A thousand condoms and safer sex supplies are being loaded into the trunk of Hayley Leung’s car. The Outreach Coordinator has her route’s massage businesses and apartments mapped out: a few stops in the city before heading to Burnaby and the Tri-Cities.
Persistence is key when trying to connect with immigrant and migrant women engaged in sex work. Many of the activities around sex work are still illegal and unlike Canadian sex workers and sex workers with permanent residency, migrants could be arrested, detained and deported under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations if they’re found to be working in the industry.
“We had a good contact,” said Leung after returning to the car. “We went to this place a few times before and it was two English-speaking women and they were not really receptive. And this time we met with a woman who [speaks] Chinese. We actually got her contact and we told her every time before we come we’ll give her a heads up so we can chat with her and give the supplies.”
Outreach to massage businesses and apartments is SWAN’s longest-running service. The organization grew out of a 2002 community healthcare initiative that extended HIV outreach to these businesses and volunteers quickly realized the workers had a slew of concerns related to the law, immigration and safety, among others. Currently, staff and volunteers do outreach in 12 cities across the Lower Mainland of B.C.
“There’s a layer of intrigue sometimes,” said Chantel Lee, Program Support Worker with SWAN Vancouver. “Sometimes more than intrigued, there’s a bias that they’re coming from like they’re expecting something crazy that happens. It’s almost routine we just come in and out, we interact with them sometimes. Nothing out of the ordinary happens.”
Lee volunteered on SWAN’s outreach team before joining the organization as a staff member in 2023. They understand the public’s curiosity about what happens inside massage businesses, but say the im/migrant women are simply making a living.
“They’re just like everyone else, just working at a job. They’re always really happy to see us, but they’re just like any other person who has to work to survive.”
In May 2023, outreach staff and volunteers reported 85 face-to-face interactions with im/migrant women in sex work. The team is exploring new routes in White Rock, Pitt Meadows and the Fraser Valley.