Sex-trade activist raises concerns over Vancouver's sixth homicide of 2011

A sex-trade activist in Vancouver is questioning why no details have yet been released on the city’s sixth homicide of the year.

According to the Vancouver Police Department, the body of a woman in her 30s was discovered in Southeast Vancouver on June 10th.

VPD homicide investigators determined that the woman, who police say had obvious signs of trauma on the body, had met with foul play.

According to activist Jamie Lee Hamilton, the victim had been working in the sex trade. Hamilton is raising the alarm out of concern for any potential risk for other sex-trade workers in the city.

“The police have been very tight-lipped on this,” Hamilton told the Straight in a phone interview.

“They haven’t released her name, they haven’t approached the sex worker community to say if there’s any potential cause of concern.”

In a statement released on June 11, the police indicated the victim's identity was being withheld while next of kin were notified. They have not yet released the woman’s name or any other details of the investigation.

Vancouver Police Department spokesperson Constable Lindsey Houghton told the Straight that the investigation is still open and ongoing.

Hamilton said the victim was a gentle woman.

“To have someone kill her, it’s just awful," she said. "She didn’t do anything to deserve that.”

There are ongoing Charter challenges taking place in B.C. and Ontario about sex worker rights.

“I hate to say it, but I think this case once again reinforces why there needs to be a change in law,” Hamilton said.

Comments

7 Comments

political agenda

Jul 11, 2011 at 6:54pm

Progressive Feminist: Sex workers have freedom of choice, their body is their own, and a woman should be able to have sex when she wants with whom she wants and how often she wants. This is autonomy and this is what Feminism should stand for.

Radical Feminist: No. We must play the moral outrage card to our advantage to gain sympathy and show women in the sex trade as oppressed and exploited. We must show images of the DTES street worker as the poster girl of the sex trade. We must manipulate research studies and send it to the media. We must organize Slutwalks and indoctrinate because that is what we do now-a-days.

Progressive Feminists: But the DTES street worker is but a small part of this industry. The vast majority of these people work indoors and advertise on the net and other media outlets. They are not forced into the trade. We need to decriminalize prostitution so that we can protect them. We need to speak to these women and hear their stories to know their reality. But first we need to separate fact from fiction.

Radical Feminist: No. We must play the moral outrage card to maintain our ideological domination and nothing should undermine our position. So be quiet because we out number you.

Progressive Feminist: But if you use these women for your political agenda, you are putting them in danger.

Radical Feminist: (silence)

radically insidious

Jul 12, 2011 at 8:48am

Radical Feminist's tentacles are everywhere. They hold key positions in the legal profession, education, media, public policy development, research, government etc. etc. and they operate using bullying and manipulative tactics.

It's time we started to take notice of what this insidious group is doing and stop giving them unbridled, unquestioned power because they are shaping the world we live in, which is having numerous detrimental consequences.

hurrdurr

Jul 12, 2011 at 3:31pm

i don't see the radical feminist angle here, jamie hamilton i'm pretty sure is a tranny, and more concerned with safety of sex workers than some radical fem agenda.

if a sex worker is killed by a john better get the word out on his description to the rest of the girls/rent boys/tgirls so he doesn't do it again... that's what I got from this article. VPD not doing their job again when it comes to sex workers

damage control

Jul 12, 2011 at 6:03pm

@hurrdurr, thanks for the lame Radical Feminist attempt at spin/damage control after being exposed yet again. It must suck.

Ray I

Jul 13, 2011 at 11:56am

What I don't understand is why would sex workers be any less careful any other time. It is not as if sex work is ever "safe".

JamieLee

Jul 14, 2011 at 12:45pm

Ray 1, I disagree with your statement. Prior to 1984 there had not been little if any reported evidence of murders of sex workers. In fact the West End provided a pimp free outdoor brothel model which was self-regulated by the hookers on Davie. The violence started when sex workers were mass evicted from the West End. Displacement and the current law has been proven to have a direct effect on the violence sex workers face. If you want evidence look up the West End Sex Work History Project.

carlos

Aug 4, 2011 at 5:49pm

Mr Hamilton, I dont why she said that the victima was working in sex trade, does she has any evidence? or does she met to the victim??, she said she was gentel, if she knows her, why she doesnt release her name??, If Mr, hamilton knows something about, she should say to police ahy imformation.