Defend Dignity advocates for sex-trade workers
OTTAWA, ON—It's time to flip our thinking about prostitution on its head, says former prostitute Trisha Baptie.
Baptie's own childhood was rife with domestic violence. She developed addictions and became involved in prostitution while living in a group home. But she is also quick to point out the problems of prostitution in Canada go much deeper than just one person's back-story.
"Instead of asking why women get involved in prostitution, ask— why should men have sexual access to women and children's bodies?"
Questions like that, she believes, should prompt Canadians to take action.
Baptie is one of several women educating Canadians about issues of prostitution through Defend Dignity, a justice initiative of the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination. Defend Dignity is holding a series of panel events in churches across Canada, educating about sexual exploitation in Canada.
It is a crucial time for the church to take action, says Julia Beazley, a regular Defend Dignity panelist and policy analyst at The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.
This year the Supreme Court will hear the Bedford case, a challenge of prostitution laws launched by three sex-trade workers.
In March 2012, the Court of Appeal for Ontario struck down a law banning brothels. The court also changed the law against living off the avails of prostitution, so that it would only apply to "circumstances of exploitation."
Now the case is headed to the Supreme Court, where it will decide whether to keep the legal restrictions around prostitution or to decriminalize it.
If the laws are removed and Parliament has nothing to replace them with, "it could be open season on vulnerable women," says Beazley. "This is a critical window of time for Parliament to hear from Canadians."
Each Defend Dignity forum includes time for attendees to network with local frontline organizations. Katina Giesbrecht, a homeschooling mother of three, was inspired to get involved after learning about sexual exploitation in Canada at a social justice event earlier in the year. In November 2012, she was host coordinator for a Defend Dignity event at Pacific Community Church in Surrey. B.C.
"This is a form of modern-day slavery and, as Christians, we need to be fighting for the defenceless," says Giesbrecht. "When the whole evening was over everybody stayed and there was this great buzz in the room of people talking about change and what we can do."
Influenced by Defend Dignity, a group from Lawson Heights Alliance Church in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, met with their Member of Parliament, Brad Trost, earlier in 2012. Trost says their visit really spoke to how much they cared about the issue.
"As a Member of Parliament, we largely judge people's interest in a situation or an issue by how much attention they're willing to give it," he says. "If 50 MPs had 60 people write them thorough, thought-out letters or e-mails with name and address, asking for a reply, and had seven or eight groups of people drop by their riding to talk with them, this would be viewed as a major issue. That never happens."
Glendyne Gerrard, executive director of Defend Dignity adds, "The issue may seem big or overwhelming, but there is something each person can do... Gain more awareness. Write that letter. That carries far more impact than I think the average Canadian realizes."
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