IHSP celebrates one year of Sex Worker Circle

IHSP celebrates one year of Sex Worker Circle

June 6, 2023 marks the one-year anniversary of WISH’s Sex Worker Circle (SWC), held as part of our Indigenous Health & Safety Program. The Circle is a safe, dedicated space for participants who are current and active street-based sex workers.  

The methodical and purposeful approach to creating SWC took months to develop and implement. It is extremely important to ensure the program is low-barrier and Indigenous peer-led. From day one, the priority has been to create a safe and growth-facilitating environment that includes two significant pieces, a sex worker engagement activity and a Talking Circle.  

The sex worker engagement activity changes every week but always invites participants to use their creativity. This can include fabric arts like bedazzling, dying and sewing working clothes; make-up sessions and tutorials with free cosmetics; creating sex worker safety kits; or enjoying guest speakers and peer training.

The second aspect of Sex Worker Circle involves a Talking Circle, which allows for the space needed to provide skill development such as public speaking and de-escalation training and holding trauma-informed conversations. The topics of each Talking Circle focus on sex work and safety; some of the most recent topics included:  

  • How can we stay safe in a date’s vehicle? 
  • How can compassion look like safety for sex workers? 
  • How to use the Buddy-System in today’s sex work. 

Before the start of each SWC, peers get together to assign tasks. All sessions then begin with smudging and end with a gratitude circle.   

Building collective power for sex workers is a key priority at WISH. Since launching a year ago, SWC has seen over 400 visits, speaking to the community’s need for this type of opportunity and safe space. During that time, 12 peers have also been trained, while others are currently completing training.  

Visit the IHSP page on our website to learn more about the SWC. You can also find more information about opportunities for participants at WISH each month in our Drop-In Calendar, posted on the Drop-In Centre Program page. 

“I Had No Choices”

“I Had No Choices” – Hear directly from a WISH Supervisor

Choice is a loaded word. Many of the participants who walk through our doors face limited options. When Avery Gray* was living in a tent on Alexander Street, she didn’t know what WISH was. One freezing night, she was invited into the drop-in for a hot chocolate and decided to check it out.

“I didn’t share any details of the work I did at all because I just felt that if I, you know, made enemies with even my closest friends, that they would somehow rat me out to the ministry and it would go against me and my kids, right?” she shared.

Avery Gray describes how experiencing homelessness and living with substance use severely limited her options, “I had no choices at that time,” and even now she says, “I don’t really know what got me through it to be honest with you. Things kinda just started slowly day by day, increasingly getting better and better and a lot of that is because the support I got from here.”

Having support available when she needed it made a difference, “anytime that any, you know, upsetting situations happened or anything, I’d be able to come here at any hour of the day. Like midnight, three in the morning, anytime, and [ WISH ] was always here.”

Avery Gray is modest about her accomplishments, but her journey is truly incredible. After joining WISH’s Supportive Employment Program, she found work that she enjoys and is great at. Now, she has progressed from an entry-level role to become a program supervisor at WISH, overseeing nearly 40 employees.

“I guess I’m the first one that’s kind of gone from participant into management and that is my dream to have every participant here just succeed so much that these are options for them.”

Having staff with personal experience of what it’s like to access services at WISH is immensely valuable to those depending on WISH. Avery Gray knows firsthand how “it takes somebody to feel welcome before they feel that they have choice or options to do anything else.”

To do this, we need to create opportunities that meaningfully engage street-based sex workers, while prioritizing their safety, autonomy, and self-determination.

“I definitely am starting more and more to feel like, oh, I could be this somewhere else too. It’s not just here. I’m valuable everywhere, right?… I can do it, so I think everybody else can.”

*Alias used to protect confidentiality

 

Spotlight – WISH’s in-house Elder

Spotlight on WISH’s in-house Elder

Kwaakwii, also known as Elder Terri, is a proud Haida woman from Haida Gwaii, who came to the Lower Mainland about 30 years ago.

“I moved down here to help with my grandchildren,” Elder Terri explains. “My most rewarding role in life is being a single mom of my beautiful daughter and my amazing son. They continue to teach me and give me strength and courage to rise to the occasion to become the mom and woman that I strive to be.”

