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SWAN Vancouver
@swan-vancouver.bsky.social
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We promote the rights, health, and safety of im/migrant women engaged in indoor sex work through frontline service and systemic advocacy.
swanvancouver.ca
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swan-vancouver.bsky.social
Your gift goes twice as far this #GivingTuesday! For the second year, Blackbird Fabrics is matching donations up to $1,000 to our "Healthcare Without Fear" campaign — supporting healthcare access designed to protect im/migrant sex workers’ safety and privacy. swanvancouver.ca/donate/
Graphic announcing Blackbird Fabrics as a matching donor, matching up to $1000 for SWAN Vancouver’s “Healthcare Without Fear” campaign launching Dec. 2, 2025, with gift boxes in the background.
November 21, 2025 at 8:50 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
SWAN fills the gaps left by systems that exclude or endanger im/migrant women in sex work - from STBBI testing and healthcare accompaniments to safer sex supply delivery. Ahead of the launch of our Healthcare Without Fear campaign, we’re highlighting donors who help make these services possible.
November 14, 2025 at 1:20 AM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
Our supporters give because they believe every woman deserves to access Healthcare Without Fear -- without arrest, stigma, racism, or discrimination. At SWAN Vancouver, we make that possible through programs designed to protect im/migrant women’s safety and privacy. swanvancouver.ca/donate/
November 14, 2025 at 1:17 AM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
Seventy per cent of calls from the im/migrant women we support are about accessing healthcare. Help us ensure Healthcare Without Fear this #GivingTuesday - because no one should have to choose between their health and their safety.

DONATE on GivingTuesday or give early: swanvancouver.ca/donate/
November 4, 2025 at 6:11 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
We attended the GAATW Canada conference in Winnipeg, where we spent two days connecting with organizations across Canada that are fighting exploitation, dispelling harmful misinformation, and finding ways to collaborate due to limited resources.
SWAN Vancouver’s Executive Director listening during a panel discussion at the GAATW Canada conference, with a presentation slide listing other organizations on the panel. Four women from frontline serving and advocacy organizations sit on a panel with a moderator, listening to an audience question at the GAATW Canada conference.
October 24, 2025 at 12:18 AM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
Our Community Program is in full swing! Being a newcomer in Canada can be isolating, but our English classes, cooking sessions, outdoor activities and more bring im/migrant women together for learning opportunities and social activities. Your support helps run this program: swanvancouver.ca/donate
Photo of women wearing gloves, one is handling filling, the other is holding a mould dough over a cutting board with mooncake moulds sitting on top. Photo shows two Asian women from behind, sitting at a desk. A teacher with light brown hair faces the whiteboard behind her pointing to words as she leads an English class lesson. Photo shows three Asian women in casual clothes and sneakers, walking a trail in a forest. One woman in the foreground is shorter, wearing plaid purple shirt and backpack.
October 8, 2025 at 11:33 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 中秋節快樂!
Illustrated Mid Autumn Festival graphic featuring a woman in traditional dress, a rabbit with mooncakes, lanterns, and fireworks under a full moon. Text: “Mid Autumn Festival.”
October 3, 2025 at 10:41 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
We’ve expanded beyond the Lower Mainland. Through a multi-year project, our staff trained settlement agencies, sex work organizations and harm reduction groups on the barriers im/migrant sex workers face, to ensure women are accessing safe services wherever they work.
October 3, 2025 at 6:37 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
We’re looking for a fluent Japanese speaker to join our Outreach Team! You’ll meet women where they work and deliver safer sex supplies, collect samples for STBBI testing, and provide client-centered support, advocacy and case management. APPLY NOW: swanvancouver.ca/who-we-are/#careers
SWAN Vancouver job ads for a Japanese-speaking Frontline Support Worker, part-time, with details on duties and how to apply.
September 24, 2025 at 10:52 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
How do Canada’s sex work and immigration laws affect massage parlour workers? Im/migrant women who are simply trying to earn a living face arrest, detention and deportation when police enter their workplace. Learn more: swanvancouver.ca/resources/
August 13, 2025 at 11:37 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
Have you noticed headlines and quotes about human trafficking are getting increasingly more alarmist? They’re contributing to a moral panic and don't actually help victims. Learn more about ways to address trafficking without harming im/migrant women in sex work, at ResponsibleReporting.ca
April 25, 2025 at 6:27 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
Who is behind unfounded claims that sex trafficking spikes during large sports events? Learn about this myth’s ties to Vancouver, Calgary and racist stereotypes about massage parlour workers from Southeast Asia.
