Canadian Occupational Safety

26 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com what it is that's happening in a session, there is a lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding and that's not fun for anyone in any kind of service," she says. "That creates a climate of ten- sion and stress and discomfort." Overall, the amendments in PCEPA have created an increased fear of police, which only further harms their health and safety. "The problem with criminalizing any aspect of sex work is it creates and maintains and promotes an antago- nism with police," says Clamen. "And so sex workers are at every moment avoiding police and that means in con- ditions where there is exploitation or where violence is being experienced, they are still avoiding police." Violence can include everything from physical violence to verbal abuse and sexual assault. Street-level sex workers are the most vulnerable, with 78 per cent of these workers being vic- tims of physical assault during their sex work careers, according to POWER. Comparatively, 25 per cent of indoor workers have been physically assaulted. Beth, a street-based sex worker who participated in POWER's research, was a victim of violence, but was not able to get help from police. "I was just coming out of an alley; I had just been raped. I had been hit over my head with a brick. My head was gushing blood. I flagged a cop and he told me to call my own fuck- ing ambulance… and he told me he had no time for me. Then he left," says Beth. "I couldn't even walk." Beth says she is so used to violence that she considers it "part of the job." OTHER OHS ISSUES Aside from the health and safety issues identified in Bedford and that PCEPA brings to light, sex workers face a variety of occupational health and safety concerns. While sexual health may be the first issue to come to mind, it is often not always the primary health concern. "Sex workers, for the most part, are quite skilled at sexual health because their body is their working tool and they know how to protect it," says Clamen. Like others working in personal ser- vice and manual jobs, musculoskeletal problems can be a "real concern" for sex workers, according to the May 2015 report Sex Work in Canada by Cecilia Benoit and Leah Shumka. For example, they often experience muscle and joint paint as well as chronic pain in their upper backs, shoulders, feet and ankles. Other health problems, such as arthritis, fibromyalgia and gastrointes- tinal illnesses appear to be common among women working in the sex industry, found the report. Many sex workers consider their mental and emotional health to be the most important and the hardest to maintain, found the report. Sex work- ers have reported post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, psycho- sis and eating disorders. A lot of the health issues sex workers face stem from the stigma and the stress of being marginalized, the report says. NEXT STEPS Since the Liberal government came into power, the new Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Jody Wil- son-Raybould has met with a number of groups about PCEPA, including sex- worker advocacy groups, anti-human trafficking groups, law enforcement and the legal community, according to her press secretary Valérie Gervais. "The minister has specifically com- mitted to reviewing whether or not former Bill C-36 addresses all of the issues identified in the Supreme Court of Canada's 2013 Bedford decision," she says. "Engagement with groups representing those most affected by C-36 has begun and will continue throughout the review process." Gervais was not able to confirm a timeline or specific outcomes at this point. Clamen is "slightly optimistic" that the current government will give sex workers more room to engage with lawmakers and that they will consult with them in a meaningful way. "This is quite urgent. This isn't a joke; it's not an opinion, not an ideol- ogy lobby. These are really important pieces of legislation that are having very real impacts on people every day," she says. As a starting point, the Liberal gov- ernment should go back to Bedford and see what the Supreme Court said about protecting the human dignity and security of sex workers, says Mandin. Then it should look at "revising the bill with the view of creating laws that instead of having the effect of a back- door criminalization, actually address the issues and improve on those risks to sex trade workers," she says. Some provisions need defined exceptions, such as the material ben- efit law, so sex workers can hire drivers but are protected from exploitation by pimps, for example, says Mandin. Most importantly, the purchasing of sexual services needs to be decrimi- nalized, she says. "By prohibiting the purchase of sexual services you're recreating the situation that the court in Bedford was trying to prevent," says Mandin, who suspects the act will come up against a charter challenge. "I understand limits but I think that a blanket criminaliza- tion is problematic." Clamen and the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform do not believe there needs to be any specific criminal laws to regulate prostitution. Clamen points to a "whole slew" of other laws against sexual assault, kidnapping and confinement, abuse, underage issues and trafficking that would protect sex workers and address some of the broader concerns without specific legislation. "Other industries don't have police engaged with their work at all times. If there is a noise complaint, there's a noise complaint — in a bakery, a brothel or a nightclub. But the police are not engaged in the regula- tion of your industry. It's that element we are really looking to remove," says Clamen. Prostitution is legal in many coun- tries around the world and there are myriad examples, each with pros and cons, that Canada could follow. The most expansive is New Zealand where sex work is recognized as legitimate work and treated the same as other workplaces. For example, licensed brothels operate under public health, occupational health and safety and employment laws. This model is most similar to what Clamen and the alli- ance are looking for. At the end of May, Amnesty Interna- tional published a policy and research on the protection of sex workers' rights. It makes several calls on gov- ernments, including the participation of sex workers in the development of laws that affect their safety. It rec- ommends the decriminalization of consensual sex work, including those laws that prohibit associated activities, such as bans on "buying, solicitation and general organization of sex work." It says this is based on evidence that these laws make sex workers less safe. For Jade, she hopes one day things will go back to the way they used to be, and she will be making a good living while working in a safe, sup- portive environment. "I want to keep doing sex work," she says. "Prohibition never works. We need decriminalization. Just ask sex workers and Canada's Supreme Court."

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