Feb, 2001.
Volume 43, No. 18

Home
Stories this Week
Contact / Masthead
on-line Forum
Archives
Links

The Carillon brings you the weekly news from the University of Regina.

Contact:
The Editor
Newsline:
(306)-586-8867
Fax:
(306)-586-7422
Room 227
Riddell Centre
University of Regina

A dozen people gathered at Luther College's Speaker's Corner to talk about helping prostitutes stay off the street in Regina.

Barbara Lawrence, Executive Director of the Street Worker's Advocacy Project (SWAP), headed the session.

SWAP was formed in 1994 through the efforts of citizens, government departments, and other agencies who felt that the traditional method of forcibly taking prostitutes off the street was not effective in a long-term perspective.

The group's first project was to hire two researchers to talk to people on the street to find out their needs and assess the situation. The researchers were there for four months and then compiled their findings in a report.

The researchers found that street people are often abused and neglected and need to feel that someone cares for them before they will accept aid.

The SWAP program does not force prostitutes off the street. They try to connect with the prostitutes and gain their trust and then offer them other options and services, such as education, counselling, and job training.

"Our role is to be a facilitator," said Lawrence. "We identify prostitute needs and try to help them."

Five nights a week SWAP volunteers drive through the areas where prostitutes work and hand out condoms, coffee, and pamphlets about dangerous clients.

"The street outreach program is critical to our entire project. That's often the time when we make our first contact with people."

Another key to the program is that at least 51 per cent of the board of directors has to be made up of people who live or have lived on the street. This stipulation ensures that the program will not be run by people who have no street experience. It also gives the prostitutes someone to talk to who can relate to their current experience.

Statistics compiled from April 1 to September 30, 2000 show that there are approximately 175 individuals who are working the streets of Regina. Of the 175, 82 per cent are female, 66 per cent are over the age of 19, 33 per cent are over 12, and one per cent are under 12.

Also important to the study is the fact that 82 per cent of the prostitutes are aboriginal.

"Racism continues to play a part in our society," stated Lawrence. "We have to deal with poverty and other social issues. Pointing fingers at individuals is not going to solve this problem."

One of the problems with SWAP is that it is difficult to measure success levels. It can take years to earn the trust of someone, give her an education and job training, and teach her social skills.

"Success," according to Lawrence, "is tiny little steps."

People don't change immediately, she said, and relapses are a natural part of adjusting to a new lifestyle. The key is just making the connection.

"People don't want to be socialworked out there. They've been social-worked to death. They hate it with a passion."

Luther Pastor Don Johnson says that he hopes the Speakers' Corner will help inform students about current social issues.

"College students tend to ignore these subjects and not think about the people who have fallen through the cracks. I'm often surprised that students aren't interested in these topics. I think students feel very pressured when they come to University which causes them to have tunnel vision," says Johnson. Sometimes they don't look at what's happening around them. I thought this topic was important because I'm concerned that some of the U of R students may be some of the Johns."