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Dressing Down Migrant Sex Work: the Global Anti-Trafficking Regime, Legal Employment Rights, and Canada’S Temporary Foreign Worker Program

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Dressing Down Migrant Sex Work: the Global Anti-Trafficking Regime, Legal Employment Rights, and Canada’S Temporary Foreign Worker Program DRESSING DOWN MIGRANT SEX WORK: THE GLOBAL ANTI-TRAFFICKING REGIME, LEGAL EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS, AND CANADA’S TEMPORARY FOREIGN WORKER PROGRAM by Vasti Montiel Honours Bachelor of Social Science in International Studies and Modern Languages, University of Ottawa, 2013 A Major Research Paper presented to Ryerson University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Program of Immigration and Settlement Studies Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2016 © Vasti Montiel 2016 AUTHOR’S DECLARATION FOR ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF A MAJOR RESAERCH PAPER (MRP) I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this Major Research Paper. This is a true copy of the MRP, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I authorize Ryerson University to lend this MRP to other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I further authorize Ryerson University to reproduce this MRP by photocopying or by other means, in total or part, at the request of other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I understand that my MRP may be made electronically available to the public. Vasti Montiel ii DRESSING DOWN MIGRANT SEX WORK: THE GLOBAL ANTI-TRAFFICKING REGIME, LEGAL EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS, AND CANADA’S TEMPORARY FOREIGN WORKER PROGRAM Vasti Montiel Master of Arts 2016 Immigration and Settlement Studies Ryerson University ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the contemporary global anti-trafficking regime and discusses the destructive influence this regime has had on the lives of migrant sex workers. Through the use of public documents and academic literature, I deconstruct the global anti-trafficking discourses and argue in favour of more viable rights-based solutions (e.g., labour rights, immigration rights, and sexual rights) for combating human trafficking. Within this analysis, I explore the Canadian government’s gradual commitment to combat human trafficking through the gradual discontinuation of the exotic dancer visa, and eventual implementation of the migrant sex worker ban. In formalizing its commitment to combating trafficking, the Canadian government has implemented restrictive policy measures terminating migrant women’s ability to legally access the Canadian sex industry. While this type of employment was problematic in many ways, the Canadian government should have addressed these issues through rights-based policy initiatives instead of prohibiting access as part of its anti-trafficking campaign. Key Words: migrant sex workers, human trafficking, temporary foreign worker program, exotic dancer visa, anti-trafficking policy. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Major Research Paper (MRP) became a reality (and not just a figment of my mind) with the generous support of many individuals. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all of them. Foremost, I would like to acknowledge my supervisor, Dr. Sedef Arat-Koç, whose expertise, understanding, generous guidance and support made it possible for me to work on a topic that is of profound interest to me. It was a great pleasure working with her. I would like to express my gratitude to the second reader of this MRP, Dr. Doreen Fumia, for finding the time to read my long 98-page study and providing me with unanticipated positive feedback. This unexpected feedback served to affirm my doubtful mind that I had written an academically sound research paper and that my hard work paid off. I will always be grateful for her encouraging words. A special thank you to my best friend, Katerine Stewart, who is always there if I need a distraction, shoulder to cry on, or a soundboard for my plethora of ideas. Thank you always, through thick and thin. I would like to thank my family whose patience, love, and support throughout my academic career has been greatly reassuring and comforting. Special thank you to my youngest siblings, Kaleb and Ella Montiel, for always making me smile amidst adversity. Lastly, I would especially like to acknowledge my mother, who not only instilled in me a hunger for academic achievement but also allowed me to sow my own roots and grow. iv For Cody, whose unwavering love and support made this MRP possible. