The CBC article can be found on our news page, or by clicking HERE
Nicole’s feeble attempt to rationalize her and the other members of the groups’ actions with the excuse that it’s just an ” expression of anger ” about the ” disgusting ” conditions of her city doesn’t cut it.
In the recent past, residents’ associations across Canada would hold demonstrations against sex workers in ” their ” neighbourhoods. Residents would band together to go out and yell and curse at prostitutes.
Politicians pandered to this by enacting more laws against prostitution.
My colleagues became everyone’s convenient scapegoat. Reports of beatings and rapes skyrocketed. Across the country many sex workers went missing. The police in Vancouver couldn’t be bothered to look into the disappearances in that city until the numbers became too many to ignore. The RCMP in Alberta now have over 80 active cases.
Sadly, I am not surprised that a group that brags about assaulting sex workers has surfaced in Winnipeg.
Sex workers are, for many Canadians, an object of contempt. Unstable people like the members of the group Nicole belongs to take this further. They identify a group of people to vent their anger on. Then they dress up their aggression as dissatisfaction. When criticized for assaulting those they disdain, they hide behind the free speech argument.
This behaviour must be nipped in the bud or it can escalate into worse violence quickly.
Winnipeg police need to recognize that Nicole and the rest of the group should be charged with promoting hatred as well as assault.
Valerie Scott
Sex Professionals of Canada