By: Niveja Assalaarachchi, News Writer

On December 16, 2025, 10 organizations — including sex worker-led groups, feminist organizations, and First Nations groups — released a statement marking the International Day to End Violence against Sex Workers. In their statement, the groups called for the provincial government to increase funding for programs serving BC sex workers. 

The push comes amid a crisis in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, where centres serving unhoused women, those who face gender-based violence, and support for substance use are closing. In July, the PACE Society, a drop-in centre in the area, permanently closed down. In February, the WISH Drop-In Centre closed temporarily. Most recently, The Tyee reported that the Kingsway Community Station, Vancouver’s last drop-in centre for sex workers, was on the brink of closing as a result of funding changes tied to the City of Vancouver’s 2026/27 budget. 

In their press release, the groups noted that these centres are essential, given the mobile outreach, peer occupational health, and safety training services they provide. “We have seen first-hand sex worker-serving organizations having to close or reduce services over the past year and how detrimental this is to sex workers who need these programs day to day,” said the organization Living in Community. These centres are also essential amid the increasing prevalence of gender-based violence — violence which has seen a 54% increase in Canada since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Peak spoke with Kaley Merritt, a mental health advocate at the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, on the impacts that the province’s cuts have had on sex workers and services. The Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre provides services to the sex worker community, such as temporary shelter spaces, recreation, and self-help assistance. Merritt noted that her shelter serves an average of 500 people a day — an increase of 200 people compared to the previous year. “There’s been a real demand on services, being that we are one of the organizations that are still operating in the Downtown Eastside,” she said. Merritt said the demand for increased services comes alongside increasing mental health struggles that are more noticeable among sex workers.

In BC, certain aspects of sex work are illegal — specifically, the ability for people to purchase sex services. However, it is permissible, in narrow instances, for sex workers to offer services. Merritt noted that the nature of how the province governs sex work has left many in the dark about how it applies in reality. She said this, along with the stigma that comes with their employment, makes sex workers hesitant to look into support services. 

The joint statement urged the government to pay attention to how these effects and the closures are tied to the criminalization of sex work: “We cannot accept the violence perpetrated against sex workers being minimized or overlooked,” as “continued closures, underfunding, and service reductions in the context of ongoing criminalization are putting sex workers’ lives at risk,” stated the press release. Andrea Krüsi, principal investigator at the research project An Evaluation of Sex Workers’ Health Access, stated, “Decades of peer-reviewed evidence highlight how criminalization undermines health equity and human rights of sex workers.”

Merritt noted that decriminalization reform “would really put a lot of autonomy in sex workers’ hands and reduce fear and open up possibilities.” She said, “Sex workers would really get a voice to decide what is it that they need and how can we come together to create different things that protect sex workers.” 

As for concerns around the shelters themselves, Merritt said more people seeking services that are gradually closing down put “a lot of financial strain” on her shelter. “It’s been difficult to maintain staff and carry on with a lot of the other supports and services that we need.”

For these compounding reasons, organizations like the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre called on the provincial government to “allocate stable and enhanced funding for critical programs serving sex workers, following many existing recommendations, including those contained in the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women,” the final report of the Missing Women’s Commission of Inquiry, and the province’s gender-based violence action plan. “We often see that marginalized populations face the most impact from a lot of this, and they are very connected to one another,” said Merritt. “There’s a lot of systemic harm that falls into all of this. So, when we’re looking at sex worker issues, we’re also looking at Indigenous populations, BIPOC populations, [and] disabled populations.” 

When it comes to discussions centred around helping sex workers and tackling gender-based violence, Merritt said,

“It’s always important to remember that sex workers are people. They are human beings. They are mothers, daughters, sons — they’re people just like any of us. Sex workers deserve dignity and respect.”

— Kaley Merritt, mental health advocate, Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre