Once a year, the city’s female and transgendered sex workers are invited to a pampering sleepover in their honour, in an effort to get them off the streets for one night.

Safe Night Off Winnipeg Streets for Women and Transgendered Sex Trade Workers (SNOW night) takes place for the second time on Thursday, Feb. 12.

It is organized by Salvation Army Correctional and Justice Services (SACJS), Sage House and several other community organizations.

“We want one night a year to hopefully not have any women working the street,” said Dianna Bussey, SNOW night organizer and director of SACJS.

SNOW night includes spa treatments, food, movies and a safe place to sleep. Information on health care, housing, counselling and education opportunities for those seeking to quit the sex trade is also available.

There are many ways youth can end up as sex workers, according to Jane Runner, program manager of the Transition, Education and Resources for Females (TERF) program at New Directions, which offers support to child and adult sex workers and those at risk for sexual exploitation.

“ SNOW night lets folks who work the streets know that many people in this city care about the safety and wellbeing of sex workers.

Katie Haig-Anderson, Womyn’s Centre

Some need money after running away from an abusive home, while others may have been sexually abused. Children with disabilities are also at a higher risk of exploitation by pimps and gangs, Runner said.

“Usually it’s something they’re not getting at home,” said Runner. “Nobody wants to be out there.”

According to Bussey, the average age for women entering the sex trade is 14 years.

“It’s women and children in positions of extreme poverty,” she said. “They’re a very vulnerable population.”

For those seeking to leave the sex trade, barriers to getting off the streets include addiction, homelessness and violence from pimps, gangs, former clients and boyfriends.

Winnipeg sex workers represent an unsettlingly high proportion of First Nations people, said Runner, at approximately 80 per cent.

The TERF program uses a holistic approach that incorporates traditional teachings.

SNOW night is about providing sex workers with a temporary respite from the streets and letting them know of the resources available in the community to help them.

The program was well attended last year.

Katie Haig-Anderson, co-ordinator of the Womyn’s Centre at the University of Winnipeg, is supportive of the initiative.

“SNOW night lets folks who work the streets know that many people in this city care about the safety and wellbeing of sex workers,” she wrote in an e-mail.

Those seeking help for a loved one who is in the sex trade can call New Directions at 204-786-7051.

Published in Volume 63, Number 20 of The Uniter (February 12, 2009)