JUST Committee Report

CHAPTER TWO: A PROFILE OF PROSTITUTION IN CANADA

The close to 300 witnesses from every walk of life who testified during our study of prostitution laws expressed many different and often contradictory positions. Opinions differed not only as to the nature, causes and effects of prostitution, but also as to the solutions.

Research has tended to focus on the people who sell sexual services on the street. However, as this report will indicate, prostitution operates in various other ways and involves many other players besides the person selling sexual services (client, pimp, agency owner etc.). Empirical research in the field is often silent about certain problems that are frequently associated with prostitution, including organized crime, the drug trade, and trafficking in persons for the purposes of prostitution.

This chapter reviews what the Subcommittee learned during its examination of prostitution laws in relation to prostitution as a whole, its scope, the people who engage in it and the people who profit from it, their experiences and their reasons for engaging in such activities.

A. PROSTITUTION IN CANADA

1. The Various Types of Prostitution

When prostitution is discussed, it is often the image of street prostitution that comes to mind. However, according to the testimony provided to the Subcommittee and most studies on the subject, street prostitution accounts for just 5% to 20%⁹ of all prostitution activity in the country.

Street prostitution is the most visible manifestation for both the public and police, who often have to intervene when residents complain about the presence of persons practising prostitution on their street. As Chapter 4 indicates, the enforcement of prostitution laws generally focuses on people involved in street prostitution, while those who engage in other forms of prostitution “operate with virtual impunity.” ¹⁰ Moreover, the people who sell their sexual services tend to suffer the effects of that criminalization while their clients are left more or less unscathed.

There are various forms of prostitution, and many of them are assisted by advertisements and advances in communications technology, such as cell phones and the Internet. Prostitution takes place on the street, through escort and call-girl services, in massage parlours, private apartments, and in specialty clubs and bars, including strip clubs, hotels and some restaurants.

2. The Wide Range of Experiences and Settings

In addition to the different types of prostitution practised in Canada, witnesses pointed to the variety of settings in which prostitution takes place and the resulting experiences. They reported a range of experiences in prostitution as regards the control that prostitutes have over their bodies, hours, clients, money, etc.

John Lowman, a criminologist who has been studying prostitution for nearly 30 years, describes the Canadian prostitution scene in the following terms:

The Canadian contact sex service trade — that which is usually referred to as “prostitution” — ranges from female sexual slavery (the gorilla pimp) and survival sex (sale of sexual services by persons with very few other options, such as homeless youth and women in poverty) through to more bourgeois styles of sex trade (including some street prostitution)¹¹ where both adults are consenting, albeit it in a way that is shaped by their gender, occupation, ethnicity, socio-economic status and cultural values.¹²

The distinctions made by Professor Lowman were corroborated by many of the former and current prostitutes who testified before our Subcommittee.

Maggie deVries, author of a book that tells the story of her sister Sarah (who disappeared, like many other women who sold sexual services on the streets of Vancouver), argued that distinctions must be made in order to understand the fluctuations in these people’s lives and to respond more effectively. On the basis of conversations with prostitutes in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, she wrote the following paragraphs, which she read to the Subcommittee:

It is important to draw a distinction between survival sex and sexual slavery. None of the women I've interviewed were being held against their will. They were doing the best they could with a tough situation; life circumstances had limited their choices. But they did not need to be rescued in the way that one would rescue people who were being held captive. They needed more choices, more connections with the larger world, more services, more education, greater safety. When we equate one thing with another, such as saying that all prostitution is sexual slavery, we limit our capacity to draw distinctions, to understand the actual permutations of people’s lives. And we deny their agency.

My sister was engaged in survival sex. Her choices were limited as long as she could not see a way out of that life. She was locked tight inside her addiction. But she had dignity. Within the scope of her life, she made choices every day. She had the right, I believe, to sell sex whether she hated it or loved it. She had the right to do drugs, to be a drug addict. She could only leave that life if she did so freely. I don’t think there is any way we could have helped her except by increasing her freedom.¹³

During her testimony, Raven Bowen, coordinator of Prostitution Alternatives Counselling and Education Society and member of the BC Coalition of Experiential Women, also addressed this subject, saying:

The PACE Society makes the distinction between sex work and survival sex. Sex work is known to you as prostitution. We define survival sex as the lack of opportunity to consistently exercise the right to refuse customers in any given circumstances.

