2 support centres for sex workers in Vancouver close, one permanently

CBC

2 days ago

Vancouver sex workers frustrated over loss of supportive service PACE Society
1 day ago
Duration 9:56
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Two support centres for sex workers in Vancouver have closed due to a lack of funding, causing concern among the sex work community and its supporters.
The PACE Society has permanently closed after operating for over 30 years, and the WISH Drop-in Centre has been temporarily closed since February after more than 40 years of service.
The organizations provided a 24/7 space for people in the sex work industry to access services.
The PACE Society says it has closed due to outstanding debts and issues with securing funding. The WISH Drop-In Centre's website says the temporary closure was put in place to help the drop-in program withstand financial troubles and it is currently in negotiations to reopen.
Sex worker and former PACE volunteer Olive Bing says support centres for sex workers provide safety, harm reduction supplies and community.
"It's a substantial loss," Bing told CBC's The Early Edition host Stephen Quinn.
Bing, who was a board member with PACE Society, says the organization did the "very best it could with minimal resources and incredibly high demand."
Sarah Moon, a sex worker and performer, says she accessed therapy and legal advice through PACE and that she wouldn't be where she is today without the organization.
"They were totally instrumental with who I am today; they helped me grow so much as a person," she told The Early Edition.
"It is an incalculable loss, and I'm quite devastated to hear of its closing."
Moon says Vancouver has no other 24/7 support services available for women in the sex work industry, following the closure of the two centres.
Funding for a 24/7 centre for sex workers was one recommendation included in the 2012 Missing Women Inquiry, following the murders committed by serial killer Robert Pickton.
Pickton was known for preying on women in the sex work industry in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
'Incredibly devastating'
Halena Seiferling, executive director of Living in Community, a non-profit that supports sex workers, says the closures have been "incredibly devastating."
"It's the loss of a community," Seiferling said.
She says people who access services through PACE and WISH now have no place to go, noting that most organizations aren't open and operating when sex workers need to access them.
"This is a place I think that many people felt they found friendships, they built community, they built trust with the staff and the peers there," she said.
"That's not easily replaceable to go somewhere else and feel that same support and feeling of community, so yeah, it's been a pretty massive loss."
Decrease in support for sex workers
Seiferling says it's common to see governments take action when "something bad happens," but as the years go on, memories of serial killer Robert Pickton are fading from the general public — though they haven't left the sex work community.
She says she hopes it does not take something else bad happening to reinstate 24/7 support for women in sex work in Vancouver.
"Over time, we've seen less focus on, less investment and less support for organizations like PACE who provide this really urgent front-line support," she said.
Moon says sex workers are everyday people.
"We are your sisters, brothers, family."