Monday, October 24, 2005

Seen Me Lately?

Sex trade workers keep disappearing in droves. First Vancouver. Then Edmonton. Now Calgary. Where will it end?

A group of concerned women have started an innovative project called Seen Me Lately. They're getting the phone numbers or contact info for women on the street and making sure that each person checks in with somebody else everyday. That way, if an individual goes missing, it won't take months for other people to figure it out.

For example, on September 13, a 40-year-old woman in Edmonton disappeared off the radar. Her friends and cohorts could not find her so Seen Me Lately put out an SOS. 10 days later they discovered that she was in the hospital. What a relief! Meanwhile, the group posts details about the people that they're concerned about on their web site. They have a live chat, a group discussion forum, and lots of cool links to aboriginal women's sites, sex trade workers of Canada and sites that are devoted to missing people and children. Check them out at http://www.punkrockprincess.ca/.

Sigrid Mac

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's really good thing that there are women sites like that.

Anonymous said...

Hey there, thanks so much for your comment. I checked out your link to the different women's site and it's a fantastic directory! Is there some way I can get listed there? It's just a wonderful collection. Great work!

And, yes, SEEN ME LATELY is a fabulous, much-needed site, especially in light of all of the atrocities happening to sex trade workers. Thank God Pickton was convicted BUT I really wish that it had been for first degree rather than second-degree. At least he's gone for life. I hope that helps to bring some *small* measure of relief to the families.

All the best,
Sigrid