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Concrete Measures Required to Defend the Rights of the Most Vulnerable The Need for Adequate Funding for Services for Vulnerable Women
For several weeks now the government has been regularly running television ads affirming that women must not accept violence and that help is available. When one looks at the difficulties support groups lacking in resources are experiencing, this amounts to nothing other than doubletalk. Workers' Forum interviewed Jennie-Laure Sully, working with the Convergence of Struggles Against Sexual Exploitation (CLES), to smash the silence on their working conditions so that the needs of the women it serves, are met. Workers' Forum: Can you tell us about your organization and the challenges posed by the pandemic? Jennie-Laure Sully: The work of the Convergence has three main components: services for women who have been involved in the sex trade and their families, awareness and training, and political action. At the beginning of the pandemic, we wrote to the Ministry of Health and Social Services to have our organization recognized as an essential service. That recognition was important to us because the needs of women involved in prostitution and the necessity of responding to them have increased. In fact, sexually exploited women were already having difficulty finding safe housing, food assistance, mental and physical health care before the pandemic, and the situation has worsened. In terms of the work to be done, a link is often made between women and government services such as social assistance. Women are helped in obtaining financial assistance or compensation to which they are entitled as victims of crime. CLES is based in Montreal, and we have member organizations, the majority of which are the Centres for Assistance in Fighting Aggression of a Sexual Nature (CALACS), that exist Quebec-wide. We are therefore recognized as a national organization. These are groups that intervene in matters of violence against women: sexual assault, incest, sexual exploitation, domestic violence. This is part of the continuum of violence. For example, a young girl who experienced incest as a child is more likely to fall prey to sexual exploitation as a teenager. In speaking with the CALACS in Quebec, we learned that groups should be receiving between $30,000 and $45,000 in emergency funding. There was concern on the government's part that these women would end up on the street and that, as a result, confinement would not be respected. So, for example, if there's no place in women's shelters, at the YWCA or in other shelters, then the money received can be used to pay for a hotel room for someone. We look at all the options to make sure they don't end up on the street. Women without status will be particularly affected by all forms of exploitation, including sexual exploitation. One recent example we had to deal with at CLES was a woman without status who found herself in a trafficking situation. Such cases are usually not brought to light. We have people fleeing their countries of origin because of our international policies who end up here without status and at risk of being exploited. It must be acknowledged that amongst those who have made refugee claims, the needs are far greater in times of a pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, support groups were organized and women came to our offices. We could accommodate 8-10 women at a time. And that was very important to break with their isolation. One of the main needs they express is the need to break with their isolation, to overcome stigmatization, to no longer feel alone in the world. At the moment, we are not in a position to receive them, and that's a major problem. We have organized virtual support groups through video Facebook Messenger, FaceTime, Zoom, Skype. We've tried everything to keep that eye contact, to let them know they're not alone, that other women are going through difficulties and that together we're going to get through this. But what we are told by the women with whom we are in contact, either by phone or through Skype, is that they are living in even more precarious situations. WF: Can you tell us about funding and the difficulties you're currently facing? JLS: Actually we, just like other community organizations, were already underfunded. There's something called the Community Organization Support Program (COSP), which already falls short of what we need to operate to be able to really help women get out of their situation. What they generally do is spread the grants out over all the community organizations without taking into account each organization's mission. Often, this puts us in a situation where we have to respond to a project proposal call to get the grant, and practically speaking, this puts us in competition with other organizations. The demand of all community organizations is for recurring mission-based funding. Every year, we're placed under the pressure of asking that our COSP funding be increased, because when we prepare the budget we find that the amount received only pays our rent. You're always placed in a position of begging, of having to justify one's raison d'être. WF: Through all your efforts, you've succeeded in getting certain funds from the government during the pandemic. Can you tell us about that? JLS: As a means of exerting pressure on them, we began sending emails, making calls to insist in particular on the importance of a program to get people out of prostitution. We spoke with the Status of Women Quebec Secretariat, with Status of Women Canada, we contacted Centraide, our various levels of government, which resulted in an expression of willingness and then all of the sudden the money was there! At the beginning of April, money was released for emergency assistance for women. With that we buy grocery cards, pharmacy cards, prepaid Visa and Mastercard cards to give to women. This allows them to pay for groceries and all kinds of expenses. Many women who are still in the sex trade have less money coming in or expose themselves to greater risk by keeping the same amount of money coming in; many who were in the process of getting out and had found jobs in small businesses, such as restaurants or shops, have lost their job; many do not qualify for social assistance and other measures of last resort. The government has said it is going to release thousands of dollars for women's shelters because of situations of increased domestic violence. The money received really has to be put towards emergency assistance for women but it's not enough. We had to make an appeal for donations. But what we are saying is that -- and this is not just related to the period of the pandemic -- we want women to have alternatives, for the short, medium and long term. Therefore there must be programs for the women who want to get out of prostitution. That's the most important thing, and this must be at all times, not just because of the pandemic. We are calling for prostitution exit programs, housing assistance for women, help to go back to school, and support for physical and mental health. It's all that. WF: What other problems do you face? JLS: The situation is that there is not enough space and resources to combat this problem of violence. The demands are the same everywhere: access to health care, housing and so on. Another thing they do is neglect the whole mental health aspect. It's very problematic. We learned that there's a group of psychologists who have banded together to offer help during the pandemic and that the government has refused it. It's a fragmented view of health care and it's ineffective. Money will be given to businesses. But on what
basis? Is it acceptable that vast sums of
taxpayers' money will be given to all businesses
without exception? Do taxpayers agree that they
should bail out the financial sector, the arms
industry and other non-essential or downright
harmful industries? For example, the Business
Development Bank of Canada does not normally
lend to the sex trade or the gambling and
alcohol industry. But here, during the pandemic,
the sex trade can receive interest-free loans.
This includes escort agencies, sites where
there's trafficking going on, all such
businesses are considered eligible right now,
while community organization grants to assist
sexually exploited women get out the sex trade
are being cut. Is that the kind of society we
want? Prostitution is not a social safety net!
As a society, we must stop endorsing the right
of men to buy access to women's bodies and
sexuality. We must resolutely affirm that
everyone has the right not to be forced to
prostitute themselves to live. (Translated from original French by Workers' Forum.)
This article was published in   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
Community
organizations working with disadvantaged and
abused women face many obstacles in having
their needs met during this pandemic. They
want to break with the position the government
places them in of begging and want recurring
funding, not only now but at all times.