Trisha Baptie

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| name = Trisha Baptie

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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1973}}

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| nationality = Canadian

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| citizenship = Canadian

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| occupation = Anti-prostitution activist, journalist

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| organization = EVE

| website = {{url|www.honourconsulting.com}}

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Trisha Baptie (born 1973){{Cite journal|journal=Independent Online|author=James Stairs|title=Ex-prostitutes report on serial murder trial|date=February 2, 2007|url=http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/ex-prostitutes-report-on-serial-murder-trial-1.313539|accessdate=October 13, 2012}} is a Vancouver-based citizen journalist and activist for the abolition of prostitution.{{Cite journal|journal=National Post|author=Patricia Paddey|title=Legalizing prostitution a failure of compassion|date=October 6, 2010|url=http://life.nationalpost.com/2010/10/06/legalizing-prostitution-a-failure-of-compassion/|accessdate=October 13, 2012}}

Biography

Baptie was first forced into prostitution at the age of 13.{{cite news|last=Johnson|first=Lisa|title=The Price Of Sex|url=http://www.planetsmag.com/story.php?id=922|accessdate=October 22, 2012|newspaper=Planet S Magazine|date=August 9, 2010|archive-date=October 18, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018004951/http://planetsmag.com/story.php?id=922|url-status=dead}} This was the beginning of her 15-year period in the sex-industry, both indoor and outdoor, most of which was spent in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside area.

At the age of 28, Baptie took the opportunity to exit prostitution.{{cite news|last=Grindlay|first=L|title=From drugs and sex to a life of hope|url=http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=5f50bf6c-df15-4c2f-acbc-52edc827b82c|newspaper=The Vancouver Province|date=April 21, 2008}}

In 2007, Baptie became a citizen journalist for Orato, an online newspaper,{{cn|date=December 2021}} to cover the murder trial of Robert Pickton, most of whose victims were picked up from the Downtown Eastside. Many of Pickton's victims were known to Baptie.{{Cite journal|journal=CBC News|title=Women still missing from Vancouver amid Pickton convictions|date=December 9, 2007|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/women-still-missing-from-vancouver-amid-pickton-convictions-1.684492|access-date=October 13, 2012}}

In 2009, Baptie co-founded EVE (formerly Exploited Voices now Educating), a non-profit organization of former sex-industry women dedicated to recognizing prostitution as violence against women and seeking its abolition through political action, advocacy, and public education.{{cite web |url=https://www.worldwithoutexploitation.org/bios/trisha-baptie |title=Trisha Baptie |website=World Without Exploitation |access-date=21 March 2021}}

In 2009–2010, Baptie was a community mobilizer in the Buying Sex is Not a Sport campaign in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver.{{cite news|last=Salkin|first=Miné|title=Buying sex not a sport: Sex work activists|url=http://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/84113/buying-sex-not-a-sport-sex-work-activists/|newspaper=Metro Vancouver|date=May 21, 2009|access-date=October 22, 2012|archive-date=October 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016052412/http://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/84113/buying-sex-not-a-sport-sex-work-activists/|url-status=dead}} She was a focal speaker in the Langara Dialogues, a public forum in which the subjects of prostitution, human trafficking, community responsibility, abolition, legalization, and their ties to the Olympics were discussed and debated.{{Cite journal|journal=CBC News|title=Campaign to raise awareness of potential sex trafficking at 2010 Games|date=May 21, 2009|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/campaign-to-raise-awareness-of-potential-sex-trafficking-at-2010-games-1.777950|access-date=October 13, 2012}}[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL252D006DF6A979D6 Baptie speaking at the Langara College Dialogues]

In 2010, Baptie appeared in a documentary film, Our Lives to Fight For. She also joined Christine Barkhouse, Natasha Falle, Katarina MacLeod, and Bridget Perrier in Toronto, in picketing the repeal of prostitution laws. All five women are survivors of human trafficking who had been forced into prostitution in Canada.{{cite news|last=Connor|first=Kevin|title=Former Prostitutes Picket Trade|url=https://lfpress.com/news/canada/2010/10/06/15598191.html|newspaper=The London Free Press|date=October 6, 2010|access-date=October 4, 2018|archive-date=October 6, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006005942/http://www.lfpress.com/news/canada/2010/10/06/15598191.html|url-status=dead}}

Baptie's life and work are central in the 2013 film Buying Sex, directed by Teresa MacInnes and Kent Nason and facilitated by the Canadian National Film Board.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/should-canada-legalize-prostitution-new-doc-explores-the-debate/article11639068/|title=Should Canada legalize prostitution? New doc explores the debate|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|access-date=2017-01-11}}