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Author’s Declaration ii Abstract iii Acknowledgements iv Dedication v Table of Contents vi List of Abbreviations viii Introduction page 1 Chapter I. Understanding the International Flow of Migrant page 10 Women and the Concerns Surrounding Human Trafficking Women as Migrants and The Past and page 10 Present Human Trafficking Discourses Global Perceptions: Migrant Women and page 15 the Sex Industry Human Trafficking Discourses and page 19 The Feminist Debate: a Brief Review of the Literature Chapter II. Global Perspectives: Examining the Anti-Trafficking page 29 Regime and the Consequences that have ensued for Migrant Sex Workers Turning anti-Prostitution Discourse into page 29 anti-Trafficking Policy: the Making of the United Nations Trafficking Protocol The Definition of Trafficking: page 34 Inconsistencies With Implications for Migrant Sex Workers Migrant Sex Workers as ‘Victims of Trafficking’ page 41 The Trafficking Protocol, Crime Control, page 46 and Security Measures: Further Implications for Migrant Sex Workers vi The United States and the page 52 Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 Chapter III. The Case of Canada: Exploring the Intersections page 60 Between Migrant Sex Workers, the Anti-Trafficking Regime, and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program Exotic Dancing in Canada: a Brief History page 60 The Temporary Foreign Worker Program page 62 Strippers as Temporary Workers: Origins of The Exotic Dancer Visa Trafficking in Women by way of the Exotic Dancer Visa: page 66 Partial Truths and Complete Consequences Prohibiting Migrant Sex Work: page 75 The Unmaking of Canada’s Exotic Dancer Visa Chapter IV. A Comparative Analysis: Evaluating the page 86 Exotic Dancer Visa Program against the Low-Skilled Stream of the TFWP Sex Industry Standards and Labour Protections for page 86 Low-Skilled Workers: a Case Against Canada’s Migrant Sex Worker Ban Conclusion page 97 References page 99 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AEAC Adult Entertainment Association APEC Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CBSA Canadian Border Services Agency CIC Citizenship and Immigration Canada CATW The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women ESDC Employment and Social Development Canada GAATW Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women GTA Greater Toronto Area HRDC Human Resources Development Canada HRSDC Human Resources and Skills Development Canada IRPA Immigration and Refuge Protection Act IMF International Monetary Fund LMIA Labour Market Impact Assessment LMO Labour Market Assessment METRAC Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children NGO Non-Governmental Organization NOC National Occupational Classification NIEAP Non-Immigrant Employment Authorization Program NAFTA The North American Free Trade Agreement RCMP Royal Canadian Mounted Police STAR Sex Trade Advocacy and Research TFWP Temporary Foreign Worker Program TFWs Temporary Foreign Workers TIP Trafficking in Persons Report TVPA Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 TVPRA Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act WHISPER Women Hurt in Systems of Prostitution Engage in Revolt UN United Nations UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime viii INTRODUCTION In Canada, there is a widespread belief that there is a significant problem of both internal and international forms of human trafficking (Kaye, Winterdyk, and Quarterman, 2014, p. 25). Indeed, according to the United States (U.S.) Department of State, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and the Canadian Department of Justice, Canada has been identified as a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking, and a destination country for men and women subjected to forced labour (U.S. Department of State, 2014, p. 125, Timoshkina and McDonald, 2011, p. 5, Department of Justice Canada, 2015, p. 10). Beginning in the 1990s, the trafficking and smuggling of persons emerged as a subject of debate in Canada with the focus of concern centering on women trafficked by crime syndicates to work in Canada’s commercial sex industry (Bruckert and Parent, 2004, p. 1). In particular, the presence of foreign women in Canadian exotic dance clubs and strip bars has been a specific subject of heated debates since the early 1990s, when the number of migrant dancers from underdeveloped countries in Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe increased dramatically. This increase however was not the result of the mass trafficking of women, as was widely suspected, but the shortage of Canadian exotic dancers entering the sex industry. This shortage allowed for the operation of a special immigration process permitting employers to source foreign women through the exotic dancer visa (RCMP, 2010, p. 11-12, STAR, 2004, p. 5-6). By the late 1990s however, as panic over human trafficking peaked both internationally and internally, Canada became heavily involved in the negotiations leading to the adoption of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (Trafficking Protocol), supplementing the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Organized Crime 1 Convention). Canada was also among the first nations to sign (December 2000) and ratify (May 2002) the international instruments thereby formalizing its commitment to fight organized
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