For International Women's Day, we wanted to donate $1,000 to an organization of YOUR choice. We are very happy to have made the donation to Project LUNE
Assignment
The mission of Projet LUNE is to intervene, support and welcome women/trans/queer, sex workers or victims of sexual exploitation through community action in a peer intervention approach, in accordance with a philosophy of empowerment, in order to improve their quality of life.
Accommodation
The LUNE Project consists of two drop-in type accommodations, the first of which has been open since November 2014 and the second since December 2020. It aims to protect women and also to protect the street.
- 12 seats / Open from 6 p.m. to noon (319 Prince-Édouard)
- 8 seats / Open from midnight to 8am (65 Notre-Dame-des-anges)
Hygiene kits provided
These kits contain essential toiletries for women engaged in street sex work (SSW) who experience homelessness. Approximately 80 kits are assembled and distributed annually by women involved in Project LUNE. The products in the kits allow recipients to maintain their personal hygiene while reducing their risk of HIV and hepatitis C infection.
Sex workers know what they want, and they want change. They want things to change. They want to be treated equally. They want fairness and the freedom to work with dignity while real injustices are addressed and rectified. They want to work safely. They want their decisions and opinions respected. They want their work decriminalized. We are proud to be part of making this change happen once and for all.
DECRIMINALIZATION
LAW C-36
Working in the sex industry is not a crime.
You can :
- to receive a material benefit in exchange for your own sexual services;
- to find yourself in an indoor workspace (home, hotel or living room).
The customers, however, are criminalized.
They can be prosecuted for:
- to communicate with the aim of obtaining paid sexual services;
- having obtained paid sexual services.
The law does not differentiate between sex work and sexual exploitation:
The difference lies in the issue of consent. Sex workers deliberately choose to exchange sexual services for payment. Victims of exploitation do so under duress.
It's important to keep in mind that, like all workers, sex workers have good days and bad days, and that the reasons for choosing this profession are as varied as the people who do it. Being a sex worker is a choice, just like being a convenience store clerk, janitor, or waitress.
The allies and peer supporters of the LUNE project are actively campaigning for the decriminalization of sex work. Decriminalization means that no laws would regulate sex work. The Canadian Criminal Code already contains all the offences that can be charged against people and that protect victims: unlawful confinement, sexual assault, assault, etc. Criminalizing sex work puts women in danger and stigmatizes them greatly.
Here are some links for documentation on the different laws:
Organization Chez Stella:
https://chezstella.org/publications/
Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform:
Technical document for Bill C-36:
https://www.justice.gc.ca/fra/pr-rp/autre-other/protect/p1.html
Information sheet on Bill C-36, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act:
https://www.justice.gc.ca/fra/pr-rp/autre-other/c36fs_fi/
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