Elder Terri first came WISH three years ago when her sister told her about an Indigenous-led program. “I was glad that there was a program like that for our women to get back to their traditions and culture and sharing that with them,” she says.

Her journey began as a participant in the program and in less than three years she became WISH’s in-house Elder. “I take immense pride and honour in my role of residential Elder here at WISH,” she shares. She now helps guide the program in addition to attending group sessions to offer support and teachings to participants.

“I bring diverse experiences working with health care, legal, and non-profit organizations, and it is especially here where I thrive and feel a sense of belonging. I have gained resilience, courage, and strength through my own personal struggles and continue to develop my personal and professional life by being mindful, aware, empathetic and compassionate,” Elder Terri adds. “I believe taking a culturally-centred approach means listening and softening the heart.”

Elder Terri is at WISH five days a week. When asked what she would like others to know about IHSP she highlights the importance of healing.

“The healing part was really important for me. It changed my life. The cultural activities validated me. I feel like I am a better Elder since taking the program,” she explains.

“I know there are a lot of ladies out there that don’t know where they are from and that, in itself, can be very emotional, even just talking about it gets emotional for me,” she adds. “I still meet a lot of women that are First Nations but they don’t have a clue about their Nation and try to point them into the direction of Residential School Survivors Groups where there are a lot of Elders from different Nations and that, in itself, is a stepping stone for them.”

When asked what being a resident Elder means to her, she mentions the joy it brings her to contribute her knowledge and wisdom to the community.

Improving Support for Indigenous Participants

Improving Support for Indigenous Participants

This spring, we are proud to be re-launching our Indigenous Health & Safety Program (IHSP) at WISH. The IHSP is a recurring six-month-long program that runs twice a year and is one of three streams that WISH’s Indigenous Health and Safety focuses on: Indigenous Drop-In; Indigenous In-Reach Services and; and IHSP.

The program offers cultural healing that centres participants’ mental, emotional, physical and spiritual well-being. It uplifts participants’ lived experience, knowledge, and expertise. It also provides culturally-safe one-on-one support, connecting participants with other services at WISH such as the shelter, Supportive Employment Program, Music Therapy, and Learning Centre.

Pictured in the middle, Matriarchs Carleen Thomas from Tsleil-Waututh
Nation, Clarissa Antone from Squamish Nation, and Mary Point from Musqueam
Nation, join WISH on the National Day for Truth & Reconciliation, offering
blessings to continue doing our work on their lands.

IHSP also supports participants when navigating systems like housing, child welfare, health, and substance misuse services.

The program is trauma-informed, which means it addresses the specific realities and trauma of survival sex work, while affirming participants’ inherent right to dignity and self-determination, wherever they are in their journey.

Through reclamation of traditional healing, alongside culturally-safe support and advocacy, the program addresses the impacts of daily colonial violence on the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health of Indigenous participants. It is a space to reclaim community care, self-love, joy, creativity, and self-determination.

The history of IHSP

IHSP has a long history of working with Indigenous sex workers in the DTES. Starting in 2008, Around the Kitchen Table was an Indigenous-led program with a two-fold goal: 1) To gain knowledge of cultural identity and; 2) Share their skills and knowledge by serving as Peer assistants for both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous sex workers.

By 2013, the then-named Aboriginal Culture & Creativity Program expanded its services and re-established under the then-named Aboriginal Health & Safety Program (AHSP). The program was offered two days per week with the intent of creating safety and health opportunities for street-based sex workers. Since then, the program has had more than 180 Indigenous participants.

But this came to a halt in March 2020. Due to COVID-19 and the ongoing opioid crisis, IHSP had to change and focus on outreach services. However, WISH took this opportunity to engage as many participants as possible in conversations and focus groups to redesign the program to best meet the needs of Indigenous street-based sex workers.

The re-design and re-launch of the program began with the creation of a Manager of Indigenous Inclusion position and the creation of two additional positions: An Indigenous In-Reach worker and an IHSP Supervisor. The reopening of the classroom will allow for a re-envisioning of what programming looks like when it is grounded in ceremony, supporting participants to reclaim connection to culture, land, and language.

Delivered by Indigenous staff, Elders, and peers, IHSP will focus on offering a space to reclaim community care, self-love, joy, creativity, and self-determination.

