|
Mon, December 17, 2007
'Fighting to see
justice done'
Organization
advocates end to violence against sex workers
Winnie
Cornish still gets understandably emotional about the unsolved murder of
her daughter, Darlene MacNeill, a decade ago.
MacNeill was a crack addict
and a sex worker whose partially naked body was found floating in Lake
Ontario near the Toronto
Sailing and Canoe Club in the fall of 1997. She had been strangled.
That
there are up to 11 unsolved murders of sex workers in the city since 1991,
according to figures provided by the Sex Workers' Alliance of Toronto, is
completely unacceptable for Cornish and others like her. She feels it
indicates there is an apathy among police and society that allows violence
against sex workers not to be taken seriously.
"I
think just as much attention should be paid to my daughter's death as
anybody else's, even a judge's daughter or a policeman's daughter. We are
all human beings. We're all mothers and sisters and daughters and
granddaughters," an emotional Cornish, 65, told the Sun by phone from
her home in Victoria,
B.C.
"I
just wish that there was some magic thing that we could do to make people
wake up, and make them realize (violence against sex workers) is wrong and
what (the police) are doing is not enough."
Today
marks the fifth annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex
Workers, a movement that began in Seattle
for the victims of the Green River Killer, who killed 48 women, mostly sex
workers and runaways, beginning in 1982.
Organizers
of Toronto's vigil, who say the movement now honours
all missing and murdered sex workers and advocates an end to violence
against sex workers, changed tonight's vigil to Thursday night at 8 p.m. in
Allan Gardens at Sherbourne and Carlton Sts.
because of the weather.
"The
working girls would still come out (today), because they work in all types
of weather," said Anastasia Kuzyk of the Sex
Workers' Alliance of Toronto. "But we don't want to put people at
risk."
Whenever
it's held, Cornish thinks the vigil is important because it helps people
struggling to cope with the unthinkable acts that have struck families like
hers all across the country. Also, she said, it's important to raise
awareness about what happens to sex workers.
She
hopes this year's memorial will mean more to the general public because of
the Robert Pickton trial and his recent
conviction on six second-degree murder charges. He still faces charges in
the killings of another 20 women.
Between
1991 and 2004, 171 female sex workers were murdered in Canada.
And according to some statistics, street-level sex workers are 60 to 112
times more likely to be victims of fatal violence than non-sex workers. Sex
workers have the highest rate of murder by occupation in Canada.
According
to Kuzyk, a semi-retired sex worker who has been
championing the rights of prostitutes for years, there is a stigma of sex
workers in society that makes it difficult, if not impossible,
to change the way violence against sex workers is handled.
"Sex
work is a job, and violence isn't in the job description," she said,
noting that is the slogan for this year's vigils being held in major cities
around the world today.
"We're
fighting to see that justice is done to honour
those who have lost their lives because of their high-risk lifestyles,
which to me is just another label society puts on people to blame them for
what has happened to them."
Since
1991, Kuzyk said there are 11 missing or murdered
Toronto sex
workers whose deaths or disappearances have never been solved.
They
include: Julieanne Middleton, 23, Virginia Coote, 33, Darlene MacNeill,
35, Lisa Lyn Anstey, 21, Donna Oglive, 24, Cassandra "Tula"
Do, 39, Anne Fernando, 50, Lien "May-Ling" Phem,
39, Florence Harrison, Teresa May and Lori Pinkus.
"Just
think, if we had 11 murdered convenience store workers, do you think we
would be having this conversation right now?" she said. "Police
departments, as a whole, share in the culpability because of the apathy and
the ineffectiveness of investigating and finding whose
responsible for crimes committed against sex workers."
As
for what needs to be done to improve the working conditions of sex workers,
Kuzyk said it's more than just decriminalizing
the industry, a move her organization supports.
"Realistically,
there has to be more than just decriminalizing the laws. We have to address
the stigma and give opportunities for women to work safely who are on the
lower level of the sex worker hierarchy, like those who are addicts,"
she said. "The reality is, we can change the laws, but if we don't
change the stigma, what's the point?"
What's
worse, she said, is that pop culture promotes the negative view of sex
workers and even legitimizes violence towards them. Her case in point is
the Grand Theft Auto video games, which rewards players for beating up,
robbing and killing prostitutes.
"There's
a video game out there where you can run down prostitutes and kill them and
beat them up and take their money. It feeds into the whole subculture of
allowing the violence to continue," she said. "Violence against
sex workers should not be normalized, but it is."
As
for what Cornish thinks needs to be done so that no one has to go through
the pain and suffering she struggles with daily, it might be a matter of
making people listen.
"Maybe
we should start marching in the street, but I'm 65 years old and I can't
fight this any more. But somebody's got to do it," she said.
For Kuzyk, one of the most important things that has to
happen is that people stop blaming the victim, though she says that is
changing -- albeit very slowly.
"Twenty
years ago, they said we asked for it. Ten years ago, they said, 'What do
you expect?' Now they say it's a dangerous profession, but it's still
blaming the victim," she said. "They might not change in our
lifetime, but at least it's heading in the right direction. It's
unfortunate that it came at a price ... When you add up all the missing and
murdered sex workers across Canada, we're talking a couple hundred.
"We
shouldn't have to change how we live in order to protect ourselves from
violent men. Violent men should be the ones who are held accountable for
what they do.
"But
it's because it's sex and people get all
squeamish."
Previous story: Victim
was 'hunted down like an animal'
Next story: Shop
stops pedalling its wares
|
