Parlours should record client IDs: advocate

Councillor warns action intended to help workers could drive trade underground

Women working in Edmonton’s licensed body rub parlours are being choked, slapped and sexually assaulted with little recourse against bad clients, city officials were told Monday.

Federal law makes buying sex illegal, but advocate Kate Quinn said many of the women her team surveyed said they were being held down and forced to have sex when they said no. The parlours don’t force clients to provide identification and women aren’t reporting the violence to police.

Even though 57 per cent of the 42 women who filled out Quinn’s survey said they experienced violence, police said they haven’t received any formal complaints.

Quinn said 10 of the women who did not say they experienced violence still had to seek medical help because of harm they experienced on the job.

Quinn, executive director of the Centre to End All Sexual Exploitation, asked council’s community services committee Monday to force body rub parlours to identify and keep a private record of the clients who visit.

“They’re not public records unless there is a police investigation,” Quinn said.

Now, the violence is being hidden, she said.

“Women feel that they just have to take it. Why does a man think he can choke a women, slap her or hit her, hold her down, want to take the condom off? Why does he think he can do that in this industry?”

Edmonton has a bylaw to regulate body rub parlours, but it’s a complex issue because buying sex is illegal. What Edmonton regulates is “a non-accredited massage,” said city lawyer Nancy Jacobson, after another speaker questioned how Edmonton can be involved in this at all.

The bylaw tries to take a harm reduction approach. The women are required to get a licence so city staff can connect women with health and social services.

“They try to establish a rapport and relationship with the women,” said the city’s Jenny Kain, in charge of the social work side. She said the city has developed information sessions in a variety of languages to ensure the women understand their rights.

The businesses also need a licence and owners must undergo a criminal record check. Thirty-four are currently registered. City officials are trying to increase safety at the parlours, forcing them to develop security plans, encouraging panic buttons, banning locked doors and ensuring at least two staff are on-site at all times.

On Monday, councillors voted to eliminate fees for the women to get licensed. They also asked city officials to investigate how clients could be identified and what the implications of that would be.

Coun. Ben Henderson worries it might have unintended consequences: “I want to be careful that we do not drive it underground. If that drives people on instead, those people are in an even worse position.”

A lot of the sex trade is now online, said Quinn, adding 1,000 photos are posted every three hours on just one website advertising for escorts.

Councillors also asked city officials to report back in a year on how the bylaw was affecting safety for the women.