LOS ANGELES — An interview with Canadian MP Laurel Collins, spotlighting consensual sex work, has been published by online adult entertainment guide Slixa.
The article, "NDP's Laurel Collins Talks With Slixa About MP Arnold Viersen's Parliamentary Stunt to Shame Both Her And Canadian Sex Workers," according to a rep, "highlights the problem with sex work laws in Canada, and out-of-touch politicians that do little to protect its citizens who choose this work."
Collins has made it a point to educate herself on the issue.
"I have spoken at length with sex workers I know about their life experiences, and the damage that stigma does,” she told Slixa. “It increases violence, and it increases risk, and the laws of Canada, currently, really make their lives more dangerous.”
Conservative MP Arnold Viersen was in the midst of a debate with Collins on February 4 over the recent murder of a sex worker when Collins asked Viersen to consider whether his party’s legislation banning elements of the sex trade in Canada could have been a factor in her death. Viersen crudely asked Collins whether sex work was something she’d personally "considered."
Although Viersen later apologized for his off-the-cuff remark, it sparked anger.
"When you conflate sex trafficking and sex work, you propagate ignorance," wrote Toronto service provider Isobel Andrews in an open letter. "You presume that sex workers are all victims and have no agency, and that we cannot possibly think for ourselves."
Collins added that Viersen “doesn’t understand the difference between sex work and sex trafficking. It’s extremely dangerous and harmful to have an elected official speaking in this way. To me, it seems like common sense that if we want to fight for justice and human rights, we need to speak for sex worker rights as well.”
To read the full Slixa article with NDP’s MP Lauren Collins, click here.
