resign my
membership (Last resort)
4. Abstain


Meeting Structure-Minutes


Code of Conduct for meetings

 

[susi]

k, done.

we can't name orgs...maybe say support services /organizations are stakeholders?.........i'll try that.

susie

 

[susi]

• Organizations who provide services for, are run by or have a vested interest in the sex industry may become members.


how's that?....does this open the door for the feminazis?.....i guess we will have to honor all perspectives....

love susie

 

[treveller]

Tollerable as Members

For the femnatzies to be members they will have to support your vision and goals as well as pay a membership that will be used to support the vision and goals. In addition they will be only one voice at the table.

Putting together the language that would exclude them would be difficult.

They should not be a problem. I have of course been wrong once or twice before, besids the time I thought I had made a mistake when I hadn't.

 

[susi]

i wanted to bump this thread so people remember our plan for decrim....

i couldn't find sex industry association post about rational so here it is again

Sex Industry Association

During the “Developing Capacity for Change Project”-coop development work shops, workers expressed how a trade association and a branding or certification process could support safer work conditions over all and stabilize the existing safer indoor venues that exist now. The development of occupational health and safety training was also seen as a way to give people entering and in the sex industry the tools to make safe decisions about their work. It was agreed that all stake holders including business owners and consumers should be engaged to contribute to the design of the future of our industry.

Currently a charter challenge is underway to bring down the laws governing sex work. This action will only be successful if as an industry we can prove our ability to self govern and police ourselves. In the next 10 years we must agree to respect each other and treat each other with dignity. This will be an enormous task but an absolutely necessary one none the less. If we cannot demonstrate the ways in which we have traditionally maintained the stability of our industry, the system at large will most likely impose whatever laws it sees fit and we as an industry will be faced with another disaster.

With this in mind, the BCCEW/C set out to engage sex industry workers in beginning the process and determining whether or not there is industry support for such an action and what the structure of such an organization might look like.

Actions/ Recommendations

The following actions and recommendations emerged as common themes from dialogue with all stake holders including consumers, business owners and workers.

Establish a consortium of sex industry stakeholders to develop an Industry Association and negotiate where there are areas of commonality. ie. violence, consumer theft, health and safety, and industry stability.

Develop Standardized Health and Safety Training for Sex Industry Workers and consumers in partnership with ALL stakeholders including business owners.


Develop and implement a certification process in partnership with all stakeholders to stabilize and promote sex industry businesses (inclusive of independent workers as businesses). Design an industry association seal or brand to distinguish those businesses that support and have received certification for the negotiated health and safety standards and training.


Design a complaints process and penalty system in partnership with all stakeholders to provide a system of self governance and enforcement for the sex industry.

Support the formation of craft unions or trade guilds for all aspects or jobs within the sex industry.

Establish a system of communications between the sex industry and those agencies who have traditionally had the role of policing or monitoring the industry such as the police, license inspectors and social work/ support agencies to prevent misunderstandings about safety issues within the industry.

The full report can be viewed on www.wccsip.ca

Current project- “Trade Secrets”

Trade Secrets Project Overview:
Trade Secrets: Occupational Health and Safety Guidelines for Sex Industry Workers is a collaborative project engaging the following sex industry constituencies in occupational health and safety community development activities:
• On and off-street sex industry workers from rural and urban British Columbia;
• Exotic dancers;
• adult film actors;
• Live no-contact sex workers (peep shows, phone operators, sex shows, etc);
• BDSM (bondage, domination, sadomasochist) and fetish workers;
• Hustlers (male sex workers);
• Transgendered sex workers;
• Sex industry business owners;
• Support staff (reception, drivers etc.);
• Patrons of the sex industry.
This project will identify health and safety risks in the sex industry in the following areas (and other emerging areas of concern):
• Workspace;
• Among co-workers;
• In dealing with clients;
• In negotiating with employers / agents etc;
• Personal well-being;
• Physical health;
• In relationships.
Materials developed will include a large binder of all constituency specific occupational health and safety guidelines and a card-sized fold out highlighting key tips and health and safety strategies with resource information.
Project goals and deliverables include the following:
1. The mobilization and support BCCEC members from BC to design and implement a series of focus groups engaging a diverse population of sex industry workers in identifying health and safety concerns.

2. The completion of a series of broad based focus groups with all stakeholders to explore more general topics of health and safety, labour law, conflict management, wellness, human rights, safe sex practices, empowerment, and support services to expand and contribute to community knowledge and development.

3. The completion of a series of population specific focus groups to identify and address any distinct concerns related to work practices.

4. The development of a draft document entitled: Trade Secrets- Occupational Health and Safety Training Guidelines for Sex Industry Workers for peer review and finalization.