First of its kind emergency shelter for street-based sex workers celebrates one year since opening in Vancouver

One year after Canada’s first 24/7 shelter for sex workers opened overwhelming demand continues

It’s hard to believe it’s been one year since WISH opened the doors to Canada’s first-ever 24/7 temporary emergency shelter for street-based sex workers. The overwhelming demand for the space continues to highlight the urgent need for housing and safe spaces for women and gender diverse people.

“I feel safe sleeping…grateful just to have a place to sleep.” – Shelter resident.

The low-barrier shelter has been operating at capacity since day one. Sadly, this means participants are turned away every single day, highlighting the critical need for shelter and safe spaces in the Downtown Eastside. Unable to meet demand, dozens of participants continue to routinely use WISH’s drop-in and outdoor safe respite area to spend the night.

Since opening day:

In the last year, a total of 119 people used the 23 beds available; the low turnover rate once again highlights the overwhelming demand for long-term housing.    

The temporary shelter opened its doors thanks to the critical support of BC Housing and the City of Vancouver. The space provides 23 beds along with hot showers, laundry, meals, and critical access to WISH’s supporting programs and services. Thanks to the shelter, more than 70% of residents surveyed reported fewer instances of violence and the ability to turn down dangerous work.

“Celebrating this milestone is bittersweet,” said WISH’s Executive Director Mebrat Beyene. “The need for a shelter like this has existed for years and we’re thrilled to have brought it to fruition. But, there is still so much need for additional shelter spaces and housing options for sex workers; particularly women and gender diverse people. A year from now, we hope to celebrate that a significant number of street-based sex workers have secured safe, affordable, and appropriate longer-term housing.”

Spaces like the shelter continue to be critical—now more than ever. We continue to advocate for and work towards a larger, permanent, and purpose-built shelter for street-based sex workers.

Kilala Lelum’s mobile clinic visits to WISH showcase critical need for co-location of services

Kilala Lelum’s mobile clinic visits to WISH showcase critical need for co-location of services

It’s been nearly eight months since Kilala Lelum launched its mobile clinic to provide primary care and cultural wellness outreach to the Downtown Eastside (DTES) community.

The mobile clinic helped fill a critical gap at WISH, where the Drop-In Centre clinic remains unused due to a lack of medical staff.

WISH is one of many community partners working with Kilala Lelum’s Mobile Outreach Program. The mobile clinic focuses on primary care outreach drop-in clinics three times a week. At WISH, the mobile clinic visits twice a month — once with a physician, and once with the support of a nurse and an Indigenous Knowledge Keeper. Despite this, there is still a critical need for more physician sessions at WISH. Additional funding and/or onsite deployment from the health authorities is needed so that participants can have regular access to the drop-in clinic.

The mobile clinic was established as a means of responding to gaps within the current healthcare system, recognizing that many individuals benefit from care in an outreach setting that is trauma-informed, culturally safe, and low barrier.

At WISH, at least half of the participants the mobile clinic sees reside in our new temporary emergency shelter. Being able to contact residents at the shelter for follow-ups, specialist appointments, or prescription delivery, has been instrumental in mitigating some of the systemic barriers WISH participants often face.

The mobile clinic has highlighted the critical need for the co-location of services. Bringing services to the locations where people feel safe and are already accessing multiple services, as well as adapting to the context that people are already in, is a crucial step that is often missed by the health care system.

“People need to be met where they are at. There are so many intersecting barriers to accessing culturally safe primary care for the community served by WISH,” said Dr. Emma Preston. “Kilala Lelum is committed to providing low barrier access to culturally safe, healing centred primary care for folks engaged in sex trade work by co-locating services during the dual crises of the COVID 19 pandemic and the opioid overdose epidemic as part of decolonizing medicine.”

For communities and people who face systemic barriers, stigma and discrimination — such as street-based sex workers — accessing mainstream hospitals or clinics can present multiple barriers and result in avoidance. People should be able to receive care in a setting in which they feel safe and with practitioners they feel they can trust.

