Education
Public Education Initiatives
– We publish a newsletter (SWANzine) four times a year. SWANzine provides current social, health, legal and safety information and resources. SWANzine is available in Chinese and English in print and on our website.
– We collaborate with community groups and participate in committees, forums, conferences, task forces and roundtables to raise public awareness and work towards policy change on issues affecting the women we work with.
– We provide in-services to community agencies to better understand and effectively and respectfully provide services to the women we support.
– We collaborate with international organizations to work for the rights of newcomer, migrant and immigrant women and sex workers, in countries of origin and countries of destination.
– We are a member organization of the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, a human rights-based anti-trafficking international network of anti-trafficking, women’s rights, migrants’ rights and women workers’ rights organizations.
Publications
SWAN carries out evidence-based research on sex work in im/migrant communities. SWAN also develops knowledge on the national and transnational dimensions of human trafficking from a critical perspective.
Research & Publications by SWAN Members
New Publication “Red Light Labour: Sex Work, Regulation, Agency and Resistance”
SWAN contributed to Chapter 8, ‘Misrepresentations, Inadequate Evidence and Impediments to Justice: Human Rights Impacts of Canada’s Anti-Trafficking Efforts. Red Light Labour is available September 1, 2018 here.
SWAN Launches Respect Campaign for Victims & Survivors of Crime Week May 2018.
Based on migrant sex workers’ experiences with police in 2017-2018, SWAN launched ‘Building a Culture of Respect: Police and Sex Workers’. This campaign is targeted at police and focuses on the fundamental principle that is imperative in any interaction between police and sex workers – respect. Watch the project launch and download and share the SWAN Respect Infographic. SWAN would like to thank the Department of Justice Canada for funding this campaign.
Backpage: Sex workers can find safety in online marketplace
Barriers to Justice for Migrant and Immigrant Sex Workers: A Community-Led Research Project
Sex Work, Immigration and Social Difference – SWAN Board President Dr. Julie Ham’s PhD Thesis and Book published by Routledge
Im/migrant Sex Workers, Myths and Misconceptions: Realities of the Anti-Trafficked
The Palermo Protocol & Canada: The Evolution and Human Rights Impacts of Anti-Trafficking Laws in Canada (2002-2015)
Chinese Sex Workers in Toronto and Vancouver
Do Evidence Based Approaches Alienate Canadian Anti Trafficking Funders?
The Routledge Handbook on Crime and International Migration.
Strategic in/visibility: Does agency make sex workers invisible?
In the Eyes of the Beholder: Border enforcement, suspect travellers and trafficking victims
MOVING BEYOND SUPPLY AND DEMAND CATCHPHRASES: Assessing the uses and limitations of demand-based approaches in anti-trafficking
Whats the Cost of a Rumor? A Guide to Sorting out the Myths and the Facts about Sporting Events and Human Trafficking
Understanding Needs, Recognizing Rights: The Stories, Perspectives and Priorities of Immigrant Iranian Women in Vancouver, Canada
Innovative HIV Prevention Outreach Service for Sex Workers in Massage Parlors in Vancouver
Podcast