SIGN UP: swanvancouver.ca/events2024/
April 7, 2025 at 4:53 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
Sonya’s visa was cancelled under Operation Inglenook, which aims to identify victims of trafficking "within the sex industry.” Advocates say sex work is decriminalized in New South Wales, but community members are still targeted through this racist and sexist legislation.
April 1, 2025 at 6:39 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
Racist stereotypes are often used to portray Asian im/migrant sex workers as victims and justify inspections, enforcement, arrests and deportations. Push back against this false narrative on the #InternationalDayForTheEliminationOfRacialDiscrimination
Graphic image with white background and city map lines. Centre image is a sketch of five women, including an Asian woman with long dark hair, wearing a patterned blouse. They’re all standing, facing the right and not smiling. Top text reads: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Turquoise footer with white, wavy swan graphic and text “SWAN” which makes up SWAN Vancouver logo.
March 21, 2025 at 9:19 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
On March 16, we remember eight people, including six Asian women, who were killed in the Atlanta spa shootings. They include a migrant supporting family in China and a single mother who tirelessly worked the overnight shift at a massage parlour. LEARN MORE: www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/03...
Black background with rows of lit candles, burning orange in the foreground. Pale yellow text from the top shows a list of eight names with some Korean and Chinese translations, followed by ages. White wavy swan graphic with text “SWAN” makes up SWAN Vancouver logo.
March 14, 2025 at 7:21 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
Keep talking about rights, workplace safety, access to healthcare and justice and repealing prostitution laws and the immigration ban on sex work. People who paint im/migrant sex workers as victims are often trying to suppress discussions about their basic rights. #InternationalSexWorkersRightsDay
Graphic with photo. White background with orange city skyline in the back. Foreground photo of an Asian woman with a black blouse holding a megaphone that's covering her face. Orange sound waves come from the megaphone, with black block letter text: Rights! NOT Rescue! Text below reads: International Sex Workers Rights Days March 3. Orange footer with black wavy swan graphic and text "SWAN" make up SWAN Vancouver logo.
March 3, 2025 at 5:06 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
Many anti-trafficking groups do not advocate for this solution, and they support Canada’s prostitution laws, which also make sex workers more vulnerable to violence and exploitation.
Title text reads: Don’t be fooled by anti-sex work campaigners disguised as human trafficking heroes. Woman crying and using a tissue to wipe white tears falling from her eyes. Her shadow shows a dark ominous figure with red eyes. Speech bubble with text reads: I just want women to have the freedom to do what I say is right for them.
February 20, 2025 at 10:54 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
These “signs” play off of parents’ fears over their children, make racist assumptions about suspected victims and traffickers, conflate sex work with trafficking. Some are just perplexing. swanvancouver.ca/project_cate...
Post with different signs that read: grades dropping, 2 cell phones, unexplained cuts/bruises, interest in older man, from a foreign country, don’t speak English, massage parlours, stripping, carries hotel keys at a hotel, has too much luggage (or not enough). Text reads: So-called signs play off of parents’ fears over their children, make racist assumptions about suspected victims and traffickers, conflate sex work with trafficking, are just perplexing.
February 20, 2025 at 10:50 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
Leading up to #HumanTraffickingAwarenessDay, many anti-sex work campaigners are disguising themselves as anti-trafficking heroes and asking the public to look for “signs” that someone is trafficked. But there's no evidence that says visible “signs” can indicate someone is a victim.
Woman with her hands on face and speech bubble with text “Traffickers are hiding in your kids’ cereal!” Block text below reads: Spot the Signs of anti-sex work campaigners disguised as human trafficking heroes. On National Human Trafficking Awareness Day (Feb. 22), don’t be fooled by campaigners and the so-called "signs of trafficking” they want you to look for. Black wavy SWAN logo with text “SWAN” make up logo.
February 20, 2025 at 10:49 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
Our workshops are back to their regular lunch slot. Join us online on March 6 and March 20. These workshops are open to journalists, the public, frontline workers and anyone hoping to learn more. Register now: swanvancouver.ca/events2024/
Graphic image with orange background with light yellow comic-streaks. Top block text reads: Workshops, 12:30-1:30 p.m. online. Two comic book boxes with animations. First one shows a woman with a ponytail and dress being apprehended by two police officers with “trafficking rescue” on their vests. Second box shows a confused woman next to headlines, ads and posters about traffickers and their victims, a hand that says “anti-trafficking” is reaching out to take her money. Text boxes read: March 6, online. RAIDS, RESCUE & RACISM: How police PR shapes news about im/migrant sex workers. March 20, online. MYTHS AND MORAL PANIC: debunking trafficking claims and the impact on im/migrant sex workers. Bottom text box reads: Register: swanvancouver.ca/events. Black wavy swan graphic with text "SWAN", red graphic lines, with text Canadian Race Relations make up logos.
