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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Traffic reporting

Posted by Lizzy Hill on Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 6:25 PM

The Nova Scotia Human Trafficking Awareness Network held a symposium Monday to increase awareness about human trafficking in Halifax. Members of the network, including the RCMP, Halifax Regional Police, the Canada Border Services Agency and the Canadian Red Cross, met in hopes of developing more streamlined guidelines to ensure the health and safety of human trafficking victims.

I’d like to tell you what happened at Monday’s panel discussion, but could only have done so if RCMP communications officials looked over my article first, a condition I refused to meet. After the day-long event, where I self-identified at as a reporter wearing a Coast badge, RCMP told me the event was closed to media.

I caught up with Rene Ross, an audience member at the event, afterward. Ross, the executive director of a local non-profit organization working for the rights and safety of sex workers, worries that key voices were not heard at Monday’s event. She says her organization, Stepping Stone, was never invited to join the Nova Scotia Human Trafficking Awareness Network. “It makes no sense to us that sex workers are not being included in debates about policies and decisions that affect them,” she says.

Ross expresses concern that RCMP and others are painting a one-sided picture about sex work. “It’s not a balanced picture of what’s going on and it’s turning into sensationalistic rhetoric that is being used against sex workers,” she says. While some people are forced into sex work against their will, Ross feels it’s important to recognize that others choose to be sex workers. “What’s really happening in the sex trade is the global migration of women in the sex trade in search of better paid work,” says Ross. She worries criminalizing sex work pushes sex workers further underground, increasing their vulnerability to abuse and exploitation.

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Comments (4)

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jennier, it's called journalistic integrity. Outlets/sources/companies, etc. cannot expect to proofread articles before they go to print. That is a dangerous precedent to set. Good call Lizzy, way to stick to your ethics.

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Posted by halifamous on 04/22/2010 at 10:49 AM

No media outlet should ever, ever allow previews of its material...and should be highly suspicious of any organization that even makes the request. Did the RCMP say why?

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Posted by quantumimfuit on 04/22/2010 at 10:38 AM

Oh, I'm certain that a panel that didn't take the time to invite the people its discussions prominently featured is wholeheartedly concerned with security over censorship. Good call.

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Posted by ThatToyChick on 04/22/2010 at 9:57 AM

I think it's ridiculous that you wouldn't meet this condition. The requirement for looking over your article likely had more to do with security than censorship. Your self-righteousness is to blame for keeping the public in the dark in this case.

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Posted by jennier on 04/22/2010 at 8:17 AM

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