What we do

This 2022-24 project directly engages with the media to shift their representation of im/migrant sex workers. The project is in consultation with the women we serve and aims to reduce the stigma that misrepresentation causes. The project challenges irresponsible media coverage and encourages evidence-based reporting on the realities of im/migrant sex work, while taking into consideration the harms that come from conflating it with human trafficking. The intended outcome is the adoption of responsible, accurate, and ethical journalism in regard to coverage of both sex work and trafficking.

SWAN is engaged in a knowledge exchange with the Yukon Status of Women Council, Peers Victoria and Shift Calgary to increase accessibility to community supports for im/migrant sex workers outside of Greater Vancouver.  

In 2024, SWAN will work with settlement organizations in B.C. to reduce barriers to service for im/migrant sex workers. 

In 2022-2023, SWAN conducted a broad community consultation to elicit im/migrant sex workers’ perspectives about law reform, in particular, immigration law reform. 

Following the consultation, we identified a need for legal education among the community we support and we’re currently working to fill the gap.   

Given the inaccessibility of legal processes for the majority of the women we serve, The Racial Justice Project gives women an opportunity to engage with immigration law, the criminal justice system and the law reform process.