Two Vancouver women-centered service groups supporting sex trade workers aim to control the impact of the media frenzy during the Pickton trial in January 2007 by compiling a press package to protect women from journalists.

WISH and PACE, sex trade worker groups in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, plan to release a video of clips from the extended family of some of the women that Robert Pickton is accused of murdering, before his trial begins on Jan. 8.

“We know the media is going to be involved in this and it’s important to raise awareness about violence against sex workers, but at the same time they need to try to be respectful and engage in a way that is not harmful,” said Sue Davis, media liaison at PACE.

The press package will assist local and international media to access the information they seek, while mitigating potential psychological harm to sex workers.

“The media takes the path of least resistance, so if you give them what they want right away, they don’t have to chase and hound women working on the streets,” Davis said. “We can at least minimize the amount of times that happens by providing stock footage where you can’t see the girls’ faces.”

The point of the videos is to allow members of the sex trade community to express their experiences in a safe, private environment, where they can speak in anonymity and film several takes if they choose, said Kate Gibson, executive director at WISH.

“It’s not up to a member of the press to out them. Sex trade workers are entitled to just as much privacy as the rest of us,” she added.

The press package will include fact sheets, answer the most commonly asked questions about the sex trade and list easily-accessible contacts for the media, in an attempt to use the influx of media coverage to raise awareness on issues concerning sex workers.

The groups want sex workers’ voices to be heard, but are trying to prevent re-victimization of the women by reporters who do not understand the issue, said Davis, “a real live hooker,” who has been dealing with most of the media herself.

“The Canadian press corps is desperate for background information on the victims,” she said. “But they ask me really invasive questions like ‘When was the last time you were assaulted?’ and ‘Who is your pimp?’ While these questions are relevant, women that have to go back on the streets do not feel safe answering them.”

The groups are also educating sex trade workers about their rights when dealing with the media.

“Our intention is not to curb women from speaking with the media but to make sure their interests are protected,” Gibson said. “We’re gathering the women to talk with them so they have some power and understand they don’t need to be hounded or filmed.”

In the past, police escorts have accompanied camera crews seeking quotes from sex workers, intimidating women into answering invasive questions or being filmed, said Gibson.

Despite the sometimes-tenuous relationship between the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) and sex workers, the police have been very helpful in providing media training for WISH and PACE, Davis and Gibson said.

“The VPD was really supportive and didn’t try to influence our message whatsoever, they are just interested in having us ready – to think about what’s coming,” Davis said.

In August, the VPD organized a free workshop on media training for organizations supporting sex workers, but have no further involvement with the video, said VPD spokesperson Const. Howard Chow.

“We were concerned that when the Pickton trial hits the press, the sex workers are going to be inundated by the media, so we are trying to tell them some things they might expect from the media and offer suggestions on how to deal with it.”

Although Chow said that the VPD is committed to working with sex workers on a continual basis, Sue Davis believes that the media training provided by the VPD is an olive branch to the sex trade community after years of neglecting it.

“Everyone in the sex worker community knew who Pickton was. There was no question among workers. If the police had taken our reports and prosecuted people, he would never have gotten away with it for so long,” Davis said. “Their complacency, that I witnessed first hand, contributed to it. I think in retrospect they see the harm their negligence has caused, so they’re trying to help us now.”

Davis believes that the widespread neglect of violence against sex trade workers will finally be made visible during the Pickton trial. She hopes that media coverage of the trial will make people realize that sex workers are part of the community.

“Hopefully people will see that these women did have dreams and parents with dreams for their children and, in some cases, children who miss their moms.”