In another attempt to crack down on the borough of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve's underground industries, police are again warning sex workers of the health and legal risks of prostitution.
For the second time in a year, police are handing out pamphlets to sex workers, explained Martin Dea of the Montreal police, providing them with information in hopes of deterring them from working on the corners of the neighbourhood.
Long known for drugs and prostitution, Hochelaga-Maisonneuve has in recent years become increasingly gentrified as families have moved in.
It's an eclectic mix, said area resident Phillipe Chenard, who moved in a year ago. Chenard said Hochelaga-Maisonneuve resembles the Plateau 15 years ago.
"It is an up-and-coming neighbourhood, as the realtors like to say. It's a neighbourhood that has some scrappy places and it's something you've got to expect," he said.
Outreach worker Pascale Robitaille said the change has come too quickly for area sex workers, and the green pamphlets do nothing but enhance stereotypes instead of educating the women working in the neighbourhood.
"There's poverty, and there's a history in this neighbourhood. And what we see now is a war against drug users and street-based sex workers," said Robitaille, who works for Stella, an organization providing support and information to sex workers.
It also puts the prostitutes in danger, she explained.
"We know how futile it is because it's never reduced the sex industry itself. It's just means that people are doing it in more hiding places and where violence can happen -- and the girl, no one will come for (her if she needs help)."
Dea said the police crackdown on sex work has been working, and the number of prostitutes has dropped in the past two years.
Chenard said residents should know what to expect when moving in to the neighbourhood, and despite its seedy underbelly, he has no regrets.
"You just have to be streetwise and use your common sense. I wouldn't send my kid at 10 o'clock at night on Saint Catherine Street," he said. "It's just the same thing in most Montreal neighbourhoods."
