Proposed Ontario human trafficking law will be ‘extremely harmful’ to sex workers, advocates say.
Advocates are calling on Ontario to drop Bill 251, saying a proposed bill has the potential to harm sex workers and could lead to discrimination and racial profiling.
The proposed law would give investigators the ability to inspect any place for compliance with the law and question any person on any matter that may be relevant to the inspection, with failure to comply leading to possible heavy fines.
"This is really, extremely harmful," Elene Lam of @ButterflyCSW says.
Police and inspectors would also have the power to ask for hotels to produce their guest registers, without court order, if they have reasonable grounds to suspect human trafficking.
“We know that police are not a source of safety for Black women even when they need support,” Robyn Maynard says.
The government says the bill will protect exploited children by providing law enforcement with more tools to locate and charge traffickers.
Full story here:
Advocates are calling on Ontario to drop Bill 251, saying a proposed bill has the potential to harm sex workers and could lead to discrimination and racial profiling.
The proposed law would give investigators the ability to inspect any place for compliance with the law and question any person on any matter that may be relevant to the inspection, with failure to comply leading to possible heavy fines.
"This is really, extremely harmful," Elene Lam of @ButterflyCSW says.
Police and inspectors would also have the power to ask for hotels to produce their guest registers, without court order, if they have reasonable grounds to suspect human trafficking.
“We know that police are not a source of safety for Black women even when they need support,” Robyn Maynard says.
The government says the bill will protect exploited children by providing law enforcement with more tools to locate and charge traffickers.
Full story here:
Proposed Ontario human trafficking law will be ‘extremely harmful’ to sex workers, advocates say
The Combating Human Trafficking Act, Bill 251, dangerously conflates sex work with human trafficking, advocates and community groups said Tuesday.
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