Although the mobile clinic was launched late last year, the fixed location clinic (Kilala Lelum Health Centre) has been around for almost three years. The clinic was created in part as a response to the TRC’s calls to action around the Health of Indigenous people, using a lens of cultural safety and working to decolonize a very colonized space — healthcare.

The team at Kilala Lelum Health Centre is made up of over 70 individuals – including family physicians, a nurse practitioner, nurses, counselors, social workers, outreach workers, nutritionists, peer community health workers, Indigenous Elders and cultural wellness workers.

The current health system has failed — and continues to fail — those who have been made vulnerable due to poverty, homelessness, trauma, gender-based violence, stigma, and a lack of access to support and opportunities.

The Mobile Outreach Program is currently funded by the Telus Health for Good initiative until March 2023. Funding and support for the continuation, and expansion, of the Kilala Lelum mobile clinic program is vital, as well as the creation of more outreach programs modelled after it.

The system has failed WISH participants, and others in the community, for too long. Enough is enough. It is time to act.

MAP Van celebrates one year of critical day shift

What a difference a day makes…

It’s been one year since the MAP Van day shift began operating in response to an increased demand for our trauma-informed and harm reduction supports and services. 

The MAP Van has provided essential services for woman-identified street-based sex workers across the City of Vancouver for 17 years. However, 2020 proved to be a year like no other. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the escalating opioid crisis, and the inequitable rates of violence and discrimination against street-based sex workers meant the community we serve needed the MAP Van more than ever.  

“Thank God!! I am so excited to hear that. It makes such a big difference for you all to come see me.” – MAP Van participant, responding to news of the new day shift

The creation of a day shift not only allows the van to operate 15 hours in total every dayrather than the original six overnight hours, but it also allows us to reach a new community of street-based sex workers who face extreme barriers when accessing supports.  

Within one month of operation, the day shift began to serve as many sex workers as the night shift. In just one year, demand for day-time services quickly grew, with staff seeing greater demand for harm reduction supplies, food, and drinks during the day than during the night shift.  

Day shift staff had more than 10,419 interactions in one year

Additionally, the day shift allows the MAP Van to spend more time visiting various hotels, SROs, and other supportive housing buildings than we are able to at night. This change has enabled van staff to maintain connections with participants relocated outside of the DTES as part of COVID-related housing initiatives and establish and deepen relationships with external service providers. 

Amid a deadly overdose crisis due to an increasingly toxic drug supply, the need for overdose response also became a key element of the new shift, with staff responding to more overdose calls during the day than at night. In the last year alone, the day shift has given out more than 500 Narcan kits. 

What if the MAP Van stopped operating during the day? 

The MAP Van has developed unique and long-standing relationships with a diverse community of street-based sex workers across Vancouver. Extending our hours has expanded our capacity to support participants and has enhanced our ability to serve those we may not have been able to connect with at night.  

Over the last year, we have developed significant relationships with new participants who usually do not have a phone, access to transportation, or access to the very geographically specific service bubble that is the DTES. These participants have been structurally disconnected from many services, especially sex work-specific services.  

“I’m so grateful for having the van. I really depend on you and look forward to seeing you!” – MAP Van participant 

This past year has proven the need for a daytime shift, and WISH is committed to continuing this well-used and needed increased service. Losing the day shift would not only disconnect these community members from necessary and often lifesaving services, but it would significantly damage their trust in the reliability and accessibility of our services. We owe it to them to continue to provide services that physically and philosophically enact the core principles of harm reduction by meeting participants where they are at.

Click here to learn more about the MAP Van.

WISH’s shelter celebrates 6-month anniversary

WISH’s shelter celebrates its 6-month anniversary 

It’s been six months since WISH opened the doors to Canada’s first-ever 24/7 temporary emergency shelter for street-based sex workers. Since then, we’ve seen an overwhelming demand for the space, resulting in the shelter being at capacity since opening day. Sadly, this means women are turned away from the shelter every single day.  

Due to the shelter operating at capacity every single day, an average of 12 women continue to routinely use the drop-in as their primary place to safely sleep each night. Every night, our 24/7 outdoor safe respite area is also routinely used as a defacto shelter space by a number of street-based sex workers.   

While women make up about 47% of the DTES community, this percentage is not reflected in the amount of available safe spaces, housing, shelter beds, and drop-ins. There continues to be an overwhelming demand for women-only safe spaces. 

