I have a funny feeling that the government is not going to be smart enough to implement legalized brothels at any point in our lifetimes although I guess you never know. Maybe Ignatieff can push for that after his coup is successful! It's a shame because a lot of money could be made through legalized brothels during the games. I suppose the only concern would be an influx of sex slaves coming in from Asia and Russia to fill the demand but I have a feeling that will happen either way. Legalizing the brothels sure would help to put Vancouver on the map though--just think of the tourist motos you could come up with..."Mild winter days, hot winter nights"--Okay, I'm sure someone could come up with something more creative than that one!

Here's an update on the current attempt to get the brothel up and running in time for the Olympic games. I'm definitely going to try and pop up for the games even though I don't think I'll be willing to pay thousands for tickets. I would definitely go to a new brothel though! Interesting how prostitution is legal in Canada but brothels aren't. I would have thought that a regulated brothel would be even safer for providers because you could eliminate pimps, get the women off the street and also provide them with protection that they don't usually get when they work out of their own apartment. The article is found below if you are interested:

Vancouver prostitutes say consulting business would pay for brothel

21 hours ago

VANCOUVER, B.C. — A group of prostitutes has moved a step closer in their efforts to open a brothel so women involved in selling sex in the Downtown Eastside can get off the violent streets.

Sue Davis, a prostitute who has been a driving force behind the goal of opening a brothel, said proceeds from a consulting business launched Wednesday by the West Coast Co-operative of Sex Industry Professionals will enable the group to eventually open a brothel.

"Everybody is going to go crazy and think it's the brothel (that's opening)," she said, adding that won't happen until several commercial enterprises have been developed to help longtime prostitutes find alternatives to working the streets.

The sex workers' co-operative hopes to open a brothel in time for the 2010 Olympics and envisions a site similar to the plethora of massage parlours that now operate essentially as fronts for paid sex.

Their alternative work initiatives include the arts, publishing, catering and consulting.

Davis said a client and worker would rent a room for a sum that's privately arranged between them at the site and that money would go towards its operating costs.

"If younger women are worth protecting (by working off-street) why aren't the girls in the east end allowed to be in those environments?" Davis said.

"People in Vancouver agree that something different needs to be tried," she said. "Business owners, residents and neighbourhoods that are impacted by sex work are tired of having to deal with all these issues."

Davis has already been involved in consulting work.

She has voluntarily spoken to many Vancouver police officers at police headquarters about how to deal with street prostitutes and has been paid $150 an hour to make similar presentations to other groups.

Davis said she wants a broader group of prostitutes to start making presentations and to use skills that some have to raise money for the co-operative through the arts and catering.

She said many prostitutes she knows have artistic and culinary skills.

Two prostitutes have been invited to speak at a conference at the University of Victoria, where they will each be paid $400, Davis said.

While prostitution is legal in Canada, operating a bawdy house is not.

Tamara O'Doherty, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University, wrote her master's degree thesis on the "off-street sex trade" and the degree of violence the women encounter compared to street workers.

"I found out (violence) just doesn't happen at the same rate in the off-street community," O'Doherty said. "That says to me that there are ways people can work in the sex industry safely."

She said the off-street sex trade - massage parlours, escort agencies and women working out of their homes - makes up 80 to 90 per cent of the industry in Canada.

"We assume that violence is inherent in the act of selling sex and I wanted to find out if that's true."

In a related development, O'Doherty and a lawyer who tried to argue in court that the Criminal Code sections dealing with prostitution violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms were disappointed that their case was dismissed earlier this week without a trial.

In a ruling, a B.C. Supreme Court judge said the Downtown Eastside Sex Workers United Against Violence Society had no standing to argue their case.

The sex workers society wanted the court to strike down the Criminal Code section that makes it an offence to keep a bawdy house. It also wanted the court to strike the section that deals with transporting a person to a bawdy house, as well as the section that deals with soliciting in a public place.

The group said these sections infringe Charter rights including freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, and freedom of association.

Katrina Pacey of the Pivot Legal Society, an advocacy group, said the bawdy house law means the street prostitutes "can't work indoors and end up working on the streets, which are dangerous."

The matter had been set for a six-week trial starting in February but the Attorney General of Canada applied to dismiss the action.

"The (Attorney General) submits that there are other reasonable and effective means for the constitutional validity of the impugned sections of the Criminal Code to come before the court and . . . there is currently other litigation underway in Canada in which the same issues are being raised," Justice William Ehrcke said in his ruling.

Doubtful we'll see it before the Olympics but I can bet SPs are going to be extremely busy! Especially with all of the men from the US who love to see providers but are too scared to in the US.

I guess that'll be great for you gals but not so good for us local hobbyists. Hopefully you'll keep us in mind if you decide to raise your rates during the Olympics and give us a local discount.

A bit of a late reply but I absolutely plan on offering a locals discount if my rates go up for the festivities. Must have proof of residency of course

Nice. Although our poor cousins seem to be suffering even more than we are these days...poor little guys!

hi! my name is susie and i am the development coordinator for canada's first sex worker cooperative- www.wccsip.ca

here's some info on what's been up....

Cooperative Brothel Enterprise

Past and present enforcement strategies have for the most part had no effect on the health and safety of communities where sex work occurs and has only served to displace street level sex work, tell sex workers where they can’t work and caused violence, abductions and death of sex industry community members.

Sex workers in the Downtown East Side of Vancouver have expressed their need for a safe place to work. The most fundamental things enjoyed by Canadian workers such as a toilette to use while on shift or a place to wash after entertaining a client are not available to the sex workers in the east end.