During our study, we met with individuals who practised prostitution to cope with a drug habit, extreme poverty, mental illness or the effects of a violent past. We also heard from people who said they sold sexual services by choice and with relative autonomy. In each of these groups, women said they had chosen this trade (as the majority of them see it) of their own free will because for them it had more advantages than disadvantages, including flexible hours, decent wages for their level of education, and the opportunity to meet interesting people.¹⁴

The Concept of Choice

Not all witnesses who testified during our study of prostitution laws acknowledged the existence of a form of prostitution in which participants are engaged by choice and of their own free will.¹⁵ In their opinion, if it is not due to threats from a third party, it is a lack of choice that forces individuals into prostitution.

Some witnesses simply questioned the issue of choice in the debate about prostitution. They consider the issue of choice inappropriate since they regard prostitution as an inherently violent, degrading activity that derives from the exploitation and oppression of women by men. This is what Yolande Geadah told us about the concept of choice:

Of course, when it comes to prostitution, the very concept of consent is a form of violence and exploitation. That is quite clear and all the data points to that. In that environment, you simply can't talk about consent. I think we have to change the way we see prostitution. We have to stop seeing it as an individual choice with no consequences. In fact, it is a choice that has terrible consequences for individuals, even those who were not pressured by someone else.

For the proponents of this view, people who buy sexual services and those who live off the proceeds of prostitution are necessarily abusers, while those engaging in prostitution are relegated to the status of victims: victims of life experiences marked by violence and abuse — especially sexual assault during childhood, incest or drug addiction — and victims of a society in which women are both sexually and economically oppressed by men.

As the experience of prostitution is, in their view, always marked by exploitation, society’s response must be to completely eradicate prostitution in all its forms.

B. WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE SCOPE OF PROSTITUTION?

Because of the illegal nature of many prostitution-related activities, the diversity of the locations where it is practised, and the social opprobrium surrounding prostitution, it is very difficult to determine the extent of prostitution activity in Canada each year or how many people engage in or profit from it (clients, pimps, strip club owners, hotel owners, etc).

None of the witnesses we heard during our study went so far as to provide us with an approximate figure for the scope of prostitution in Canada. Those who addressed the issue, mostly police officers and community organizations, confined their estimates to a particular city or region and generally acknowledged that such estimates are not very reliable.¹⁶ They vary with the season or the weather; the economic situation; the presence of special events, such as festivals or sports events; and the movement of prostitutes from one type of prostitution to another or from one city to another.

As to official statistics concerning arrests under sections 210 to 213 of the Criminal Code,¹⁷ the consensus is that they tend to reflect law enforcement trends rather than the actual level of prostitution activity in Canada. Roy Jones, Director of the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics at Statistics Canada, said:

[…] these data represent only those incidents that are reported by police and processed by the justice system, and they should not be considered general measures of prevalence relating to prostitution offences.¹⁸

Statistics on Criminal Code offences relating to prostitution demonstrate the fact that individuals engaging in street prostitution are more susceptible to being charged. Historically, more than 90% of prostitution-related incidents reported by police fall under section 213, which prohibits communication in a public place for the purposes of engaging in prostitution.¹⁹ For an analysis of prostitution-related arrest statistics, see Chapter 4.

C. WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO SELL SEXUAL SERVICES?

It is very difficult to draw a representative picture of the people who sell sexual services in Canada for the same reasons that it is difficult to gauge the scope of prostitution. Prostitution activities are usually carried out in secret, which makes most of the people involved invisible to conventional research. It is no surprise then, that research into prostitution centres on a specific group — those who sell sex on the street.²⁰

This situation is problematic because street prostitution makes up a very small part of prostitution in Canada. It thus undermines any attempt to generalize research results to the entire population. Claire Thiboutot outlined this difficulty in an article presented to the Subcommittee:

[TRANSLATION] Since the media and most of the studies conducted to date have focused primarily on the most visible aspects of sex work, it is difficult to make generalizations about all sex workers based on their results and their profiles. We have information about prisoners, people in detox programs, and so on. Some of the information is about sex work in the lives of these women. However, we have little information about women who have been in sex work for a good part of their lives but have never been jailed, treated in a detox program or assisted by resource centre or shelters that serve prostitutes and sex workers directly.²¹

In recent years, social science researchers have attempted to fill these knowledge gaps by conducting empirical research in conjunction with organizations defending prostitutes’ rights across the country.²² Their studies tend to show that most generalizations regarding prostitution apply specifically to the people who work on the street and not to everyone who engages in prostitution.²³

1. What do we Know about the Demographic Profile of People who Sell Sexual Services?

(a) Women

According to the evidence gathered during this examination and most studies, it is primarily women who sell sexual services. In Canada, they represent between 75% and 80%²⁴ of all people practising prostitution. On the basis of the information the Subcommittee received, the first experience with prostitution is between the ages of 14 and 18.²⁵

For some women, prostitution is a temporary activity, while for others it is a sporadic activity taking place over varying periods of time. During our study, a number of witnesses stressed that very few women stay in prostitution their entire lives.²⁶ It was stated that some of them have a specific financial goal in mind, and stop when they have achieved it.