Thanks to the shelter, most residents have reported fewer instances of violence and, most critically, the ability to turn down potentially dangerous work. Since COVID has deeply affected the amount and availability of safer, street-based sex work, residents do not have to take on dangerous work in order to secure a place to stay. It has also meant avoiding extended hours on the street with little to no viable work leading to increased vulnerability to predators and negative interactions with police.   

“I was in an abusive arrangement, I was able to leave and be in a more healthy, safe environment at WISH. Safe and clean.” -Shelter resident.  

The shelter has allowed precariously housed and unhoused women in the sex trade to have a place to temporarily call home while continuing to access all the programs, services, and wraparound supports that WISH has to offer. Most residents reported living on the street, staying in unsafe relationships, staying in unsafe living conditions, and/or needing to trade sex for a place to stay before the shelter existed. 

“I’m not in a place of desperation anymore and can up my prices. I don’t have to exchange low-cost sex work for a place to stay.” -Shelter resident. 

The shelter officially opened its doors in November 2020, thanks to the critical support of BC Housing and the City of Vancouver. The space provides 23 beds along with hot showers, laundry, meals, and access to all the programs and services of WISH. 

Spaces like the shelter continue to be critical—now more than ever. The space has also highlighted, once again, the importance of co-locating programs and services to meet participants where they are at and adapting to the context that people are already in. This has been particularly crucial for our Inreach team, who are now better able to help shelter residents with medical needs, housing, referrals, legal support, income assistance, as well as emotional support.  

While this Shelter meets the increased, urgent needs exacerbated by COVID, WISH remains committed to addressing ongoing, unmet needs.  We continue to advocate for and work towards a larger, permanent, and purpose-built shelter for street-based sex workers.   

Shelter at a glance

WISH Talks – International Women’s Day

WISH Talks – International Women’s Day  

On March 11th, we held our first-ever WISH Talks virtual event in honour of International Women’s Day. WISH Talks is intended to be an ongoing series through which we hope to collaboratively create impact through conversations.  

In the upcoming months and years, we hope to explore the themes and issues that affect the women WISH supports. Through the series, we will strive to center the voices, experiences and realities of street-based sex workers. We want to have the challenging, and sometimes difficult, conversations needed to create impactful and meaningful change.  

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day was “Choose to Challenge.” On March 11th, we hosted a panel discussion where current and former street-based sex workers challenged perspectives on violence, reconciliation, trans inclusivity, family separation and stigma.  

All panelists chose what they wanted to bring forward during the discussion, as well as what questions they wanted to be askedFour of the five panelists decided to remain anonymous and use a pseudonym.  

*Content warning* 

The event was meant to provide an open space for the critical, honest sharing of experiences; many of which are painful and difficult experiences. Some language used may be viewed as offensive and/or traumatizing. You may also hear some words or phrases that sex workers readily use amongst themselves but are not an option for non-sex workers to use. The discussion also contains profanity and explicit content relating to gender-based violence, sexual abuse and childhood trauma. We recognize that the conversation may be triggering for some. Please prioritize yourself and seek support if necessary. 

Meet our panelists 

Avery   

Avery Grey, (pseudonym), is a team leader at an organization that supports women in Vancouver’s DTES. After only two years in Vancouver, she is very proud to have become a trailblazer in motivating women to achieve their employment goals and very much enjoys seeing them succeed. Friends and co-workers would describe her as a loving mother, kind and forgiving soul, and is not shy to back away from a fight. Avery is choosing to challenge family separation and the believe that substance use automatically makes someone an unfit parent.  

Mikayla Cadger  

Mikayla Cadger is a 47-year-old proud, Transgender woman. She is a lifelong artist, writer, poet and dreamer. As a former street-based sex worker and a survivor of Trans violence, her journey has been difficult. However, today those scars are symbols of her strength, not reminders of her pain. Those experiences have shaped the woman she has become and are the inspiration for her Trans rights advocacy and activism efforts.     

 

T, (pseudonym), is a proud First Nations mother, grandmother and community ally. She works in Vancouver’s DTES supporting, teaching and empowering women across various feminist organizations. Others would describe T as a gentle, patient soul with an edge. She is a passionate advocate for women’s rights, justice and above all, truth telling.  

