Laurel Irons BCCEC Member Profile
Hello. My name is Laurel. I have lived in Vancouver for over 10 years, but having grown up in Prince George, I still call the north my home. I am grateful for those who have gone before me, leading the way for our movements, and I acknowledge my own struggles and lived experience for shaping me as an activist and advocate for social justice.
My professional experience as a sex industry advocate began with Speaking Out, a peer-based media project for experiential women that I became involved with as a participant, and later became coordinator for. Through this project, I was involved in the creation of 3 videos calling for an end to harm to sex workers. In addition, I submitted a presentation for the decriminalization of the sex industry to the House of Commons’ Subcommittee on Solicitation Laws (SSLR), and I participated in the Stella XXX Forum in Montreal.
I was involved in the early stages of the History of Sex Work Project, a project that unearthed and showcased contributions sex workers have made to Vancouver’s history.
I was a peer consultant and co-facilitator for Safe/Not Safe, a photography project involving women who live and work in the Downtown East Side, highlighting issues of safety in the survival sex trade.
I spent 2 years as an interviewer and support worker with the Cedar Project, an ongoing advocacy-based research project involving at-risk native youth in Vancouver, Kamloops and Prince George, many of whom are involved in the survival sex trade.
In 2005 I began working as a peer support worker with the Mobile Access Project (MAP), a joint project between WISH (Women’s Information and Safe Haven) and PACE (Prostitution, Alternatives, Counselling and Education). MAP operates an outreach van that visits strolls around Vancouver every night, offering supplies, support and referrals to sex workers. I am now the MAP coordinator, since May 2008.
In addition to this, I am a student and practitioner of acupuncture, herbology and traditional Oriental medicine. I specialize in acu-detox, and I have a strong desire to help complimentary and alternative medicine become more accessible to marginalized people. I have worked with acupuncture programs in detoxes, on reserves, and for people living with HCV and HIV. Currently, I am working towards development of a community acupuncture clinic for the Downtown East Side that will be based on principals of harm reduction, peer-based support and treatment on demand.
For more information about the DTES Community Acupuncture Clinic, or to help, please contact acupuncturiste@yahoo.ca
For more information about the Mobile Access Project, or to help, please contact
Laurel Irons
Mobile Access Project Coordinator
515-119 West Pender
Vancouver, BC V6B 1S5
Tel: (604) 720-4939
Fax: (604) 669-9479
mobileaccessproject@hotmail.com
MAP is a joint project between WISH Drop-In Centre Society and PACE Prostitution Alternatives Counseling & Education Society.
www.wish-vancouver.net
www.pace-society.cahttp://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=70019874391&ref=ts
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