5. The dissemination of the above document through networks to:
 improve working conditions in existing municipally licensed sex industry venues;
 educate individuals new to the sex industry and those migrating to the region as a result of the 2010 Olympics and other economic drivers on how to make safe decisions of whether to enter, engage with or exit the sex industry;
 reduce tensions and work to unify and develop community among sex industry workers historically at odds due to criminalization, lack of ownership over the industry and competition for customers and safe work spaces.
Regional Activities
This project will form the basis for the creation of minimum health and safety standards in the British Columbia sex industry. Through the formation of a trade association, we intend to promote minimum standards among sex industry businesses and certify them based on the attainment of those minimum standards in their workspaces, policies, procedures and practices. Please view the “Leading the Way” report for additional context and other documents at: www.bccec.wordpress.com. This project is a crucial part of the formation of an industry association that will bring together diverse community members, stem the tide of individuals working on the street or entering the sex industry at the street level or in an uninformed way. Additionally, the City of Vancouver has agreed to hand out project materials with sex industry licenses.
With this in mind, capturing regional and remote experiences from sex industry workers in Victoria, Prince Rupert, Prince George, Coquitlam, Abbotsford, Surrey and Kamloops, (among other locations) is paramount for the integrity of materials created in this project. Materials developed must have broad applicability and must be the result of the meaningful participation of constituents to truly affect change in our communities.
Currently the “Trade Secrets” project is partially completed but on hold due to funding issues. This project is the foundation for building an Industry Association to protect ourselves from the uninformed actions of the past.

We are working to pull together a first draft document to serve as the foundation of this action in the interim using information gathered at the first all stakeholders meeting we held in the Spring of 2008 and the rural engagement held with sex workers in Prince George.

The information collected on the industry and how to be safe while engaging in sex work, where to find supports, legal information will give sex industry workers the tools to make safe decisions about their work and become the foundation of stability for the sex industry.

www.wccsip.ca

we are almost done...trade secrets is being edited now!!!yay!!!

 

[susi]

"Establish a consortium of sex industry stakeholders to develop an Industry Association and negotiate where there are areas of commonality. ie. violence, consumer theft, health and safety, and industry stability."
Relevance

Sex Industry Workers

Stability for the sex industry means jobs and safe places to work. If the industry bands together behind some basic minimum standards, the greater community will no longer be able to attack business owners arbitrarily. This will mean fewer closures of these businesses and more places to work. The systematic vilifying of business owners has lead to the loss of most safe work options for sex industry workers and pushed some workers to chose work options beyond their personal physical boundaries (17 show lounges have closed in the last couple of years and forced some exotic dancers to chose other forms of sex work such as escorting) The minimum standards aspect will mean that workers can distinguish which businesses are good to work for and which may not be. The Industry Association will provide a tool for sex industry workers to make safe decisions about their work.

Sex Industry Business Owners

Stability for the sex industry means a business owner’s lively hood and hard work will no longer be subject to uninformed scrutiny by police, license inspectors, and so called “good will” groups promoting the abolition of the sex industry.) History has shown us how the greater community has targeted business owners and cast them as pimps, abusers, traffickers and “organized crime”. An Industry Association could de-mystify our industry and advocate on behalf of longstanding businesses that have provided safe and stabile work environments distinguishing them from those who may be of a less honorable cast. New business owners could also be educated on the minimum required standards and insure a level playing field for all.

Sex Industry Consumers

Stability for the sex industry means that consumers will be able to engage sex workers use a business’s services secure in the knowledge that they will be treated with dignity and respect and be able to engage in these activities safely. Also, a consumer would be able to support ethical business practices and the businesses that uphold them.

Greater Community outside of Sex Industry

Stability for the sex industry means that the greater community will no longer have to wonder about conditions within the industry or be forced to impose uninformed actions against it. Through development of minimum standards and occupational health and safety training the greater community can be comfortable in the knowledge that sex industry workers are being given the tools to make safe decisions and have safe places to work.

This will remove the burden of sex industry governance from people whose actions have historically (for more than 100 years) had disastrous effects for the safety and quality of life of Vancouver’s sex industry workers.

The greater communities concerns are generally centered on the street level sex trade. The public sex acts, violence, unwanted advances from consumers and condom mess reflect the lack of safer indoor jobs in the sex industry. The systematic removal of these safer indoor environments must be halted to stem the number of workers entering the dangerous street level trade. It is hoped that through education and industry stabilization the numbers of sex industry workers working in harmful conditions will dramatically decrease.

"Develop Standardized Health and Safety Training for Sex Industry Workers and consumers in partnership with ALL stakeholders including business owners."

Relevance

Sex Industry Workers

Standardized Health and Safety Training will give sex industry workers clear and concise information about their work. It will give them the tools to make safe decisions about engaging business owners, engaging consumers, safe sex, their emotional health, and about finding support should they need it.

Sex Industry Business Owners

Standardized health and safety training would mean business owners could prove they had provided their employees with the information necessary to work safely. Most business owners do provide training for employees and are very conscious of the safety of their workers. However, they have never been able to demonstrate their attention to this most important aspect of the sex industry. Through a standardized training system developed in partnership with ALL stakeholders (including business owners) these ethical, safe and healthy business practices could be recognized and supported.