Liz   

Liz, (pseudonym), has lived in Vancouver for more than 20 years with many of those dedicating her time (paid/unpaid) advocating for the rights of women, drug users, and sex-workers. Friends would describe her as a woman with an endless and abundant amount of lived experience. Liz became involved in street-based sex work when she was 13 years old. Liz’s soft spots are her canine fur babies that she loves and adores. Her lifetime of challenging norms, stereotypes and stigma is what sparks her activism. Liz is choosing to challenge stigma and the ongoing violence faced by women, in particular street-based sex workers.  

Jasmine  

Jasmine, (pseudonym), is 30 years old and has been living in Vancouver since 2008. Currently, she is a street-based sex worker navigating countless barriers while trying to move her job indoors. She supplements her sex-work income by working at a feminist organization in Vancouver’s DTES and since the pandemic, she has thrown herself into creating safer and more accessible/inclusive spaces for women to access the services they need to not just survive but thrive. Friends would describe her as a natural team leader and activist. On this International Women’s Day, Jasmine will be challenging criminalization, privilege and violence against sex workers. 

Watch the full panel discussion:

Emerging themes from the panel discussion:  

LACK OF CHOICE/PRIVILEGE  

    • It’s very dangerous due to the lack of time you have to screen and make a decision [as to] whether you’re going to get into the car or not. You have to make up your mind right away whereas indoor [sex] workers have time to go back and forth on the phone and text the guy and ask for a deposit, ask for his photo ID. On the street, you don’t have that luxury. You have to decide right away – are you going to get in [the car] or not? – Jasmine (pseudonym) 

     

    • Sex work is often the only work that is available to us because they don’t want to give the tranny a leg up – the system itself is designed to break you down, not to help you, not to lift you up. The few of us that beat that system… why is it that we all end up struggling? We all just survive, we don’t thrive.” – Mikayla 

     

    • “[Street-based sex work] is more dangerous and women who work on the streets aren’t given much of a choice. They must make their decisions in the moment for the needs they have right at that moment. They often have to have a lack of choice; they’re rarely given a moment or any time to think which puts them way more at risk.” – Liz (pseudonym) 

     

    • “Choices have to do with privilege and privilege is on a spectrum. Some people on the street have more privilege than others on the street for a multitude of factors. For example, if you’re going to work in a state of withdrawal – you’re probably going to feel like you have less of a choice to turn down unsafe work because you just want to feel better and get your night started… It’s often the choice of taking an unsafe date or going home with no money and having to worry about all the things you can’t afford.” – Jasmine (pseudonym) 

     

    •  “We just want to live our lives. We just want to raise our children, we just want to be happy, healthy, productive people but how do you do that?”- Mikayla (pseudonym) 

STIGMA 

  • “In my experience dealing with children services, the title ‘sex worker’ would just not come up because that was just another check against me… So when you have an addiction, you have experience in sex work, you have abuse – any of that, those are just setting you up for failure because they’ve already decided that no matter what you do, your lived experience is what determines it.”  – Avery (pseudonym) 
  • “It doesn’t matter what area you look in, whether it be the justice system, the health system – there’s just so much negative attitude and negative actions, discrimination. It just goes on and on. It’s just a vicious cycle for women and as far as I’m concerned, our women need to stand together.” – T (pseudonym)
  • “[Sex workers] are always judged. People are always looking at them as lower class. For some reason, they deserve the bad things that happen to them – which they don’t.” – Liz (pseudonym) 
  •  “I don’t feel there was any empathy. As for stigma and judgement, they see a drug addict, they see a sex trade worker… I see someone that has extreme strength and willingness to get my child fed no matter the obstacles. I see somebody that uses a substance to give me enough energy in the day to be that perfect mum for my child. I don’t see anything that they say because I’m not that person.” – Avery (pseudonym) 

RECONCILIATION 

  • “We see time and time again, especially First Nations children being taken and apprehended from families and this is history repeating itself time and time again. It’s just a broken system. Residential schools, Indian day schools, sixties scoop – it’s all the same. It’s the same history of abuse that First Nations families go through. – T (pseudonym) 
  • “There’s absolutely nothing government can do in regard to reconciliation unless they look at the unjust and the wrongdoing they have done to our women – all our women, especially sex workers.” – T (pseudonym) 

