Sex Workers Denounce Impacts of Curfew

Tiohtià:ke (Montreal, traditional unceded territory of the Kanien’keha:ka (Mohawk) People), January 9, 2022 – Sex worker activists with the Sex Work Autonomous Committee (SWAC) are denouncing the deleterious impacts of the curfew on their working and living conditions. After 21 months of pandemic, they fear that this measure will increase the repressions against them and create more violence and economic insecurity. Instead, they are demanding the complete decriminalization of their work, so that they can put in place strategies to effectively reduce the risks of spreading the virus.

Following the announcement of the curfew on December 30th, many sex workers are wondering how they will manage to work and pay the bills. This is the case of a SWAC activist who works in a massage parlor: “The opening hours have been reduced, which means that there are fewer clients and less time to work. We are aware of the extent of the crisis, but at the end of the day, we still have to pay rent!” The latter also denounces that many SWers have not had access to emergency financial aid such as the CERB and the CRB since the beginning of the pandemic, due to the criminalization of their work. “Measures like curfews increase police repression against us, especially for those of us who work outside,” denounces another activist. “There are also SWers who will be afraid of leaving violent situations if they are with a client after the curfew!” she reminds us.

This week, a collective of academics denounced the fact that Quebec has not commissioned any study on the effectiveness of last year’s curfew. They also raised concerns about the consequences of this measure on the mental health of the general population as well as thecrisks to the safety of women, migrants, people without housing, racialized people, sex workers and drug users.