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Migrant Sex Workers featured in the Concordian - Watch the replay
"SHIFT hosts enlightening talk on the myths and harms of the anti-trafficking industry" by journalist Gabriel Watson.
On November 3, 2025, the SHIFT Centre for Social Transformation, in collaboration with Concordia University’s Social Justice Centre, hosted a talk on the book Not Your Rescue Project by authors Chanelle Gallant and Elene Lam. This event was organized by the Barry Pashak postdoctoral researcher Niloofar Golkar.
Not Your Rescue Project: Migrant Sex Workers fighting for justice is a book based on years of frontline work with migrant communities, legal research and testimonies from women directly affected by criminalization. Not Your Rescue Project offers an unfiltered look into the realities of sex work and anti-trafficking campaigns. Writing the book was a passion project for both authors.
Canada’s current sex work laws fall under the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA), which criminalizes the purchase of sexual services and many aspects of sex workers’ collaboration and advertising.
Chanelle challenges commonly held assumptions: “people get so stuck on the sex part, but it’s a labour issue,” she said. “Criminalization can force people out of sex work but often forces people into sex work as they have convictions.”
Niloofar Golkar, Chanelle Gallant, Elene Lam. Photos taken by Christiane Bailey.