VIOLENCE 

  • “Why do we have to take this abuse? Why are we not seen the same as other women? We are the ones the serial killers and the abusive men take their anger out on. That’s not right, that’s not okay.” – Jasmine (pseudonym) 
  • “Nothing seems to get done to the people who abuse these women [sex workers]. People tend to think they’re [sex workers] are deserving so nothing gets done. ‘It’s okay for dangerous people, sex offenders to be released down here around us. We deserve it, we can take it, right? Better us than somebody else.’ That’s the way they look at it. – Liz (pseudonym) 

 

Trans activist and panelist Mikayla Cadger wrote an essay and a poem for the event. You can read both in full below:   

 

WISH Learning Centre celebrates 20 years!

WISH Learning Centre celebrates 20 years!

It’s hard to believe it’s been two decades since the Learning Centre first opened its doors at WISH.

The program is the result of 20 years of collaboration with Capilano University’s Community Development and Outreach Department, as well as the hard work of countless others, including funders, donors, participants, staff, and volunteers.

For women involved in Vancouver’s street-based sex trade, the WISH Learning Centre became both a physical and mental space for them. By year one, more than 300 women had come through the Centre, with more than a dozen women making it part of their regular routine. Within the first few years, the Centre had distributed hundreds of donated books, journals and reams of writing paper. Women had published newsletters and debated politics, the use of prescription methadone and the role of government in their lives.

“The more we learn, the more we are empowered to help ourselves.” -Learning Centre Participant

One of the purposes of the Centre was to fight some of society’s deep-rooted myths and stereotypes about sex workers and learning, including the erroneous belief that women who trade sex are not “ready” to learn, nor were they interested in building their minds.

“It is the women at WISH who have been the stars. Tough, soft, courageous, smart, resilient, generous, outraged, visionary women who have earned our respect and deserve opportunity,” said Lucy Alderson who is an Instructor and Program Coordinator at the Community Development and Outreach Program in Capilano.

From left to right: Betsy Alkenbrack, Lucy Alderson and Catherine Minchin.

Lucy has been involved with WISH’s Learning Centre from the beginning and has continued to play a key role in the success of the program.  Another significant member of the Learning Centre team was the longest-serving employee in WISH’s history, Catherine Minchin. Although recently retired, Catherine’s dedication, compassion, and patience made her an extremely popular and much-loved member of the Drop-In staff and Learning Centre team. All three, pictured below, have remained cherished members of the WISH community.

“The Learning Centre is important to me because it gives me something else to do besides drugs. It has saved my life.” Learning Centre Participant

Betsy Alkenbrack also played a vital role in the program and has been an instructor at the Learning Centre for the last 16 years. “I started at WISH as a volunteer in 2002,” Betsy added. “After sixteen glorious, challenging, enlightening, heart-breaking years as a Capilano instructor in the Learning Centre. I know the thing I will miss the most [as retirement nears] is the women—laughing, crying, screaming, bragging, debating, comforting, creating, playing—just sharing their lives and their wisdom. I have learned so much. What a privilege it has been.”

During the last municipal election, WISH’s Learning Centre became a polling station for the first time ever.

From day one, participatory action research also played a key role in the curriculum of the program, making sure the voices of street-based sex workers were given a platform. This includes research reports such as “Literacy for Women on the Streets,” which examined the impact of literacy activities on the lives of women working in Vancouver’s street-based sex trade.

“Change in our Back Yard,” is a ground-breaking peer-led community consultation and survey process in which survival sex workers came together to learn formal research and interviewing skills. (Credit: Wendy D.)

“Deepest congratulations to the WISH Learning Centre on your 20 years of providing transformational services and supports in your community!” said Brad Martin, Dean of the Faculty of Education, Health and Human Development. “We, at Capilano University, have been proud to serve as your partners and look forward to many more years of collaboration in the future.,” he added.

Thank you to Capilano University for 20 wonderful years of partnership. Thank you for continuing to work with us to improve the health, safety and well-being of women who are involved in Vancouver’s street-based sex trade.