This Sunday, December 17th, an event for Red Umbrella Day is happening downtown from 2 to 4 p.m. Beginning in Bastion Square, there will be a gathering and march to Victoria City Hall for performances and a free meal (fry bread tacos). This year’s event will include some interactive arts based activities, a burlesque number, spoken word poetry and speakers (accessibility information included below).

This event is made possible by a collaboration between many individuals and organizations, including Peers Victoria Resources Society, the Anti-Violence Project, the Victoria Sexual Assault Centre, and the Third Space.

Red Umbrella Day is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, held in solidarity with people around the world who trade or sell sex through commercial sex work or street economies, and to remember and mourn sex workers who have died due to violence. The day originated in 2003 from a memorial in Seattle, Washington, but has been organized around the world since then.

The intentions of the event are to:

• gather together to call for an end to discriminatory laws, policing, and social attitudes that increase exposure to many forms of violence.
• stand in opposition to the Protection of Communities & Exploited Persons Act as well as legal mechanisms which prevent sex workers from reporting violence and discrimination.
• acknowledge that the laws regulating sex work intersect with colonialism, misogyny, racism, transantagonism, and classism to perpetuate social stigma. In this cultural environment, violence against people who trade or sell sex is not taken seriously.

It is necessary that sex workers have access to safe working conditions, legal resources, health services, and housing because sex worker rights are human rights!

Let’s gather together to honour the lives of sex workers who have died due to violence, stand united against criminalization of sex work, and celebrate the international vibrancy of sex worker rights movements.

The red umbrella is an international symbol for sex worker rights, so if you want to, wear red and/or bring a red umbrella!

Accessibility Information

An ASL interpreter from Island Deaf + Hard of Hearing Centre will be present at City Hall from 2:30-4:30 p.m. for the performance and speaker section of the event.

This is an all-ages event and childminding will be provided.

The performance and speaker section of the event will take place on the second floor of City Hall, accessible by a winding staircase or elevator.

The building contains two single-stall gender-inclusive washrooms.

For more detailed information about accessibility of the portion of this event that will be at City Hall, see https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MDRfVYzMJv7daXPVYqXLiFr_z2q5A6kyd1hW8C0ygq0/edit