Sure. We would most definitely not say that legalization would do that. A legalized industry we can, in a very loose way, just for comprehension, compare it to the way marijuana was legalized in Canada, where the government actually controls the where, how and when it can happen, which is most definitely not a decriminalized system.

In a decriminalized system, sex workers would not have the threat of law enforcement, CBSA or other industries, in their face all the time. We can't take for granted that law is an instruction to law enforcement and police officers and an invitation to be in the lives of sex workers all the time, whether they're claiming it's for protection or claiming it's for other reasons. They're invited in, and it's a non-invitation. Sex workers aren't welcoming police into their lives.

The removal of that makes a really big difference around how sex workers can organize their work. The member groups in our alliance, as you just heard both from Maggie's and Peers, have been speaking very eloquently to the safety mechanisms that sex workers can put in place without having to look behind their backs all the time. That's not even to speak of all the safety mechanisms that clients, who are criminalized in every context at every moment, can put into place.

Decriminalization really allows there to be a focus on work. When there are instances of exploitation and violence that exist, we can recognize those for what they are. But when you paint the entire industry as violent, you're not able to actually address the violence that occurs because everything is violent all the time, and so that goes unnoticed.

In our view and our experience, what this would mean is that when there are instances of something that would meet the threshold of human trafficking or that meets the threshold of other crimes against sex workers, other violence against sex workers, that would be more easily detectable, but also sex workers might eventually have more confidence in reporting to law enforcement. That relationship is historically filled with strife, mistrust and abuse. That relationship takes time, and police in the way they apply the laws are going to need to learn how to create those relationships. In a decriminalized industry, there's at least the possibility for sex workers who want to access those systems to consider doing so.

Does that answer your question?

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