Monday, September 20, 1999

At the Sex Workers Alliance of Vancouver, we see our contribution in this project as integral to itıs relevance and success. We are well-connected with sex worker advocacy groups nationally and internationally and we have amassed the largest archive of sex-worker materials in the country. SWAV will apply our networking resources to recruit participants and solicit sex-worker input on the design and assessment of the project, from the full breadth of jobs and workplaces that make up the sex industry in Canada.

The benefits from this project for Canadian sex workers (and SWAV) will be manifold. The projectıs process will facilitate the strengthening of a national sex-worker advocacy network. This project has long been an important priority for sex worker advocates in Canada — to conduct a sex-worker-oriented health and safety assessment in order to develop guidelines for safe working conditions. Working together on this project, whether by participating as respondents or by collaborating on the design and analysis, will require increased communication and information-sharing and foster solidarity in a workforce where people are often isolated from each other.

Sex workers and advocates will be able to use the results of the project — a well-researched, credible, thorough and relevant document outlining workplace health and safety guidelines — to influence sex-business managers as well as policy-makers at local, regional and national levels. And, sex workers will at last have an up-to-date, clear guide to the laws used to prohibit sex work in Canada, (Trials of the Sex Trade: A survival guide to Canada's legal jungle, a sex-worker-initiated project that began in 1990) so sex workers can better understand their legal rights, avoid criminal charges and better defend themselves in court.

The Sex Workers Alliance of Vancouver is very eager to be a partner in this project, especially with such highly-respected researchers in the field of sex work.

Respectfully,

Andrew Sorfleet
Coordinator, Sex Workers Alliance of Vancouver