The evidence we heard suggests that there are many different reasons for getting into prostitution. Some people are forced by a third party, others do it to make ends meet, pay the rent or buy groceries, or to cope with a drug habit or a life marked by violence, incest,²⁷ rejection, etc. Many such people unfortunately become trapped in prostitution. In her testimony, Jane Runner, Program Manager for Transition, Education and Resources for Females (TERF), and a former prostitute, pointed out that it takes a person between 5 and 10 years to leave prostitution. She went on to say:

We are talking about years and years of suffering and abuse, and it takes years and years of healing and a lot of hard work and courageous work on the part of these individuals. Any programs for these people must therefore take this factor into account.²⁸

Although the question of the motivation for going into prostitution raised a number of theories and opinions, many witnesses agreed that a significant number of women are forced into prostitution by economic hardship. In many cases, unstable, unskilled jobs in the service industries do not provide these women with the security and income they need to keep a roof over their heads or support their children. This poverty among women is also linked in particular to the shortage of affordable housing,²⁹ insufficient work experience and poor education.

Finally, it should be noted that the prostitutes we met are not all poorly educated or without work experience. Some of the women who appeared before the Subcommittee in private hearings were university graduates and/or had a number of years of experience in various lawful occupations, such as government, law or social work. They had chosen prostitution of their own will after assessing the pros and cons. Some said that the work gave them the opportunity to meet interesting people, work flexible hours and earn decent wages.

The Prevalence of Aboriginal Women

There is a high prevalence of Aboriginal women in prostitution in some parts of Canada. In Winnipeg, for example, city councillor Harry Lazarenko and the police service estimates that they make up 70% of street prostitutes. Winnipeg is not the only city where that is the case. In most large Canadian cities, a disproportionately large number of Aboriginal women are involved in street prostitution.

Compared to other women involved in prostitution, Aboriginal women are more likely to be dealing with drug problems and extreme poverty.³⁰ In addition, an Amnesty International Canada report points out that at least a third of the more than 70 women who disappeared from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside were Aboriginal.³¹

The Subcommittee heard that Aboriginal women also face special problems, including racial profiling and excessive police intervention.³² This is what Cheryl Hotchkiss, a human rights campaigner for Amnesty International Canada, had to say about Aboriginal women involved in prostitution in Canada:

The isolation and social marginalization that increases the risk of violence faced by women in the sex trade is often particularly acute for indigenous women.³³

Some witnesses stressed the importance of recognizing the special needs and problems of Aboriginal women and girls involved in prostitution. Pamela Downe, a professor in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, noted in her testimony that intervention on their behalf must take into account the fact that “colonial history actually does lead to a very unique and distinct experience” for Canada’s Aboriginal women.³⁴ She noted further that “it is wrong-headed [for society] to attempt to disentangle their personal experience from the history of their people.” ³⁵

(b) Minors Exploited in Prostitution

It is very difficult to determine the extent to which minors are exploited through prostitution in Canada. In addition to the difficulties associated with investigating clandestine activity, researchers face particular problems in the case of youth because of their legal status. For fear of being reported to child protection agencies, few will admit to a researcher or a street support worker that they sell sexual services; few will even give their age.

Despite these obstacles, witnesses stated that increasing numbers of young people are being exploited through prostitution in Canada. Others suggested that their numbers are about the same, but that many young people who used to work the streets have moved to other locations because of increased policing on the streets.³⁶ However, there are currently no national statistics to corroborate or refute these assertions.

According to the testimony, young people and even children enter prostitution for a number of reasons. As compared to adult prostitution, however, children and youth are more commonly forced into prostitution by a third party (pimp).

The following excerpts from testimony pertain to young people and children who are exploited for the purposes of prostitution in Canada and the reasons for that exploitation:

[…] young people working in prostitution are better conceptualized as engaged in survival sex. It is survival sex that is generally sporadic, and it may be only one source of income opportunity among a number that they participate in. Sex for these young people may be exchanged for money, food, a warm place to sleep, or drugs. It’s considered by them to be a practical, utilitarian kind of transaction directed to meet their immediate needs.

