In the wake of December’s Supreme Court decision to strike down Canada’s prostitution laws, two documentary filmmakers will be traveling across Canada to promote Red Light/Green Light— a film that explores the issues of sex trafficking and prostitution laws in ten cities across the globe.
Fernie is one of the 85 Canadian cities that will be screening the documentary.
Producers Michelle Brock and Jared Brock will be making their way to The Arts Station on June 1 in an effort to raise awareness for their cause — to end the demand for paid sex.
“If we’re going to make a decision that’s going to affect multiple generations of women and children and vulnerable groups of people, we owe it to them to have a really serious conversation about this on their behalf,” Jared said.
Jared and Michelle are co-founders of a small antisex trafficking organization called Hope for the Sold, where members can discuss and debate global developments in prostitution laws, the most recent being last year's Supreme Court ruling.
In December 2013 the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the country’s anti-prostitution laws, giving parliament one year to bring forward new legislation, should they decide to do so.
The court ruled that prostitution laws banning communication in public with clients, brothels and people living on the availsof prostitution would put sex workers in a dangerous place.
“Parliament has the power to regulate against nuisance, but not at the cost of the health, safety and lives of prostitutes,” Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote for a unanimous court.
Jared says he hopes Canada will adopt a model similar to the European Nordic model that criminalizes the purchasing ofsex while decriminalizing the sale of sex.
“We don’t criminalize women who have been raped, we don’t criminalize people who have an abusive husband, it shouldn’t be any different with prostituted women,” Jared said.
“Overwhelmingly the people who are selling prostitution aren’t actually criminals, they’re victims.”
In order to get some perspective Jared and Michelle spoke to all levels of individuals involved in the industry including prostitutes, sex trafficking survivors, police officers working in the human trafficking and prostitution unit and outreach workers.
Their hope is that this documentary will help to end the demand for paid sex and put a stop to human trafficking, Jaredsaid.
“What it comes down to is, if no-one was paying for sex, no-one would be trafficked for sex."