On Behalf of the SPACES team we wish you all a Happy New Year!

Pivot Legal Society has generously shared their brief summary of the court decision below:

On December 20th 2013 the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) delivered a landmark unanimous decision in the case of Attorney General of Canada v. Terri Jean Bedford, Amy Lebovitch and Valerie Scott. Canada’s highest court has ruled that three provisions of Canada’s Criminal Code, s. 210 (keeping or being found in a bawdy house), s. 212(1)(j) (living on the avails of prostitution), and s. 213(1)(c) (communicating in public for the purpose of prostitution) violate the s. 7 right to security of the person protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. All three laws have been struck down.

More specifically,

s. 210 (keeping or being found in a common bawdy house)
The SCC held that the bawdy house law violates sex workers’ constitutionally protected right to security of the person and is struck down. The Court found that this law prevents sex workers from working a fixed location that is safer than working on the street or meeting clients at different locations. (para 64)

s. 212(1)(j) (living on the avails of prostitution)
The SCC held that the living on the avails provision violates sex workers’ constitutionally protected right to security of the person and is struck down.

s. 213(1)(c) (communicating in public for the purpose of prostitution)
The SCC held that the communication law violates sex workers’ constitutionally protected right to security of the person and is struck down.

The full decision in available on the SCC website

This decision has the potential to affect the sex working community, patrons and allies in varying ways. In light of this we have added opportunities during interviews for people to comment on the SCC decision and how these legal changes may influence health and safety.

We look forward to meeting more of you in 2014!

Hello Everyone,

As many of you may know, the Supreme Court of Canada will be rendering its decision on the Attorney General of Canada et al v. Terri Jean Bedford et al (Ont.) on Friday December 20th, where the constitutionality of sex work related laws were put to the courts.  More specifically, s. 210 (keeping a common bawdy house), s. 212(1)(living off the avails of prostitution) and  s.213 (communicating for the purposes of prostitution) were challenged by sex workers utilizing Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which upholds individual rights to ‘life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof’.  See link for details   http://scc-csc.lexum.com/decisia-scc-csc/scc-csc/news/en/item/4470/index.do

Members of the SPACES project will be unavailable for interviews after 4pm on December 17th.  Some project members need to engage in community activities as this significant point in time for sex workers in Canada and for our colleagues and friends who are invested in this issue.  The project will start up again on January 2nd 2014.

On December 17th at 7pm there will be a march for the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, starting at Pivot 121 Heatley Avenue and ending at PACE Society, 49 West Cordova.

If you are attending, wear something red and bring your red umbrella!

Hi Everyone,

We are limiting interviews dates for December in order to spend time reviewing transcripts and learning from the information that many of you have provided. Your knowledge will help guide us as we move forward.

Interview dates for December are as follows: December 5th, 6th, 12th, 13th, 19th and 20th.

The project will be shut down over the Winter Break from noon on December 20th to January 2nd.

We look forward to meeting more sex industry professionals, managers and patrons in the New Year!  We hope to see many of you at the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (Dec 17th) even being held on December 15th at the Cobalt–917 Main Street in Vancouver, from 6pm to 1am.  Thank  you  Synder Starr-Turner for organizing and hosting the event this year!

We would like to thank all of you who have come forward to share your insights on the off-street sex industry.  You all have such diverse health and safety practices and really neat tips and strategies to share with other providers, buyers and managers.

We would be interested and hearing more from buyers and managers. We believe that your voices are rarely heard and that you have unique and valuable perspectives to bring to this issue.

Co-investigator Chris Atchison will be presenting at the 9th BC Gay Men’s Health Summit on Friday, November 8th. The theme of this year’s summit is life course and gay men’s health. Chris will be highlighting research on male sex workers and gay men’s experiences as buyers in the sex industry. Click here to view the conference program. Hope to see you there!

We’ve interviewed lots of fascinating people so far, all with diverse experiences purchasing, providing and managing service delivery.

Most interviews are taking place in coffee shops and restaurants or even parks. Feel free to choose a location where you feel comfortable. The recording is very discreet so not to worry, it won’t draw attention.

After our data collection phase is complete in March 2014, we would like to share preliminary findings with folks and explore strategies for sharing this important information with others.

Treat the interview as if it’s an adventure; an opportunity to talk about your experiences with the industry toward the goals of sharing insights and helping others to engage in safe and healthy ways.

Our project phone is now functioning and we will be responding to text messages shortly.

We’re making our rounds and keeping busy!  Last week we were at Homeless Connect making contacts and talking about the project which was a lot of fun!  This week we’ll be out and about doing interviews all over Vancouver.  We’re looking forward to hearing from even more of you!

If you happen to be walking around town on Friday, October 18th, come say hello at  Vancouver Homeless Connect at the VCC Downtown Campus from 11:00am-3:00pm. We’ll be sharing a table with our friends at PACE and look forward to spreading the word about SPACES.

Find out more about the event here:  http://vancouver.ca/news-calendar/vancouver-homeless-connect.aspx/ 

Lastly, we hope to be up and running with a phone again by the end of this week. Thanks for your patience! We apologize if you called or texted us this weekend and didn’t receive a response. In the meantime, if you’d like to set up an interview or have any questions please email us at spaces.study@ubc.ca.

Hi Everyone,

The SPACES phone (604.365.5612) got wet on October 12th and is not working…long story!  So please email us at spaces.study@ubc.ca with your questions or to set up interviews. We will post again when the phone has been repaired.

Sorry about this and have a great holiday weekend.

-The SPACES Team