Their problem is not prostitution per se but a whole broader array of social marginalization, lack of economic opportunities, lack of family support, and lack of social service supports. And these need to be brought into place to support these young people so they can develop their own autonomy and be able to have the kinds of supports that make them less vulnerable to precisely to the kinds of conditions you suggest.³⁷

In terms of the reality of why youths go there, it’s because we have diminished their hopes, their dreams, and their choices. If you leave a small community and come to Toronto with less than grade 10, your options for survival, employment, and housing are minimal unless you find a way to make money. Your body is something you own, and it’s readily available. The issue of addictions has been part of many of the discussions, and a lot of young people come into prostitution to support habits. Conversely, we also know a lot of young people get involved because they’re dimming the issues that come with being involved in prostitution.³⁸

There are lots of kids who come from very violent homes, and believe me, I’ve talked to them. I’ve been their outreach worker for 14 years. They were better off being on the street than they were being in the children’s aid or in a hostel or being any place other than where they were.³⁹

We learned that young runaways are very vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation, especially those running away from family problems. As noted by Marc Drapeau, of Project Intervention Prostitution Québec Inc, a child that dissociates him or herself from his or her body due to sexual abuse is at greater risk of exploitation through prostitution.⁴⁰

(c) Prostitution Involving Males, Transvestites and Transgendered Persons

According to John Lowman and Frances Shaver, males, transvestites and transgendered persons make up about 20% of those involved in street prostitution. At present, there is very little information about participation by these groups in off-street prostitution. On the basis of the information gathered, however, there is every indication that male off-street prostitution tends to be confined to private establishments and clubs.⁴¹

Compared to women, studies tend to show that men are less likely to suffer physical violence at the hands of their clients.⁴² On the other hand, they are more likely to be victims of violence by members of the public; this is particularly true for transvestites and transgendered individuals, who are doubly marginalized.

2. Drug Abuse and Prostitution

A number of the witnesses heard by the Subcommittee during its study of the legislation — persons selling sexual services, private citizens, police officers and researchers — discussed the relationship between drugs and prostitution. For some of them, the two are inseparable, especially in street prostitution. For example, Detective Howard Page of the Toronto Police Service said the following in his testimony:

From speaking with many street-level prostitutes, in the hundreds, over the last five years and in debriefing these females, it’s my experience that the drug addiction to the crack cocaine is actually what’s fuelling their survival on the streets. What happens is it becomes a vicious circle. The addiction to crack cocaine is so strong that $20 is what is known on the street as a “street hit” of crack cocaine. That high will last an individual for 15 minutes.

What happens is once a female is out onto a street corner in the inner city; she is selling her body to the john for as low as $20 for a sexual act. Again, the vicious circle is that […] she goes back to the local street dealer who hangs around the corner, she gets her crack cocaine, and the circle continues.⁴³

In her testimony before the Subcommittee concerning the situation in her neighbourhood, Agnès Connat, a resident of Montréal’s Faubourgs area, also mentioned the apparently close link between drug abuse and street prostitution:

In our suburb, street prostitution is closely tied to drug addiction. We have seen for ourselves that the money doesn’t stay in the prostitutes’ hands for long. Girls step out of the car with a $20 bill and proceed to give it directly to their pushers, because $20 is the price of a hit. I do not know if you are aware that a cocaine addict can shoot up 20, 30 or 40 times a day. Obviously, that requires a great deal of money, and a great deal of tricks to be turned.⁴⁴

While one expert suggested that there is no proof of a cause-and-effect relationship between drug abuse and prostitution,⁴⁵ there is no question that in some cases prostitution is a means of supporting a drug habit. However, the testimony we heard⁴⁶ clearly indicates that not all street prostitutes are drug addicts.

Studies tend to show that drug abuse by people who engage in off-street prostitution is much less prevalent.⁴⁷ This may be explained by the fact that taking drugs and drinking are prohibited or strongly discouraged by many prostitution establishments and escort agencies.⁴⁸

Although research findings on this issue are often contradictory, there is no doubt that people who have dependency problems are more likely to be exposed to all types of violence and disease, given the vulnerability of their lifestyle, needle sharing, etc. According to Doug Le Pard, Deputy Chief of the Vancouver Police Department, people with very serious drug habits are more likely to be targeted by serial killers.