The trial in the case of the missing women has put the spot light on the dangerous conditions that the sex workers on the street face every night and the sex workers themselves have called for the immediate stabilization of their safety.

An indoor venue where sex workers could bring their clients could greatly increase a sex workers ability to negotiate the terms of the work or refuse dangerous work. Sex Workers in the downtown east side are asking for the opportunity to demonstrate the impact we believe bringing the sex trade in off of the street will have on the health and safety of the entire community.

During the Living in Community Project which engaged all stake holders in designing an action plan to address the immediate issues facing communities and sex workers, residents and business owners impacted by street level sex work expressed their greatest complaints were:

The residual mess - condoms and other garbage
The public violence - every one agrees that the level of violence endured by survival sex workers is unacceptable.
sex in plain view - looking out your window and seeing sex workers and customers together.
Unwanted attention from sex consumers endured by women who are not sex workers
And their children being faced with sex workers on the street while out in the community or on the way to school
It is hoped that by bringing the trade in off the street these issues will be greatly impacted. With a place to dispose of condoms and to entertain clients out of the public eye, the health and safety of ALL community members it is hoped will be impacted.

This Safe Work Site will be completely designed by, owned by, profited from, voted on and controlled by the sex workers themselves and reflect what a safe work environment means to them.

Many people find the Coop Brothel concept difficult to understand. Questions about how profits will be shared and rumours of rounding up sex workers and corralling them have completely missed the basic principle of this idea. The coop will not be about profit sharing, it will be about sharing expenses.

Cooperative business models are designed to accommodate an identified common need within a community. The sex workers in the downtown eastside are the members of the sex industry community most directly impacted by uninformed actions and lack of safe work environments and of course they suffer the most violence and have the highest mortality rate. That is not to say that indoor sex industry workers don’t feel the same impacts, it’s just not at as high of a rate.

This common need of a safe work environment is the foundation of the cooperative brothel enterprise. So, the sex workers in the downtown east side agreed that together they could share expenses and afford to maintain such a space.

The discussion continued and it was decided that a steam bath business model or “rooms by the hour” was the best way to make it accessible to all. This business model allows a private space where technically 2 consenting adults could engage in the legal exchange of sex for money. Sex workers would meet their clients in the traditional ways like on the internet, through ads in the paper and on the street. They would then bring their client to the safe work site or meet him/her there and rent a room for the encounter. It is hoped that the rates can be kept to a minimum in order to make the rooms accessible, cheap and preferable to criminal charges.

The group decided sex workers would not have to be a coop member to access the site, but to vote on what to do with any profits membership would be required.

The discussion continued along the lines of what to do with any profits generated by the safe work space. For those of you who doubt it’s sustainability, I once watched 6 different sex workers leave with 6 different clients within 10 minutes from 1 corner…even at $2 to rent a room that will add up!

Because the cooperative is a “for profit endeavour”, I joked that we could vote to buy a hot tub or vote to take a trip to Las Vegas. The group light heartedly speculated on this for a while but then returned to things we as a community need. We discussed pensions and extended medical but most notably a scholarship fund for the children of dead sex workers. The generosity on selflessness of this community who have so little never ceases to amaze me.

An “Anti Brothel” campaign launched by abolitionist or “end sex work” groups has severely crippled our plans for this initiative. Reactionary reports of “Olympic Brothels” which lied about the intentions of this enterprise have turned into a far reaching campaign on going for more than a year. These groups are generously funded and have the resources to maintain their attacks stating everything from organized crime being in control of the brothel to how no first nations people were consulted.

This project reflects the diversity of the sex working community as it includes women, men and trans-individuals as well as those from different ‘classes’ and varying capacities and abilities. More specifically, sex workers engaged are multi-literate and culturally diverse. First Nations, Asian, Caucasian, Black workers and those of mixed race are currently invested.

Cooperative business models by their very nature are not controlled by any one person. The idea that organized crime would control the activities of the safe work site is ridiculous and inflammatory. These statements were intended to undermine public confidence in the safe work site and it’s planned activities and it seems to have had some effect.

Article 22 in the International Charter of Human Rights defends a person from arbitrary attacks upon their honour and reputation. The effects of these attacks upon our ability to fulfill this objective are proof of why that provision exists in the Charter. We did enquire into legal recourse but unfortunately no lawyers were willing to risk engaging on our behalf. The Sex Industry Community is still not seen as a distinct culture and as a result we have difficulty defending our human rights on many levels.

Because of the systematic targeting and elimination of the safer indoor sex work venues and limited numbers of highly competed for jobs, sex workers in the downtown east side cannot find work in the safer indoor work environments. Why are sex industry workers within these high end escorting/massage venues seen as valuable and worth protecting? Do the workers on the street not deserve health, safety and dignity at work?

Article 1 of the Charter states all are to be treated equally in the eyes of the law. Clearly this fundamental rule is being overlooked in many ways including what is described above.

Currently, we are on hold with this enterprise as we try to raise funds to see our plans through.

Interesting. Thanks for the update and good luck with the fundraising. Perhaps a massive gangbang could help to generate funds?

i have to agree with you missy

Sadly, I must as well.

www.escortbesuche.de
Hi, I am john I like your Post. This sites provides the better facilities to me and I think every one .An escort girl mean a fancy prostitute.the sense of being a girl who can keep you company is lost. Now it implies sex with a fancy girl who does not work on the street but you book her by phone or through and agency. It is generaly expensive.