Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Mayor requests prostitution 'zone of tolerance'

June 16, 2012

Giuseppe Valiante reports for QMI Agency, 15 Jun 2012:

http://www.lfpress.com/news/canada/2012/06/15/19884396.html

MONTREAL -

A borough mayor said he created a zone in his district where prostitutes work freely and police look the other way.

Real Menard, borough mayor for Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, said his goal was to establish the "rules of the game" for prostitutes operating in the area. The Criminal Code states that it is illegal to solicit a person to have illicit sexual intercourse, as well as to communicate with someone in a public place for the purpose of engaging in prostitution.

However, Menard told QMI Agency in an interview Friday that he has essentially asked police to act as if those laws did not exist in the "zone of tolerance." He said he told police to enforce the law everywhere else in the borough.

"We asked the police two weeks ago to respect the wishes of the elected officials (of Hochelaga)," Menard told QMI. Menard said he asked police to "move" all the prostitutes in his borough to an industrial section of St. Catherine Street across from the river, and said they are "collaborating" with his plan.

QMI was not able to reach the police on Friday for confirmation.

Hochelaga, located east of downtown, is one of 19 boroughs that compose the city of Montreal. Each borough has a degree of relative autonomy and its own budget.

Jocelyn-Ann Campbell, who sits on Montreal's centralized governing body, said Menard's idea is "totally irresponsible."

"Prostitution is often linked to the sale of drugs, and to create a zone of tolerance is unacceptable," she said. "I don't think the zone has already been created -- to me, it's impossible."

Menard said between 65 and 75 women work as prostitutes in his borough and their presence has upset local merchants and parents of young children. "I cannot walk down the street during the summer (in my borough) without hearing about the prostitute problem," he told QMI Agency. He said local merchants were upset because their female clients were being harassed by men looking for prostitutes.

"As mayor, I have a responsibility to do something about it." He said he wanted to ensure that women were not selling themselves near local businesses or homes.

There were no prostitutes to be seen Friday afternoon on the strip of street designated as the tolerance zone. The street is flanked on one side by apartments and condos and on the other by industrial buildings.

Cindy, 50, who said she has worked as prostitute for the last 15 years, was standing on a street corner a few blocks north. She told QMI Friday that police told her that a so-called tolerance zone was going to be created but said she has not yet been asked to move there. She said she agreed with the borough mayor's decision.

"It find (the zone) ok," she said. "But police don't really bother us now anyway. They go after our clients."

Menard confirmed that the current police strategy is to arrest and target clients, as opposed to prostitutes. "But that strategy has not worked (to rid the area of prostitution)," Menard said.

Cindy said a tolerance zone will make her clients feel more secure. She said as long as the police come around every "once and a while to check up on things, it'll be ok." Cindy said she spoke to other prostitutes in the area and they told her they also liked the idea.

Julie Montreuil-Masse and Gabriel Dupuis, a young couple living across the street from the so-called tolerance zone, aren't as enthusiastic as Cindy. They said they bought their home three years ago and worry property values could decrease.

"I pay taxes like everyone else," Dupuis said. "The police should apply the law equally in my area. If police aren't going to do their jobs, I don't know why I'm paying taxes."

Diane Matte, a community organizer for a group fighting against the sexual exploitation of women, said she is against what she called the "ghettoizing of prostitutes." She said the city should be offering women access to health services to help them get off drugs and offer them alternatives to a life of selling their bodies.

"(The tolerance zone) won't deal with the problem," Matte said. "Most women want to get out of prostitution. Can we talk about that? Can we do something about that?"