Prostitution complaints drop 75% on Kathleen

For a few years, it was not uncommon to see prostitutes on Kathleen Street at all hours of the day, including the morning, when children were headed to school.

“There were girls on the side of the road, all the way down from Frood Road to Mabel,” said Monique Mercier, chair of the Donovan/Elm West Community Access Network. “Sometimes one on each corner.”

Mercier and other members of the local Community Access Network had had enough, and in a meeting with Mayor Marianne Matichuk and Ward 4 Coun. Evelyn Dutrisac last year, discussed ways to solve their neighbourhood's prostitution problem.

Matichuk and Dutrisac were able to get Sudbury police involved, and in the summer they devised a plan to get sex workers in the Donovan off the streets.

Greater Sudbury Police launched the Kathleen Street Initiative in the summer of 2014.
Officers partnered with not-for-profit organizations – including the Elizabeth Fry Society and NOAH's Space – to help sex workers leave prostitution.

On the enforcement end, police targeted local drug dealers – who, according to police, often sold their wares to prostitutes, fueling a cycle of addiction.

The operation started around the same time Justice Minister Peter MacKay introduced Bill C-36, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act.

The bill, which came into effect Dec. 6, 2014, mainly targeted those who buy sex.

It made it illegal to “(obtain) sexual services for consideration,” receive “material benefits” from sexual services performed by another person, and to “knowingly advertise an offer to provide sexual services for consideration” by another person.

Sudbury Police Insp. Rob Thirkill said he and his officers saw the transition in the law as an opportunity to provide support for sex workers through community partners, and make sure they knew where they could find resources to get out of the sex trade.

After the 90-day operation, complaints to police about prostitution in the Donovan fell by 75 per cent.

“To be honest with you, everything else that was tried never worked,” said Mercier. “This seems to be a better approach without a doubt. I think this approach was very successful.”

Mercier said after the police operation, a few sex workers returned to Kathleen Street, but she has only seen them out at night.

Thirkill said the Kathleen Street operation served as a test for a larger plan to address prostitution across Sudbury.

“There were a lot of lessons learned, and we're using that as a template to move forward with a longer-term sex trade strategy in Sudbury,” he said.

But Christine Schmidt, co-founder of Project PEACE, an organization whose members are women who have lived experiences with prostitution, said the Sudbury Police response to sex work appears to make too many assumptions.

Schmidt said that in her experience, most women do not enter the sex trade due to drug addiction. Many sex workers, she said, are prostitutes by choice, and do so for economic reasons.

“Even if you deal with the addiction portion, you still have not dealt with the original issue of entering into prostitution,” she said.

Schmidt said police also seem to assume all sex workers are exploited, and would change their lifestyles if given the opportunity.

“The only thing that makes me uncomfortable is that it almost reads like forced exit,” she said. “What if they really don't want to (exit prostitution)?”