Sex Industry Consumers

Standardized health and safety training will also include information for consumers. Because of criminalization, consumers have been cast as somehow dysfunctional, rapists, and perverts. This makes it difficult for them to ask for information about their sexual health and the risks involved with engaging in the sex industry. This will provide consumers the tools to make safe decisions when purchasing sex industry services. Also, consumers engaging sex industry workers or businesses who are members of the industry association can be assured that the workers are well versed in safe and healthy sex work practices.

Greater Community outside of Sex Industry

Standardized health and safety training will allow the greater community to be confident that all sex industry stakeholders have been given the tools they need to protect their health (including exiting and support services), safety and stability while engaging in the sex industry.

"Develop and implement a certification process in partnership with all stakeholders to stabilize and promote sex industry businesses (inclusive of independent workers as businesses). Design an industry association seal or brand to distinguish those businesses that support and have received certification for the negotiated health and safety standards and training."

Relevance

Sex Industry Workers

Developing a certification process in partnership with all stakeholders will allow sex industry workers to insure their concerns and insight are addressed and included. An industry association seal will allow workers to distinguish which businesses support safe work environments and support the minimum negotiated standards.

Sex Industry Business Owners

Developing a certification process in partnership with all stakeholders will allow business owners to insure their concerns and experience are included, that the process is accessible and within reason as far as the operation of sex industry businesses. An industry association seal would allow businesses to distinguish themselves in the market for consumers and potential employees as businesses who support safe work environments and the minimum negotiated standards.

Sex Industry Consumers

The industry association seal will allow consumers to make ethical choices in the sex industry businesses they choose to support.

Greater community outside of Sex Industry

The industry association certification process and industry association seal will allow the greater community to make informed decisions about any actions taken against the sex industry. Blanket assumptions about our industry and the businesses engaged in it from the past have had disastrous results for our industry. The certification and seal will protect those businesses who do support health and safety from being targeted and allow the greater community to support actions in relation to the sex industry from a better informed perspective.

"Design a complaints process and penalty system in partnership with all stakeholders to provide a system of self governance and enforcement for the sex industry."

Relevance

Sex Industry Workers

Sex workers have never had a way to report unethical business owners or dangerous business practices. A balanced system of investigation and penalty would begin to stabilize the health and safety of sex industry workers and eliminate the increasing number of dangerous working environments emerging as a result of our industry being pushed further and further underground.

Sex Industry Business Owners

Sex Industry business owners have also never had a way to complain about industry workers who take advantage of their good business practices or steal clients. This would allow these problems to also face due process and protect business owners from these types of behaviors.

Business owners would also be able to protect themselves from industry workers making false allegations about their business practices.

A process of self governance and enforcement would take these issues out of the hands of the greater community and prevent decisions being made by an outside party with no understanding of our history and traditions. This would mean the police, license inspectors and “end the sex industry” groups would no longer have the power to completely disrupt our lively hoods and jeopardize our safety.

Sex Industry Consumers

Sex industry consumers have never been able to lodge complaints about bad service or business practices except in the on-line forums where “service providers” are reviewed. Offences like being robbed or noticing a worker appears to be too young are difficult to report due to the stigma and close scrutiny an investigation can bring on the consumer himself.

A community based process which ensures the confidentiality of complainants will allow this process to work without harming peoples personal lives and stability.

Greater Community outside of Sex Industry

The greater community has always felt the need to carry the burden of policing our industry. Through this confidential, community based process this will no longer be necessary. Businesses that go beyond what is reasonable (marketing youth, trafficking persons) can be identified and prosecuted without causing widespread de-stabilization of the entire industry.

 

[susi]

"Support the formation of craft unions or trade guilds for all aspects or jobs within the sex industry."

The Sex Industry is as diverse as the people who engage in it and encompasses more that actual one on one physical contact sex work. There are many job choices within actual sex work and there are also all of the support positions. This is an Industry and all employees’ health, safety, and job security are important. Once the industry is stabilized and self governing different craft or trade guilds could form to support issues specific to different sex industry workers and businesses.

Sex Work Diversity - some of the identified genres of sex work include: Exotic Dancing, Web Cam work, pornography, massage, escorts, male hustlers, phone sex, and on street sex work.

Sex Industry Support Staff - some examples of support staff are: booking girls, djs, waitresses, bartenders, bouncers, camera people, make up people, producers, film editors, computer experts, security guys, drivers, and costume makers.

These work specific guilds could allow dialogue between more experienced and less experienced workers and improve knowledge specific to their individual work. The sharing of knowledge would allow sex industry capacity to increase over all.

The Industry Association could act as a bridge between these craft unions should any issues arise between them and facilitate reasonable negotiation between all sides.

"Establish a system of communications between the sex industry and those agencies who have traditionally had the role of policing or monitoring the industry such as the police, license inspectors and social work/ support agencies to prevent misunderstandings about safety issues within the industry."

These agencies have taken action against the sex industry with disastrous effects in the past. A system through which these actions can be vetted by or scrutinized by the industry itself is necessary to prevent these problems repeating themselves in the future. The lived experiences of sex industry workers, consumers and business owners are key to actions that will have meaningful and sustainable impacts on the safety of the entire community.