FILM FIRMS SHOULD PAY PROSTITUTES FOR LOST WAGES: VANCOUVER ACTIVISTS

VANCOUVER - Prostitutes, drug addicts and homeless people should be
compensated by the movie industry when films are being shot in their
neighbourhood, say activists from Vancouver's impoverished downtown eastside.

Workers in other trades are compensated for lost wages if their work sites
are disrupted by film production, says the Housing Action Committee and the
Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users.

They want the same for prostitutes.

"Sex trade workers must be compensated for displacement they experience at
your hands in the same manner you would compensate a business if you were
to use their locale during operating hours," says a letter sent recently to
30 production companies active in Vancouver this year.

"The same must hold true for homeless people you push from beneath a bridge
or doorway and drug users you move from a park."