Call to Action -- Sample Letter in Support of the Decriminalization of Sex Work (Plus Contacts List)

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Folks!
So. We all know about Justice Susan Himel’s decision to strike down those three anti-sexwork laws.
BUT we also, I’m sure, know all about the misinformation being handed around by the media and various politicians in an effort to scare people into demanding that those laws be reinstated.

As such, I think it’s up to us, as people who support Justice Himel’s decision, to email/phone/write everybody we can think of and let them know of our support for this ruling and why we think the decision is a really good idea.


To that end, here is a sample letter that you can feel free to copy-paste and/or modify as need be:


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Dear [RECIPIENT],

I’m writing regarding the recent decision by Ontario Superior Court Justice Susan Himel to strike down three of the four anti-sexwork laws (communication, living off the avails of, and the bawdy-house law) listed in the Criminal Code of Canada.

Specifically I’m writing to express my full and enthusiastic support of her decision.

By striking down the communications law, the avails-of law, and the bawdy-house law, Justice Himel has made it much, much safer for sex workers to work in their chosen professions.

Now street workers will be able to negotiate the terms of their contracts openly, and can work free of harassment by police and “community associations”. Similarly sex workers of all types will no-longer be at risk of losing their homes due to eviction by landlords afraid of being, themselves, charged with operating a common bawdy house.

Additionally, and also through her decision to leave the procurement law intact, Justice Himel offers those coerced into sex work by pimps, traffickers, and other predators, legal recourse against those who are exploiting them without their risking being brought up on prostitution-related charges themselves.

Pierre Trudeau told us that the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation. I tell you that this is no different.
[RECIPIENT], it is time, beyond time, that we stop treating sex workers as non-citizens and non-people and grant them the rights they deserve as labourers and as human beings.

To that end, I strongly encourage you to speak out against the misinformation being spread on this subject and to give your support, through word and action, to Justice Himel’s historic decision.


Sincerely, and with great hope
[your name]
[your general location]
[any relevant information you wish to include]



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Additionally: Have a list of links and addresses:


Find Your Member of Parliament.
http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfP...ent&Language=E


Find Your MPP (if you’re in Ontario – if you are elsewhere, google “[your province] legislative assembly mpp” to find the appropriate listings):
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/members/members_current.do?locale=en


Find Your City Councillor (if you are in Ottawa – if you are elsewhere, google “[your city] city councillors” to find the appropriate listings):
http://www.ottawa.ca/city_hall/mayor_council/councillors/index_en.html


Contact Information for Ottawa mayoral candidates:
http://www.ottawa.ca/city_hall/elections/nominations/index_en.html
Including:
(Current) Mayor Larry O’Brian:
contact@larryobrien.net
613-792-4204



Other Important Contact Listings:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa
K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900

“Contact Us” online form”:
http://pm.gc.ca/eng/contact.asp?pageId=30&featureId=10




The Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women
www.ronaambrose.com


The Honourable Robert Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., M.P. for Niagara Falls, Ontario
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
www.robnicholson.ca
www.justice.gc.ca/eng/contact.htm


Joy Smith – MP Kildonan – St. Paul (she works against human trafficking)
www.joysmith.ca
smithj@parl.gc.ca


Elizabeth May – Leader of the Green Party
emaytowin@greenparty.ca
Phone: 778-426-4494
Ottawa office 1-866-868-3447
www.elizabethmay.ca


Jack Layton – Leader of the NDP
In Ottawa:
Tel: (613) 947-0867
laytoj@parl.gc.ca
Constituency:
Tel: (416) 405-8914
info@jacklayton.ca
http://www.ndp.ca/jack


Michael Ignatieff – Leader of the Liberal Party
Telephone: (613) 995-9364
Email: Ignatieff.M@parl.gc.ca
http://www.liberal.ca/michael-ignatieff/


Gilles Duceppe – Le chef du Bloc Quebecois
« Contact the Bloc » online form:
http://www.blocquebecois.org/dossiers/participez/jappuie.aspx


Marlene Jennings, a Montreal MP and the Justice Critic for the Liberal Party of Canada
Email: jennim@parl.gc.ca

In Ottawa:
Room 420, West Block
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
Phone: (613) 995-2251
Fax: (613) 996-1481

In Montréal:
6332 Sherbrooke Street West
Suite 204
Montreal QC H4B 1M7
Phone: (514) 489-8703
Fax: (514) 489-2806


The Right Honourable Madam Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, P.C.
Supreme Court of Canada
301 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0J1
reception@scc-csc.gc.ca


Media:
CBC
National:
http://www.cbc.ca/contact/
Ottawa:
http://www.cbc.ca/ottawa/contact/
cbcnewsottawa@cbc.ca

The Globe and Mail
http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/help/contact-web/

The National Post
http://www.nationalpost.com/contact/letters/index.html?name=Letters&subject=Letter+to+the+editor
http://www.nationalpost.com/contact/index.html


The Ottawa Citizen
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/about-ottawa-citizen/contactus.html

The Ottawa Sun
ottsun.oped@sunmedia.ca
http://www.ottawasun.com/contactus/


TVO
askTVO@tvo.org
http://www.tvo.org/TVO/WebObjects/TVO.woa?contact


CTV
National:
http://www.ctv.ca/contactus/
Ottawa:
ottawanews@ctv.ca
http://ottawa.ctv.ca/contactUs/



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One last request: Keep this moving.
Link to this post, or copy-paste the information to your own LJ.
If you are on twitter, tweet the link to this list.
Keep the information moving.
Write to EVERYBODY, and encourage others to do the same.
Let’s make this change a lasting one.