The B.C. Civil Liberties Association wrote a letter to the Premier today in support of the demands of a number of Vancouver advocacy organizations for improved protection of the health and safety of sex workers and the improvement of the conditions in which they typically work. “Sex work is functionally legal in Vancouver,” said David Eby, Executive Director of the BCCLA.
“From the back pages of the Georgia Straight and other publications, to the massage parlours that get business licenses from the City, to the street corners of our industrial areas, our sex industry exists and is not going away. Instead of simply pretending that they do not exist, is it too much to ask that sex workers be covered by health and safety protections?”
The BCCLA has supported the decriminalization and regulation of sex work since at least 1982. It has consistently argued against use of the criminal law to ban activities that are not harmful to others. The BCCLA agrees with FIRST that attempts to legislate the morality of others adversely affects our capacity to form adequate social policies and laws governing sex work. FIRST is a Vancouver-based feminist group advocating for the decriminalization of sex work and the human rights of sex workers
“The BCCLA’s position is that capable adults should be able to exercise autonomy over their bodies,” said Megan Vis-Dunbar, a board member of the BCCLA. “Danger, coercion and lack of reciprocity are neither essential nor unique to sex work. Nor should anyone assume that individuals would never willingly elect to engage in prostitution.”
2005 – BCCLA – Policy – Updated Position on Sex Work Laws
MEDIA CONTACTS:
David Eby, Executive Director, BCCLA, 778-865-7997, [email protected]
Megan Vis-Dunbar, Board Member, BCCLA, 604-728-4852
