SWAN Vancouver’s Seymour St. office is temporarily closed during the FIFA World Cup.
Starting Friday, June 12, we will no longer offer drop-in services at our Yaletown location due to the heavy police presence and surveillance in the area. Because of criminalization and immigration rules that ban migrants from engaging in sex work, our community faces an increased risk of arrest, detention, and deportation. Many im/migrant sex workers have expressed that they will not be travelling to the downtown core to access SWAN’s support and other basic services because it is no longer safe for them.
We also know that anti-trafficking police units that have targeted sex work will be active during the World Cup, and that NGOs and businesses that work closely with law enforcement have been encouraging the public to report a wide range of activities to the police.
To respond to our community’s needs, we have ramped up outreach and check-ins throughout Vancouver and the surrounding areas, and have increased our mobile presence and emergency response hours. Our team will also run drop-in services at an undisclosed location outside of the downtown core, where community members can access urgent STBBI tests, in-person case management, as well as our English Class and other programs.
SWAN is expected to return to normal operations after World Cup matches wrap up in Vancouver on July 8. Our office will also be closed to the public until then.
For any inquiries, please contact us at info@swanvancouver.ca.
If you’d like to support our work during this time, head to: swanvancouver.ca/donate