I think the reality has been a little bit different. Residents in the neighbourhood say they routinely find used condoms, needles, and discarded clothing on their properties. The problem has gotten so severe that earlier this year neighbours circulated a petition calling on the city to do something.
More than people signed on, but little has changed as a result. Many of the residents who signed that petition are parents of young children, who say they don't even feel safe taking their children outside in their own neighbourhoods, even during the day. Confrontations with sometimes hostile sex trade workers have forced them to teach their kids some tough life lessons at a young age. Politicians, police, and city officials have met with residents numerous times, and Vancouver-Kingsway MP Don Davies says their concerns are legitimate.
Responsibility for drafting new prostitution regulations fell to the federal government in , when the Supreme Court of Canada struck down laws prohibiting brothels, living on the avails of prostitution, and communicating in public with clients.
Last fall, Parliament passed Bill C, which criminalized the buying -- but not the selling -- of sex. Critics argue that this change actually hurts sex workers, forcing them into more dangerous situations in order to protect their clients. Whether a different approach to the legality of prostitution would help reduce the evidence of it that piles up daily near Kingsway in Kensington-Cedar Cottage remains to be seen.
We want to stay. Residents in Vancouver's Kensington-Cedar Cottage neighbourhood say they're being "overrun" by prostitution. Reddit Share. For Jessica Leung, the discarded needle at the foot of her front steps was a rude awakening.
