2005: Stella's 10th Anniversary

Stella employees, advocates, members and participating members reflect a huge diversity: women, transvestites and transsexuals, tall and short, young and old, straight and gay, white, black, yellow and red, poor and rich, graduates and self-taught, francophone, anglophone and allophone. They live in solidarity with all sex workers.

10 years open to the world
Several of Stella’s workers have travelled and come back with a variety of cultural experiences. Diane went to France and visited sex workers in Red Light districts. Lainie went to Israel, where she discovered an activist movement and met a sex worker activist. Roxane went to India and rubbed shoulders with the irresistible women of Calcutta. Claire worked in Vietnam during a year and a half for Médecins du Monde Canada and set afoot a mobile intervention project for sex workers and injection drug users. Claire, Valérie, Roxane and Nengeh took part in the 2004 International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand. They and sex workers from different countries took to the streets of Bangkok to demonstrate their support of sex workers worldwide. And finally, Kathryn went to Nunavut to work with the Inuit community. She discovered vast white expanses and the amazing culture of this First Nation people.

10 years contributing to evolution in thought and knowledge
During the last decade, Stella has taken part in several academic publications and contributed to knowledge about sex work. The publications tackle different subjects such as HIV, feminism, migration and trafficking. Stella has also had the chance to take a stand for decriminalization of sex work. Our organization has participated in research projects such as those directed by STAR (Sex Trade Advocacy and Research).

10 years of media presence
Over the last 10 years, the girls at Stella haven’t let up: showing up on television, in the papers, in all sorts of magazines and on the Net. They have frequently taken stands, asserting sex workers’ rights to better working and living conditions. They regularly appear on television, in countless news bulletins, documentaries, special reports and variety and human interest programs.

10 years urging the police : "Protect us against violence!!!"
Of course, the police force and the professionals working within the legal system have also benefited from Stella’s awareness promotion. Stella has always demanded that officers take seriously the charges workers lay against assailants or violent spouses. Stella regularly reminds police officers that it is their duty to protect sex workers when they are in danger.

10 years of connecting with sex workers
Here we are in 2005, Stella’s 10th anniversary. Ten years ago, Stella opened its first centre in downtown Montreal. At first, Stella’s team was small. Employees welcomed sex workers at the centre, meals were served, there were shower stalls and lockers. A few months later, Stella’s members decided to adjust the group’s activities and emphasize sex workers’ health, safety and rights. The first Bad Tricks List was published.

For 10 years now, Stella’s street workers have been going out to meet sex workers in their own work environment to offer support and information. They provide references to existing resources responding to sex workers’ needs and they can also give workers a hand when they have legal, health or housing concerns, to name a few.

Stella’s first street worker teams worked mostly in downtown and Centre-Sud streets, meeting with sex workers to forge bonds of trust, to answer any needs they might have and to hand out the Bad Tricks List. Stella’s street worker team gradually spread its presence to various other work environments. They now reach sex workers in clubs, massage parlours, escort agencies, X-rated film sets, prisons for women and they also support street-level sex workers in all of Montreal.

In the course of the past 10 years, Stella’s centre has welcomed quite a few sex workers. The drop-in has always been the most popular event, but a variety of events and workshops have been held, such as self-defence and art workshops, parties and any number of dinners. As a result of a partnership with Médecins du Monde Canada, Stella now has its own medical clinic, which sex workers have welcomed very warmly.

Ever since Stella began its activities, the organization’s employees have been striving for one particular goal: that sex workers live and work in safety and with dignity.

10 years designing tools by and for sex workers
During the last decade, Stella has created novel tools for sex workers: ConStellation magazine, the Bad Tricks and Assailants List, the XXX Guide, the Striptease Guide, Dear Client (a guide meant for sex workers’ clients), and a series of useful leaflets for sex workers on different subjects like their rights, their health, hepatitis and violence prevention. Sex workers take an active part in the publication of these tools which are based on both workers’ lives and work experiences.

