Safer sex workers

>> Community workers, police and the city ponder the next move in an old issue

by PATRICK LEJTENYI

Photo by Jason Felker

As a community worker at Stella, a sex-worker drop-in and resource centre, Lainie Basman is familiar with how dangerous a job prostitution can be. She also knows that women in the profession don’t get a lot of respect from anyone—neighbours unhappy with street hookers on the corner, city hall, the police, or even customers. So as the new city administration examines its options in dealing with the prostitution question, she and her colleagues will be doing what they can to keep the city’s sex workers as safe as possible, especially now that warmer weather is on its way.
“Spring is a rough period for us because there are more women on the streets,” Basman says. “And the police are out to clean up the streets to prepare for the summer festivals. There are concerns about renovating the Ste-Catherine/St-Laurent area, which has usually been considered relatively safe. There are a lot of street workers present, there are syringe exchanges and hotels for women to work in. It’s a slightly more tolerant zone.”

The Stella office is also a short walk away from the corner, close to its clientele and their places of work—specifically the escort agencies, strip clubs, bars and corners along Ontario and Ste-Catherine, where they distribute a monthly Bad Tricks List. The list, part newsletter, part community event forum, contains descriptions of johns to be avoided. Based on testimonies from sex workers, the list contains descriptions of men, the incident, where the incident took place, and, if possible, the type of car involved, the license plate number and a telephone number. The list is not legally admissible, but Basman says it is an important tool in protecting women. “We can’t verify or assume the truth or falsehood of the information,” she says. “We aren’t responsible for this information, and we can’t guarantee that it’s accurate.” But she says she forwards the list to police precincts every month.
It makes for a harrowing read. The December-January edition, for instance, lists no less than 15 incidents, ranging from assault to verbal abuse to breach of contract to rape. Basman estimates Stella receives between five and 25 complaints a month, depending on the time of year.

Touchy relations

Relations between the police and sex workers remain touchy. Basman says that while some police officers are more sympathetic than others, the relationship remains “generally antagonistic.” The police, for their part, told the Mirror that a plan of action for dealing with prostitutes was being submitted to the city’s executive committee for study towards the end of the month.

Chief Inspector Jean-Guy Gagnon, who heads the prostitution investigation department for the Montreal police force, says the force has made efforts to improve relations with the city’s sex workers. And the Bad Tricks List has helped.

“We use it to orient our patrols and our investigations, but we can’t use the material to pursue criminals because no one makes a formal complaint,” he says. Our criminal justice system is designed to respond to complaints, he adds, and without someone coming forward, prosecution simply isn’t possible. He also says prostitutes aren’t willing witnesses because defence lawyers would attack their credibility.

Still, he says police and prostitutes do have an informal relationship that helps the cops keep a pulse on the prostitution scene. “We talk to the women and try to get a portrait of the general situation, of problems in the neighbourhood, whether any girls have gone missing. The goal is to get any additional useful information so nothing like what happened in Vancouver will happen here.”

The city will be using the police plan—which Gagnon can’t describe because it is not yet public, but says will involve strategies for the women, clients, drug dealers and street cops—to work in tandem with other services, like health treatment and detox programs.
The idea of rejigging the approach to prostitution, according to city communications rep Martin Viau, came from organizations like Stella. “Their grievances focussed on street workers,” says Viau—and less on escort agencies, who are generally less at risk, although by no means totally safe. “They felt the were being harassed, and there wasn’t enough police protection. So we want to make sure the prostitutes are not only protected, but respected.” :