[SWAF-Potluck] TONIGHT! --> Vancouver East Liberals will host town hall meeting on Bill C-36

[Barb Altman]

Hi everyBAWDY!!!

I'm so happy to read of both these events!  When there are two events on
the same day (both in support of sex work), things look a bit more
hopeful!  There must be (in my humble yet adamant opinion, of course [?]),
some dialogue heading in the right direction!

So, with that in mind, Mazel Tov to PACE on the occasion of your
Bar/Bat/B'nai Mitzvah (+ Seven [?])!!!  Shana Tova (sweet year) to anyone
celebrating Rosh Hashanah!  Also, I wish an easy fast to anyone observing
Ramadan; Eid is just around the corner!  A bountiful harvest to those folks
who give thanks in a variety of Solstice/Harvest rituals now and throughout
the year!!

Live & love with wild abandon (laced with a generous dose of caution)!
XOXOX

On Thu, Sep 25, 2014 at 10:33 AM, w.jc.pritchard <w.jc.pritchard at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Vancouver East Liberals will host town hall meeting on Bill C-36, which
> criminalizes prostitution
> by Charlie Smith <http://www.straight.com/users/charlie-smith> on Sep 22,
> 2014 at 4:57 pm
> <http://www.straight.com/files/styles/popup/public/Sex%20workers%202.jpg>
>
> More than three months ago, I suggested that Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau
> was the only hope for sex workers
> <http://www.straight.com/news/660346/justin-trudeau-only-hope-sex-workers>
> .
>
> It came in the wake of the Conservative government unveiling Bill C-36,
> which criminalizes the customers of sex workers.
>
> Some commenters on this website ripped into me for suggesting that Trudeau
> would do this. After all, Trudeau has previously supported the Nordic
> model, which also criminalizes the client.
>
> My response is that Trudeau changed his views on marijuana.
>
> There's no reason he wouldn't reverse his position on prostitution if
> there were sufficient public support and if evidence led the Liberals in
> that direction.
>
> The research by SFU's John Lowman and others is already clear. Sex
> workers' lives are jeopardized when the state drives their industry
> underground.
>
> That's why the Supreme Court of Canada concluded that Criminal Code
> prohibitions on soliciting clients in public, keeping a common bawdy house,
> and living off the avails of prostitution are unconstitutional.
>
> The government's response, Bill C-36, might as well be called the Willie
> Pickton Law. That's because it will make it easier for predators to kill
> sex workers after the Harperites have once again pushed sex workers to the
> margins.
>
> I'm surprised that Justice Minister Peter MacKay would countenance
> something like this, but who knows what's going on his brain?
>
> This week, the Vancouver East Liberals have announced that they will host
> a town hall meeting on Bill C-36. It suggests that the party has an open
> mind on this issue.
>
> Door open at 6:30 p.m. at the Strathcona Community Centre on Thursday
> (September 25).
>
> The panel features sex-workers' advocate Jamie Lee Hamilton, Vancouver
> park commissioner Sarah Blyth, and UBC researcher Becki Ross.
>
> It's taking place in the riding of NDP MP Libby Davies, who's long been an
> advocate for increasing sex workers' safety.
>
> In 2002, Davies introduced a motion in Parliament to review prostitution
> laws. That was the same year that Pickton was charged with 26 murders.
>
> Late last year, Davies issued a statement
> <http://www.libbydavies.ca/news/pressrelease/2013/12/20/statement-supreme-court-ruling-prostitution-laws#.VCC00fldVI4>
> welcoming the Supreme Court of Canada's ruling
> <http://www.straight.com/news/553411/supreme-court-canada-rules-three-prostitution-laws-are-unconstitutional>
> striking down three sections of the Criminal Code.
>
> "The exploitation, murder and violence against sex trade workers in Canada
> happens at an alarming rate, and until today, the laws dealing with
> prostitution remained unchanged and governments remained unwilling to
> realistically deal with this growing public safety issue," she said. "These
> laws have been a failure, both from the perspective of assisting and
> protecting sex workers as well as in mitigating the impacts of street
> prostitution on local communities."
>
> Davies also spoke at a rally this year opposing Bill C-36.
>
> So why is Justin Trudeau and not NDP leader Tom Mulcair the only hope for
> sex workers?
>
> It's because most of Davies' colleagues in Parliament have been silent on
> this issue. And if the NDP forms government, there's no guarantee that it
> will reverse the criminalization of customers and other unconstitutional
> aspects of Bill C-36 until Mulcair delivers an unequivocal statement on
> this issue.
>
> It's fine and dandy for him to stand up in Parliament and put the
> government's feet to the fire with regard to Senate expenses. But Bill C-36
> is legislation that will result in people dying unnecessarily. Why isn't
> the Opposition leader putting as much energy into this?
>
> In the meantime, the federal Liberals are seeking public input. That's the
> first step along the road to developing better policies.
>
> It's why I still believe that Justin Trudeau is the only hope for sex
> workers.
> *Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter @csmithstraight
> <https://twitter.com/csmithstraight>.*
>
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>
>


-- 
*Barb in VanGroovy =)*
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