The most highly addicted sex trade workers are the most likely to be the victims of a serial killer. Their addictions are a far more powerful force than any fears for their safety.⁴⁹

3. The Health of Prostitutes

Witnesses noted that the health of street prostitutes is often fragile, particularly those who use injection drugs.⁵⁰ According to street support workers, the health problems among prostitutes, especially street prostitutes, are quite varied and in many cases reflect broader difficulties associated with a lack of proper housing. Janine Stevenson, a nurse who works with prostitutes, told the Subcommittee that “[i]t’s everything from malnutrition to sleep deprivation, to pneumonia, to skin conditions […], to mental health issues.” ⁵¹

Studies have also shown that persons who engage in prostitution but are not injection drug users tend to follow safer sexual practices than the general population, particularly with regard to condom use.⁵² Available information on this issue suggests that the danger of infection for prostitutes tends to be associated with their romantic partners rather than their clients. This can be explained by the fact that they often use condoms to differentiate prostitution from their own sex lives. It is also important to note that studies of the prevalence of HIV infection have long recognized that the risk of contracting and spreading sexually transmitted and blood-borne diseases is highest among injection drug users and not among prostitutes as a group.⁵³

4. A Shared Experience: Violence

Prostitutes are extremely vulnerable members of society. They’re open to personal and sexual degradation, exploitation, and violence from customers, pimps, and businesses from whose premises they work.⁵⁴

With the disappearances and sadistic murders of a number of prostitutes, particularly in Vancouver and Edmonton, the public has become aware of the violence to which many prostitutes fall prey in Canada. This violence is not new, and is by no means confined to Vancouver or Edmonton. People who engage in prostitution, particularly street prostitution, are faced with many different types of abuse and violence, ranging from whistles and insults to assault, rape and murder. The violence comes from clients, pimps, drug pushers, members of the public, co-workers and even police officers.

While most studies recognize that violence is more common on the streets, it is not the only place where it occurs. In response to a question related to the presence of violence in prostitution establishments, Chief Superintendent Kevin Vickers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police noted, “I've investigated deaths of young prostitutes who worked for escort agencies. In particular, in Calgary there are two ladies who come to mind who worked specifically for an escort service right in Calgary. So violence is there.”⁵⁵ This point was also illustrated by Colette Parent, a professor in the Sociology Department at the University of Ottawa, who told the Subcommittee that working conditions in prostitution establishments and agencies vary from very good, respectful environments, to near-slavery. She stated that some massage parlours force women to fulfil their clients’ every fantasy, while others respect their choices and take a greater interest in their welfare. Criminologist John Lowman said much the same thing in his testimony:

Another thing we want to be careful of with the off-street scene is to not look at it as all of a piece. There are some high-end places where really women do have a lot of control over their circumstances. But there are some places where women are being brought in and you have systems of debt bondage, which to me is no different from slavery. You’re working off a debt that you can never pay off.⁵⁶

(a) A Dangerous Activity, According to Homicide Statistics

On the basis of homicide statistics published by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS), prostitution is a very dangerous activity in Canada. Between 1994 and 2003, at least 79 prostitutes were murdered while engaging in prostitution activities. It should be noted that this is almost certainly lower than the real figures, since it includes only those cases in which the police were able to determine that the death occurred during prostitution-related activities.

Nearly all of these victims were women (95% women, 5% men). A study conducted by Statistics Canada in the 1990s suggests that in more than 85% of the cases, the people who committed the homicides were clients. Three-quarters of the 79 homicides mentioned in the CCJS study occurred in the following metropolitan areas: Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Montréal, Winnipeg and Ottawa-Gatineau.⁵⁷

This extreme violence against people involved in prostitution is also of interest to criminologist John Lowman of Simon Fraser University, who has compiled data on murders of persons engaging in prostitution in British Columbia between 1960 and 1999. It should be noted that in contrast to the CCJS data, Professor Lowman’s homicide statistics are not limited to the murder of prostitutes while they were engaged in prostitution activities.

Professor Lowman’s statistics are presented in the table below. It should be noted that the data for the 1995-1999 period are incomplete, since a number of women who apparently disappeared from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside during that time frame have not yet been found.

Number of prostitutes murdered in British Columbia

1960 — 1999

Years	Number of homicides
1960-1964	0
1965-1969	0
1970-1974	0
1975-1979	3
1980-1984	8
1985-1989	22
1990-1994	24
1995-1999*	50