Body Rub Centre Task Force/Exposure
Carrie Ellinger & Andrew Jackson | September 22 | 4:00-5:00 PM | Room 2591
In 2014 The City of Edmonton was exploring changes to their municipal regulatory framework impacting Body Rub Centers as well as escorts through the Body Rub Centre Task Force. This group consisted of law enforcement, social service providers, government officials, sex workers, and body rub center owners. At this same time, the federal laws changed in Canada to decriminalize the selling of one’s own sexual services and re-focus enforcement on protecting victims of trafficking and exploitation and vulnerable communities, and hold buyers and traffickers to a higher account. This session will explore how these criminal changes have impacted the work within the bylaws. The presenters with discuss the addition of another bylaw officer and a social worker to the City’s team and some of the work that this team is involved in. Finally, they will discuss the development of software, coined “Exposure”, which they are currently using to automate their online enforcement and outreach efforts.
Presentation Objectives:
· Provide a basic overview of the recent changes to Canadian criminal law
· Describe the City of Edmonton Body Rub Centre Task Force and the recommendations to City Council
· Explain Edmonton’s bylaws and efforts to make the licensed adult services industry safer for workers
· Describe the current use, and potential future uses, of our locally developed online adult listing software