ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — No matter how council voted Monday evening, the moratorium on massage parlours in St. John’s would be lifted — Coun. Maggie Burton’s motion essentially aimed to speed up the process.
“We cannot ban massage parlours because it’s a business, and it’s a legal business, so there’s no way that the city can ban a legal business,” Mayor Danny Breen explained.
The moratorium, when introduced four years ago, was meant to be temporary until council had new development regulations.
Council agreed on those new regulations in the spring of this year, but the review process at the provincial level was taking longer than what Burton was comfortable with.
“At some point, a prudent delay becomes a stalling tactic,” said Burton, who noted she has been uncomfortable with the moratorium ever since she has been on council, and every time it was extended she heard from sex workers that it was making their work more dangerous.
“At some point, a prudent delay becomes a stalling tactic." — Coun. Maggie Burton
Monday evening, as council discussed the moratorium, about a dozen advocates sat in the gallery. One held a red umbrella, a worldwide symbol of the sex workers’ rights movement.
Burton motioned to lift the moratorium, and amend the current development regulations to include regulations about siting of massage parlours, and the definition of massage parlours, which is in line with the draft regulations currently with the province.
Deputy Mayor Sheilagh O’Leary suggested a slight change: include that a public meeting be held to engage the public about the specific regulations around massage parlours.
The current draft regulations waiting for provincial approval state a massage parlour offers massage or similar services provided by people who are not registered massage therapists and does not include a health and wellness centre, a clinic or service shop.
It would also allow massage parlours in certain commercial zones, but not within 50 metres of the War Memorial, 25 metres of a residential or apartment zone, or 150 metres of a school, place of worship or daycare centre.
The public meeting offers the public a chance to provide their thoughts on those regulations before the moratorium is lifted.
Any amendment to development regulations includes an option for council to refer to a public meeting, but O’Leary’s motion ensured it.
Council voted unanimously in favour.
Safe Harbour Outreach Project program co-ordinator Heather Jarvis worries “this is another delay” by council in lifting the moratorium, but said “we’re trying to be optimistic.”
Generally, amending development regulations at the council level takes about three months.
Burton said she put this motion forward because there is no certainty on how long it will take the province to get the regulations past the review stage.
“It could be tomorrow or it could be six months from now when we get it back,” Burton said.
“So, tonight I saw unanimous support for lifting the moratorium and for starting the ball moving in creating a safer environment for workers in our city.”
However, like Jarvis, Burton also said she is concerned the public meeting is a delay tactic.
“I did not want to support a public meeting on this issue. … I supported it because if it makes my colleagues feel better, and makes them able to support my motion to lift the moratorium as soon as possible, which is what is at the heart of what I was saying, then that’s OK with me.
“And I’ll try to make sure that that process happens as quickly as possible.”
Burton said she is also concerned that people are going to show up at the public meeting not to get into the minutia of city regulations, but rather to voice their opposition to massage parlours.
She said lifting the moratorium aligns with evidence-based, rights-based recommendations from research that has taken place across North America.
“Under the current federal laws, we have to ensure that women aren’t deprived of as safe as possible access to work environments, so that’s the main concern that I see.”
Jarvis acknowledged the sex industry has safety concerns, much like other industries — she referred to restaurants, which can be rampant with sexual harassment, and cleaning companies where health and safety standards aren’t met — but that the problems ought to be addressed through labour protections and advancements in human rights, not through prohibitive measures.
Burton said she isn’t aware of anyone currently seeking to apply to the city to operate a massage parlour.
Twitter: @juanitamercer_
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