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Help WISH Provide Crucial Resources in the Downtown Eastside

The barriers street-based sex workers face can feel insurmountable. Access to choice and supports must be a right.

WISH Drop-In Centre Society 26 Dec 2022TheTyee.ca

Three people stand together at the WISH Drop-In Centre Society wearing aprons. They are looking at the camera. One person is giving a thumbs-up.
WISH is the largest sex worker support organization in Canada. Donate today to help WISH offer one-on-one, longer-term support to street-based sex workers so they can build agency and gain stability in their lives. Photo by Wendy D. Photography.

Have you ever thought about what lack of choice looks like?

Many of those who walk through the doors at the WISH Drop-In Centre Society have experienced targeted, gender-based and sexualized violence. They have been impacted by the criminalized nature of Canada's laws surrounding sex work. They face significant discrimination and are hesitant to engage with the support services they need.

The types of barriers and lack of choices that street-based sex workers face daily can feel insurmountable. Conditions have never been worse for the population we serve and street-based sex workers have never been more vulnerable, making WISH a critical lifeline.

Each day and night, approximately 350 women and gender-diverse people come to WISH for support and services. Staff have become participants’ primary resources for help navigating through increasingly complicated matters and receive hundreds of requests for support every week.

This support is provided by WISH’s Inreach team — which now includes our first-ever dedicated housing support worker — as well as our Indigenous health and safety program, music therapy and supportive employment program.

At WISH, we envision a world where street-based sex workers have the agency to make free, healthy and positive choices. To live their lives the way they want to. Being able to access one-on-one, longer-term support is vital to participants’ ability to build agency and gain stability in their lives.

Avery Gray knows firsthand how “it takes somebody to feel welcome before they feel that they have choice or options to do anything else.” Gray was living in a tent on Alexander Street when she was invited into our drop-in for a hot chocolate. (WISH is using a pseudonym to protect Gray’s privacy.)

Looking back, she says, “I had no choices.... It took a lot for me to really grasp what to do with my life at that time, and I don't really know what got me through it. Things kind of just started, slowly day by day, getting better and better, and a lot of that is because of the support I got from WISH.”

Gray began her journey at WISH as a participant and transitioned into low-barrier employment by joining WISH’s supportive employment program. Since then, she has become a program supervisor, helping oversee nearly 40 employees.

“I'm the first one that's gone from participant into management and that is my dream, to have every participant here just succeed so much that these are options for them,” Gray added.

Having staff with personal experience of what it’s like to access services is immensely valuable to those depending on WISH. To do this, we need to create opportunities that meaningfully engage street-based sex workers, while prioritizing their safety, autonomy and self-determination.

This holiday season, you can give someone the gift of choice. WISH’s largest fundraising campaign of the year ends in just a few days. Will you stand together and support choice?

Please help where it counts. Donate today.

Happy holidays, readers. Our comment threads will be closed from Friday, Dec. 23 until Tuesday, Jan. 3 to give our moderators a well-deserved break. See you in 2023! [Tyee]

This article is part of a Tyee Presents initiative. Tyee Presents is the special sponsored content section within The Tyee where we highlight contests, events and other initiatives that are either put on by us or by our select partners. The Tyee does not and cannot vouch for or endorse products advertised on The Tyee. We choose our partners carefully and consciously, to fit with The Tyee’s reputation as B.C.’s Home for News, Culture and Solutions. Learn more about Tyee Presents here.

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