10 years promoting sex workers awareness
Stella’s team has worked hard to fight discrimination against sex workers and to heighten the general population’s awareness about sex workers’ reality. The girls at Stella have organized several hundred sex work awareness and training workshops aimed at social workers and health professionals, among others. Much has been done to ensure that services are available to sex workers and that they answer the workers’ needs. Information workshops were held for students preparing papers about sex work. Stella’s workers also took part in several conferences and presentations, at universities, seminars and forums.

Stella also implemented training and awareness promotion events for organizations throughout Quebec and Canada. A XXX Guide distribution project was created during which one of Stella’s employees met a large number of Quebecois organizations to introduce them to the Guide and to hold training workshops about sex work. The project was then expanded to include all of Canada; Stella’s employee went on a Canadian tour during which she met more of 45 groups in 14 Canadian cities.

10 years of action by and for sex workers
Stella has taken part in several activist events organized by the Coalition for the Rights of Sex Workers. The Coalition was behind many an important action such as the demonstration at City Hall, the Labour Day activist event, the Festival du 8ème art, the spaghetti-supper for the Montreal mayor, the Parti Populaire des Putes (PPP) launch and the two sex work editions of the Festival Turning up the Heat.

Stella reached out to the women’s movement (FFQ) in 1999 and became a member of the Fédération des femmes du Québec. The FFQ toured the province, visiting various women’s groups to present the different concerns relating to sex work. Quebec’s women’s movement made two claims concerning sex work during the 2000 edition of the World March of Women: Stella turned the building at 2033 St. Laurent into a gigantic prison to protest against sex worker criminalisation. In 2001, Stella’s workers were present at the FFQ’s extraordinary general meeting when the federation took a stand in favour of decriminalising activities performed by women working in the sex industry.

Stella took part in novel intervention and social action practices. The organization’s street workers are involved in the Association des travailleuses and travailleurs de rue du Québec (ATTRUQ – association of Quebec street workers). For almost five years now, Stella has been working with the Collectif d’intervention par les Pairs (Peer Intervention Collective). A coaching peer (pair-aidante) is paired with Stella’s street workers to support sex workers and offer prevention tips.

Stella helped establish the Projet de Milieu (Workplace Project) with other community organizations in the downtown and Centre-Sud areas. For almost three years, one of Stella’s workers met with neighbourhood police officers, shopkeepers, residents and organizations to discuss and resolve the challenges facing the neighbourhood, emphasizing social inclusion of street-level sex workers.

Finally, Stella is a member of the Réseau d’aide aux personnes seules et itinérantes de Montréal (RAPSIM – a support network for the unattached and homeless) and of the Table de concertation jeunesse-itinérance (a youth and homelessness table) and is a part of Opération Droits Devant, a project aiming to develop collective advocacy practices for the homeless. Opération Droits Devant carries out meaningful actions to fight discrimination against the homeless, which can take the form of unjust tickets, police wrong-doings and prosecution of homeless people.

10 years of social and political action, pushing for change
For the past 10 years, Stella’s team has protested against sex worker repression and criminalisation. With this in mind, Stella is in contact with elected representatives from different governments discussing ways to better sex workers’ living and working conditions. Stella was part of the City of Montreal’s committee on street prostitution and got involved to ensure better living conditions for street-level sex workers.

Since its beginnings, Stella has been a part of the international struggle against HIV-AIDS and is active every December 1st in the Canadian edition of World AIDS Day. Stella also takes part in fundraising and awareness promotion that the Farha Foundation organizes. Stella’s team and members have always been a part of the Walk for Life, organized by the Foundation, to promote public awareness concerning HIV-AIDS.

10 years of dedicated employees working for better living conditions for sex workers
Caroline H. – Carole - Caroline L. – Carolo – Chantal G. - Chantale P.- Christiane - Cynthia - Claire – Cybèle - Danielle – Diane - Élaine – Elsa - Émilie – Eve - Francine – Geneviève – Isabel - Jenn - Josée B. – Josée Lang. - Josée Lar. – Josée R. – Kathryn - Karine - Karen – Lainie - Lise – Mady - Manon – Marie-Claude – Marie-Michelle - Marie-Neige – Marie-Yolande - Micheal – Michèle – Natacha L. - Natacha – Nathalie – Pascale - Roxane - Stella – Sylvie – Valérie B. - Valérie D. – Véronique.