University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies Legacy Theses 2001 Regulating prostitution in British Columbia 1895-1930 Smith, Charleen P. Smith, C. P. (2001). Regulating prostitution in British Columbia 1895-1930 (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/19973 http://hdl.handle.net/1880/41064 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Regulating Prostitution in British Columbia 1895-1930 by Charleen P. Smith A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY CALGARY, ALBERTA SEPTEMBER 2001 0 Charleen P. Smith 2001 National Library Biblioth&quenationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliogtaphic Services services bibliigraphiques 395 Wdliqton Street 305, rue Wellington OUawaON KlAOW OUawaON KlAOW Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliotheque nation.de du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, preter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette these sous paper or electronic formats. la fome de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format electronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriW du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protege cette these. thesis nor substantial extracts fkom it Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de ceUe-ci ne doivent &re imprimes reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT At the local, daily level, the regulation of prostitution was a plural process, one in which moral and socio-legal regulations overlapped and were influenced by competing discourses. In this context, the debate over the regulation or suppression of prostitution was an arena of struggle that was complicated by the resistance and negotiation tactics of the women themselves. Prostitutes were important contributors to the economies of fledgling resource towns in the BC interior, such as Rossland, Nelson, Princeton, Revelstoke, and Kelowna In the urban centres of Vancouver and Victoria, prostitutes' experiences suggest a constant process of rehegotiation to the rhetoric surrounding the social reform movements of the first two decades of the twentieth century. As part of a community network, prostitutes had some protection within the law and did not hesitate to bring charges against men who abused them, and damaged or stole their property. When prostitutes became increasingly marginalized and forced to exist outside the law, they lost any protection they might have had, and turned to men whose actions were no longer constrained. Whatever economic benefit women might have gained fkom engagement in the trade increasingly went to those men who gave them some measure of security fiom the streets and from the law. Over the period, control of the sex trade in British Columbia clearly shifted. This study examines the social, legal, and economic circumstances that led to that shift, by using a case study, regionally-driven approach though an examination of primary archival sources hmlocal museums and archives across the province. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Louis ma,for his generous support and patience, which has contributed immensely to the quality of this project. I feel privileged to have worked with such a thought-provoking scholar. Any faults or omissions in the work are entirely my own. Thanks to Dr. Duane Thomson at Okanagan University College for having faith in me. I also am indebted to my husband, Dan, whose encouragement throughout my years of academic study has been tremendous. Special thanks to my three children, Jeremy, Jessina, .and Rob, who have helped me keep everything in perspective. I am also grateful for the encouragement of my mother, Pearl Kitcher, and my grandmother, Phyllis Hilts, whose unfailing support has given me strength. Finally, thanks to the faculty and staff in the History Department at the University of Calgary, who have provided both financial and moral support in the completion of this thesis. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction.......... .... ................................................................................................................. 1 Boomtown Brothels. in the Kootenays, 1895 to 1905 ........ .. ......................................................... 18 Forms of Prostxtubon .................................................................................................................. 24 The Dark Side: Violence and Addiction ................................................................................ 43 Conclusion ........... .................................................................................................................... 50 Reforming Urban Spaces: Vancouver and Victoria, 1906- 1 9 17 .................................................. 59 The 'White Slave Trade' ............................................................................................................ 61 Victoria's Chinese Rescue Home ............................................................................................... 63 The National Reform. .Movement ............................................................................................ 68 Reforming Vice Dlstncts ............................................................................................................ 71 Constructing the Prostitute Body: The Regulation of Women in Alert Bay ..........................tin....84 The British Context ....................................... ... ..................................................................... 84 'Progressive Pathologization' in Alert Bay .......................................................................... 87 Battling Disease - The War on Prostitution ....................................................................-......... 93 Policing Prostitution in the Sirnilkameen: Infoma1 Systems of Regulation in the 1920s ............ 98 Community Toleration ............................................................................................................. 99 Informal Systems of Regulation ............................................................................................... 104 The Failure of Regulation ....................................................................................................... 106 Corruption in the Okanagan, 1929 .............................................................................................. 114 Lessons fkom Kelowna ............................................................................................................. 122 Conclusion ......................... ..., ................................................................................................. 126 Appendices .......................................................... .... .......................*................................. ... ..... 134 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 143 Introduction In Washington State, the city of Spokane recently passed a municipal ordinance targeted at dealing with 'nuisance' properties. The law was enacted to give city police the power to deal with escalating neighbourhood complaints about properties in which undesirable activities take place, such as excessive noise, keeping the premises in an unsightly manner, selling illegal drugs, gang activities, or prostitution. The bylaw seeks to make property owners, and especially absentee landlords, more responsible for their tenants' actions, allowing for a system of rising fines if a dispute resolution process between police, neighbours, landlords, and tenants is ineffective. ' Over a century ago, municipal governments, judiciary and police in British Columbia may well have agreed with the necessity for this type of ordinance, reflecting the prevailing beliefs in the difficulty of suppressing 'nuisance' activities and the need for using pecuniary sanctions to regulate undesirable activities. Increasingly, politicians and policy makers are expressing an interest in the historical legacy of legislation like nuisance ordinances, vagrancy laws, and other forms of moral regulation. Recent works addressing this interest include a group of studies of urban prostitution across Canada, commissioned by the Department of Justice in 1989, that resulted in a number of policy recommendations for communities and egis la tors.^ Like their contemporary counterparts, historical studies of prostitution have tended to focus primarily on moral regulation in the urban environment. This study seeks to present a synthesis of both urban and nnal responses to a single fonn of 'nuisance' activity by focusing on prostitution in selected regions of British Columbia from 1895 to 1930. However, as prostitution did not flourish in