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When police target people who buy sex, sex workers cannot properly screen clients for red flags, as they have to rush negotiations, and are often “forced to move to more isolated spaces such as alleys,” she said.

Her study comes one day after the Department of Justice released the results of its online public consultation on prostitution laws and Justice Minister Peter MacKay said the government’s new bill will be geared toward “protecting vulnerable individuals,” according to the Canadian Press.

The government’s consultation, which received more than 31,000 survey responses and submissions, showed that 66% of respondents said selling sex should not be illegal and 56% said buying sex should be illegal.

However, this model will have the opposite effect, the B.C. researchers say. “There’s no evidence to suggest that will protect sex workers,” said Ms. Shannon. “From what we see in Vancouver, it’s actually just recreating those same harms.”

Such harms also include sex workers losing control over the terms of sale, the report says, which results in them being forced to engage in unprotected sex and spending longer hours on the street in more clandestine locales. The study found no significant change in physical and sexual violence rates against sex workers by clients in the year following the new policy.