February 19, 2025 at 4:56 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
Do you have extra PPE that you’re not using? We’d love to take it out of your hands! If you have these items, you can drop them off at our office on Wednesdays. Contact us if you have a large quantity and we can arrange a pick-up in the Lower Mainland.
Graphic image with pale yellow background. Black wavy swan image at the top with block text reads: We need your excess PPE. Black and orange icons below show medical gloves, sanitizer wipes and hand sanitizer, with a droplet going into a hand. Text to the right reads: ITEMS: gloves (small and medium), disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer. DROP OFF: SWAN office, #325-1101 Seymour St., 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Wednesdays. SWAN PICK UP: For large donations only. Contact us to schedule a pick-up in the Lower Mainland. 604-719-6343 or email info@swanvancouver.ca
January 30, 2025 at 8:40 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
天鹅祝您们蛇年吉祥 ，事事顺心，身体健康! SWAN wishes you good luck, success and good health in the Year of the Snake!
SWANは皆様の幸運、成功、そして健康を祈っています！For Lunar New Year, consider giving a gift to the Asian im/migrant women we support by donating to SWAN's programs and services: swanvancouver.ca/donate/
Graphic with pale orange background and dark maroon border lines. The left side has a large, dark maroon snake with beige-orange scales and a flower pattern all over it. Its tongue is out and two wavy white clouds surround it. On the right are Chinese simplified Chinese text that reads: 天鹅祝您们蛇年吉祥 ，事事顺心，身体健康! Red English text under reads: SWAN wishes you good luck, success and good health in the Year of the Snake! Japanese text under reads: SWANは皆様の幸運、成功、そして健康を祈っています！Fireworks are in the background, three gold coins are in the bottom right with a wavy swan graphic and the text “SWAN” for the SWAN Vancouver logo. Text below reads: swanvancouver.ca
January 28, 2025 at 7:23 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
This story isn’t centred around sex workers or even trafficking victims. It’s about police – police actions, police beliefs and police PR without any critical questions about their effectiveness or the negative impact on sex workers. This is not journalism. swanvancouver.ca/resources/fo...
January 16, 2025 at 10:19 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
We have new evening slots for our workshops! Learn why many police trafficking raids aren’t finding any victims and how a commonly cited report on Canadian “trafficking corridors” didn’t turn up any evidence to prove they exist.
REGISTER: swanvancouver.ca/events
Graphic image with turquoise background with light green comic-streaks. Top block text reads: Workshops, new evening times (6-7 p.m.) Two comic book boxes with animations. First one shows a woman with a ponytail and dress being apprehended by two police officers with “trafficking rescue” on their vests. Second box shows a confused woman next to headlines, ads and posters about traffickers and their victims, a hand that says “anti-trafficking” is reaching out to take her money. Text boxes read: Jan. 23, online. RAIDS, RESCUE & RACISM: How police PR shapes news about im/migrant sex workers. Jan. 30, online. MYTHS AND MORAL PANIC: debunking trafficking claims and the impact on im/migrant sex workers. Bottom text box reads: Register: swanvancouver.ca/events. Black wavy swan graphic with text "SWAN", red graphic lines, with text Canadian Race Relations make up logos.
January 14, 2025 at 11:36 PM
swan-vancouver.bsky.social
SWAN Vancouver and many of the im/migrant women we support are celebrating Lunar New Year later this month! Our Peer Program will be running activities while our Outreach Teams deliver small gifts to women leading up to January 29. Drop off donations or send $5 to swanvancouver.ca/donate
Photo with text. Deep red, leather tabletop with two Lunar New Year red envelopes. White text reads: Lunar New Year Wishlist. Pale beige text boxes read: Lunar New Year decorations, 全盒 (chuen hop/ traditional candy box), red pockets, gold coin chocolates. Drop off on Wednesdays, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. or write "wishlist when donating at swanvancouver.ca/donate Black wavy swan graphic, with "SWAN" make up logo.
January 3, 2025 at 7:28 PM