ADULT ENTERTAINMENT
Parlours violate bylaws, critics say
Not much of what goes on behind the signs advertising “Massage” is left to the imagination. Only the bare minimum.
“New girl,” reads a recent classified advertisement for a Regina massage parlour.
“32D 5”5 100lbs Superior Tightness, Ultra horny, Two girls here DOuble yr FUN.”
The language isn’t cryptic. Neither are the hours kept by some of the parlours. One even boasts 24hour service.
Despite these cues, and a dialogue with police who monitor the parlours, the City of Regina struggles to enforce the zoning bylaw that regulates “adult entertainment establishments.”
“One of the challenges we have in enforcing the (zoning) bylaw is evidence and an understanding of activities,” said Fred Searle, planning branch manager within the city’s development services department.
“Right now the city is taking a look at those regulations to see how they fit the contemporary situation.”
The regulations have been on the books in Regina going back to the early 1990s, following the rise of massage parlours and escort agencies in the 1980s.
No Regina business is currently classified as an adult entertainment establishment, under the zoning bylaw, according to Searle.
Devon Hill, a member of the advocacy group Freedom Catalyst Regina, says not only are a number of Regina’s massage parlours advertising adult-natured services, they’re also in violation of the bylaw.
“I have personally looked into it,” he said, noting that he has identified 16 parlours that “clearly imply” sexual services through online advertising, including photographs of “scantily clad” women.
Of the 16, he said 15 infringe on the zoning bylaw.
By the letter, the bylaw states adult entertainment establishments, including “massage parlours,” cannot be established within 182.88 metres of a residence, a school, a daycare or a church, among other things.
In one instance, a neon sign advertising “Massage” is affixed to the front of a home across the street from a church, and only a block away from an elementary school.
“If (the bylaws) were enforced, they could be shut down,” Hill said. “I’m not sure how much evidence is required to make a decision, but anyone that looks at it can make at least a guess at what’s happening.”
Hill’s group, which has sought to bring attention to the issue in the past, is primarily concerned with the potential for human trafficking in the parlours.
And while some women might not be explicitly trafficked in a textbook sense, circumstances may hold them in the business.
As such, Hill’s group hopes to partner with the city when and if there is an opportunity for public input about potential bylaw changes.
“We have looked into existing bylaws around the country,” he said, noting his group hopes to present the city with information about what might be effective in Regina.
Searle claims the city has already done some of its own research.
“Our work involves taking a look at approaches that are used across the country,” he said, noting Saskatoon’s model has been examined.
In Saskatoon, the adult services licensing bylaw requires all businesses and individuals providing adult services within the city to be licensed. That includes massage parlours.
Saskatoon’s police are involved in enforcing that bylaw. Regina’s zoning bylaw is not within the purview of its police force, although officers do monitor massage parlours for human trafficking.
Searle says a report providing options for an updated “regulatory approach” for Regina should surface “as early as possible in 2018.” The city has been studying the matter for about “the last yearand-a-half to two years,” but no specific committee is tasked with producing the report.
While it might not be difficult for those who do their homework to decipher which parlours offer sexual services, it might not be clear to customers just looking for a legitimate massage, said Hill.
To that effect, Lori Green, the executive director of the Massage Therapist Association of Saskatchewan (MTAS), echoed Hill’s comments.
She says her organization has received calls from people who’ve unwittingly stumbled into businesses offering more than a legitimate massage.
Further, such confusion can sully the professional title of massage therapist.
“The problem that we’ve had for many years in massage is being associated with exotic services,” she said.
“There’s a huge divide between the two things, and yet we always seem to be pulled under.”
Partly, that has to do with a lack of provincial legislation regulating the massage therapy profession — one of few health services not regulated, according to Green.
“With regulation, there would be some title protection,” she said, meaning only those with accreditation would be able to advertise massage therapy.
Ontario, B.C., New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador have regulation, she said.
MTAS reached out to Saskatchewan’s government, airing its concerns.
In July 2017 the government responded to Green that it would be premature to introduce legislation, as a consensus hadn’t been reached on key issues surrounding regulation of massage therapy.
In December, MTAS released the results of a questionnaire sent to leadership candidates of the Saskatchewan Party and the NDP, regarding their positions around regulating massage therapy.
The organization has also made its voice heard at the municipal level.
It worked with the City of Saskatoon as the city developed its adult services licensing bylaw. It seems to Green that Saskatoon, where she is based, has been successful in managing parlours offering what its bylaw terms a “body rub.”
However, Regina has been less successful, on that front.
“It seems to be more prolific every time I come down there,” she said, referencing the neon “massage” signs that dot some of the city’s main streets.
MTAS contacted the City of Regina as early as December 2015 and met with the city in the following month. While legislative bodies want time to study the issue, Green hopes to see movement, because if no changes are made, she believes the situation facing legitimate massage therapists will worsen.
“At the end of the day, because there’s no regulation, anybody can say they’re a massage therapist.”
In Regina, as the city chews on how it will better regulate “adult entertainment,” the parlours themselves remain open for business.
Defining just what that business is, in each instance, will be a part of the review process, Searle said. For Hill, clarity isn’t the issue. “There’s lots of people that are concerned about it and want it addressed,” he said.
“Sometimes it feels like, what can we do?”
One of the challenges we have in enforcing the (zoning) bylaw is evidence and an understanding of activities.