Vision
To recognize the harm caused by prostitution to all individuals, to end prostitution and/or exploitation, to support individual human rights, and to strengthen and streamline partnerships.
Mission
To respond, to empower, to advocate, to raise awareness, to obtain and disperse sustainable funding to agencies, programs and individuals working with and affected by prostitution. The scope of our mission will include all relevant community members with particular attention towards gaps in service provisions for certain populations. Our Members
Members
Our core membership includes individuals from the following agencies and experiential women. AIDS Calgary Awareness Association . Calgary Downtown Association ,Calgary Drop-In and Rehab Centre Calgary Fetal Alcohol Network, Calgary Police Service, Community Response Unit – Vice Team Mount Royal College, Department of Justice Studies Parent Child Assistance Program (PCAP) (McMan Youth, Family and Community Services),Protection of Sexually Exploited Children (Act) (PSECA) (housed at McMan Youth, Family and Community Services), Safeworks (Calgary Health Region),Servants Anonymous Society, Shift (AIDS Calgary), United Way of Calgary and Area, Woods Homes ,EXIT Community Outreach
History
There are a number of service providers who are dedicated to working with Calgary’s sex trade and sexually exploited persons. In the autumn of 2006, a project was initiated by the United Way of Calgary and Area to develop a Coordinated Community Response to the Sex Trade in Calgary. Although this project was primarily initiated due to the closure of the “Stepping Out Program,” it was also expected to inform future programming. The Project Report, entitled “Building a Calgary Community Response for Children, Youth, and Adults Involved in the Sex Trade/sexual Exploitation Trade,” released in April 2007, contained several recommendations, including the need to strengthen current partnerships or to build more effective partnerships amongst the agencies working with Calgary’s sex trade and sexually exploited persons. The report emphasized the need for a more coordinated response to the needs of the community. One of the report’s recommendations was a formal, standing committee be struck. This committee would ensure the needs of individuals involved in the sex trade or who were being sexually exploited were able to access a seamless, coordinated, network of services. Additionally, the committee would take a leadership role in fund development and ensure a maximal use of available resources. A further goal of the committee would be to provide leadership in connecting with other sectors and all levels of government to advocate for sustainable funding for the root causes of the sex trade and sexual exploitation at the community level, with the capacity to engage sectors including (but not limited to) health, justice, education, and children’s services. Building upon the report, in July 2007, a proposal was forwarded to the United Way of Calgary and Area. The proposal was for a three phased project focused on strengthening collaborations among key stakeholders and aimed at innovating change and creating meaningful action and sustainability for those persons involved in the sex trade or being sexually exploited. The project, slated to run until December 2009 included the standing committee already in place from the previous project and included experiential women, AIDS Calgary, Boys and Girls Club of Calgary, Street Teams/Side Door, Servants Anonymous Society, Mount Royal Colleges’ Department of Justice Studies, Wood’s Homes, and the YWCA. The United Way of Calgary and Area generously granted two years of funding and the Calgary Network on Prostitution was struck.
Respecting Diversity Critical to the success of the Network is our ability to work together despite divergent philosophies. The Network respects the diverse positioning of our membership. Our Name Recognizing that the definitions of sex trade and sexual exploitation are varied and diverse and agreement for a unified definition is difficult, the Network uses the term prostitution. We acknowledge the current approach in Calgary is limited and by working from a foundation of respect for diversity and individual human rights, we aim to challenge, balance, and change the perspectives that surround prostitution in Calgary.