No More Temp Work Permits for Strippers, Escorts

No More Temp Work Permits for Strippers, Escorts
The city of Vancouver. (Robert Giroux/Getty Images)
Matthew Little
7/5/2012
Updated:
10/1/2015
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Businesses employing strippers and escorts will no longer be able to bring in temporary foreign workers.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada has effectively stopped sex trade-related businesses from bringing in temporary foreign workers by declaring a negative labour market outlook for work at strip clubs, escort services, and massage parlours.

On July 14, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will go a step further and no longer process new work permit applications for those same types of businesses.

The government said restrictions will apply to other businesses as well if there is a heightened risk of abuse or exploitation of workers.

“Future actions, including regulatory changes, are under development as part of the Government’s National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking,” says a government release.

The move comes as part of a broader government strategy to crack down on human trafficking, noted a source in the Prime Minister’s Office.

“We continue to see foreign nationals being brought to Canada to work in sex trade-related businesses; many remain at risk of being exploited or abused,” he said.

The move has prompted outrage from the association that represents strip clubs in Canada.

“I really am appalled,” said Tim Lambrinos, executive director of the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada, a non-profit advocacy group for adult entertainment clubs.

“They have pulled the rug out of the feet from entertainers. They gave no notice to entertainers—that is not the Canadian way.”

He said Human Resources and Skills Development Canada will not renew permits for some 700 or so existing dancers. The dancers will now ether be deported or go underground, the latter being very likely.

“They haven’t broken any laws, they are following the rules.”

He expects that dancers will force a showdown with human resources minister Diane Finley over the decision to stop renewing their visas.

The Adult Entertainment Association has argued that Canada needs more, rather than fewer, visas for foreign dancers to come to Canada.

During a parliamentary study of undocumented foreign workers in 2008, the association argued that restrictive visa polices had forced some dancers to go underground.

“Persons who theoretically will come to Canada and work without legal status will be very apprehensive to report mistreatment and/or severe settings and therefore be much more susceptible to possible forms of potential abuse(s) and potentially be forced to a human trafficking ring,” wrote Lambrinos in a letter to a parliamentary committee studying the issue.

Lambrinos argues that the government needs to be more understanding towards foreign dancers working in Canada without proper permits.

The group says demand for foreign dancers is fuelled by prudishness in many provinces and the stigma attached to the profession.

But the announcement comes as a relief to Bridget Perrier, a former sex worker turned advocate and founder of Sex Trade 101, an educational and outreach organization.

“We must continue to set up the necessary road blocks to prevent Canada from being on the trafficking circuit,” she said.

“This sends a strong message to human traffickers that Canada is not going to tolerate the profiting or the buying and selling of human beings, and is making the legislative changes that will protect its most vulnerable.”

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