This is a pdf version of the presentation I made to the Department of Sociology and Anthropology on the occasion of my retirement. To view the file click here.
My objective was to reflect on four questions: (1) How did I get here? (2) How did I move from community work in Downtown Eastside Vancouver to being an affiant for a Charter Challenge that made it to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC)? (3) What has changed? / What hasn’t changed? (4) What did I learn?
By responding to these questions I hope to guide our understanding of the challenges and obstacles we faced—and are still facing—when making sure that legal, social, and economic reform for sex work in Canada is grounded in evidence-based research (and is thus both appropriate and effective).