Global Issues

Canada – Vancouver

• 71 women on city’s Downtown Eastside missing or murdered women’s list as of May 6, 2012.

• Serial killer Robert William Pickton charged with 26 counts of murder and convicted on six. Remaining 20 charges stayed. Pickton told undercover officer he killed 49 women.

• Vulnerable and marginalized women exposed to high levels of violence, and overrepresented among missing and murdered women.

• Women can be vulnerable due to a number of factors: because they are racialized or Indigenous, are involved in the sex trade, have past histories of abuse and violence, are economically insecure, are dependent on drugs or alcohol, have mental illnesses or health issues, or suffer sex discrimination and racism.

 

Advocacy:

• Pivot is a non-profit organization located in Vancouver, which works to improve the lives of marginalized persons, including sex workers, homeless people and illicit drug users, through legal education, advocacy and strategic litigation.

• Missing Women’s March – Feb. 14 annually

• PACE – Providing Alternatives and Counseling Society is a sex worker led and driven organization offering low-barrier programming, support and safe respite for survival sex workers in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

• missingpeople.net

• Walk4Justice began in Prince George to raise awareness and demand justice, closure, equality and accountability for missing and murdered women and their families across Canada.

• The West Coast Cooperative of Sex Industry Professionals reflects the diversity of the sex working community.

 

Sources: Missing Women Commission of Inquiry: Comparative Approaches to Missing Persons Procedures: An Overview of British, American and Australian Policies March 2012, missingpeople.net; Sex Work Activists, Allies and You, Compiled by J. Hainsworth