Sex workers concerned over proposed legislation bringing changes to hotels
CTV
Sex workers are raising concerns about a proposed law aimed at cracking down on human traffickers who use short-term rentals, saying the move could make things less safe for them.
Sex workers are raising concerns about a proposed law aimed at cracking down on human traffickers who use short-term rentals, saying the move could make things less safe for them.
Last week the province introduced legislation that would mandate hotels and Airbnbs to collect names and addressees of all customers and keep a record of them. This would make it easier for police to track suspected human traffickers who use short-term rentals. Police would have access to the registry with a court order, but could also obtain information from it without a warrant on an urgent basis.
In a statement, the Sex Workers of Winnipeg Action Coalition questioned why police would need the increased access without a court order:
“Sex workers use rentals as safer spaces to see clients, and policing these areas further will not add any safety. In fact, we would argue that it decreases safety for sex workers by severely limiting safe places that sex workers conduct their work," the statement reads.
The coalition also has concerns about how the information will be kept secure.
Privacy Lawyer Andrew Buck said securing data like this could be harder to do for smaller businesses with limited resources.
"Anytime we’re collecting more information we always have to be careful and turn our minds toward, ‘how are we going to protect this information (and) for how long will we retain it’," Buck said.
