Most people would not consider our nation’s capital to have higher prostitution rates than our more populous neighbours, Toronto and Montreal. The numbers tell a different story.

According to the 2015 Statistics Canada Incident-based crime statistics, total prostitution rates in Ottawa were not only higher than the average federal and provincial rates, but also higher than nearby metropolitan cities, such as Toronto and Montreal.

This data shows that last year, the prostitution rate per 100,000 people in the City of Ottawa was 2.61, while the Canadian rate was 0.48, and the Ontario rate was 0.41. Montreal’s rate sunk to 0.32 and Toronto saw its lowest rate in more than 15 years at 0.07.

Christine Bruckert, a Criminology professor at the University of Ottawa says these numbers don’t explain everything we need to know about the issue.

“High stats don’t tell us that there is a particularly large sex industry in Ottawa, it tells us that the police are particularly vigilant,” she explains. Bruckert has been engaged in research on the sex work industry for over 20 years.

“In Ottawa, since about 2007, police have taken a very aggressive approach to sex work,” she adds. Bruckert explains that police have mobilized a community against the street-based sex industry, spoken publically about it and have made the issue one of their pillars.

In 2014, Bill C-36 was introduced, making it illegal to purchase sexual services, but legal to sell them.

Sgt. Jeff LeBlanc of the Ottawa Police says the biggest challenge is finding a balance between the rights of the sex trade workers and responding to complaints from the neighbourhood.

“The new law acknowledges that they have a right to sell their own services, the issue is that we have yet to find a community that welcomes that in their own streets,” he adds.

Areas in Ottawa such as Carlingwood, Hintonburg and Gladstone are more likely to see sex workers, Bruckert explained. But Vanier is one of the biggest street-level prostitution locations, not only in Ottawa, but amongst other major cities as well. LeBlanc says it’s possible that this contributes to more complaints being received and therefore, more investigations being opened.

In larger cities such as Toronto, the sex trade has moved more towards online advertisements that can go unnoticed. In Ottawa, the street-based industry still remains an issue, LeBlanc adds.

“People often forget when they’re talking about them, as if sex workers aren’t part of the community. It’s their community,” shares Bruckert.

The 2014-2015 Crime Trend Report from the City of Ottawa shows that 90 per cent of reported prostitution related incidents were cleared from charges. Because the recent law change says sex workers are immune from arrest if they are selling their own services, these charges only relate to clients or “johns” using these services.

“We have a john school, so that is probably why a high percentage are not being charged in the end,” says LeBlanc.

He explains that this “school” is a diversion program specifically targeting users of sexual services. In order to qualify for these schools, individuals must meet a set of criteria at the scene of the crime and agree to the conditions to avoid charges. This criteria says they must not have a criminal record and not have dealt with the police in the past for similar offences.

Bruckert argues that it’s problematic to treat sex work as being inherently different than any other job, as it adds to the isolation and stigma around the industry and those engaged in it.

“People engage in sex work for the same reasons they engage in other labour activities, such as waitressing. For the money,” she adds.

Sydney Schnieder is the programming coordinator at Carleton University’s Womyn’s Centre. She describes herself as an advocate for the sex workers rights movement and says the best way to support workers is simply by acknowledging and listening to them.

“Each sex worker has a story to tell and they have opinions. Until we start to incorporate their opinions and experiences into our laws, into discussions about sex work, our opinions won’t be valid.”