City of Winnipeg looking at licensing rules around sex work
The City of Winnipeg wants to drop fees for people in the sex industry in the hopes more will get licensed, but at least one councillor says the plan won't work.
A report from city hall claims a new bylaw should lower the fee for escorts and body rub practitioners from $371 to $25 in an effort to knock down barriers to licensing.
According to the report, only 52 practitioner and escort licenses are issued right now.
The report said licensing contributes to the safety, health and protection of workers. The new bylaw would require workers to be part of information sessions on where to access health and social services as well as community policing.
The bylaw would also mandate other employees at these businesses be registered, so the license branch has information about them.
"This will make it harder to groom, influence, or pressure these workers to become body rub practitioners or escorts," states the report.
But City Protection Committee Chair and Councillor Sherri Rollins said the bylaw does not do enough to tackle counter exploitation and grooming and worries the approach is more punitive towards the sex workers than it is about safety.
Rollins said the fee isn't the barrier, it's a concern by those in the industry about being under surveillance if they get licensed and registered.
"This law denotes harm for people," said Rollins. "If I stick up my hand, am I going to be stigmatized by just doing something that is lawful?"
Rollins is bringing forward a motion to the Mayor's Executive Policy Committee this week to have the public service redo the bylaw by consulting escorts and body rub practitioners to see what would make the industry safer.
"Don't intentionally make people vulnerable by excluding them from the conversation at all," said Rollins
The proposed bylaw would also eliminate criminal record checks for escorts and practitioners to encourage licensing, mandate CCTV camera systems in parlour reception areas and require panic buttons in rooms used by practitioners.
The report also recommends a review of zoning rules that prohibit body rub parlours and escort agencies from operating outside Downtown.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.