Province, St. John's in talks on massage parlour regulations - CBC.ca

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After the city of St. John's voted to start the process of lifting its moratorium on new massage parlours, the minister of Service NL says talks are already ongoing, and acknowledges laws may need to be changed to ensure worker safety.

Minister Sherry Gambin-Walsh said the city, the provincial government and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary are discussing the regulations, which fall to the province.


But when asked about what the steps are moving forward, Gambin-Walsh said she isn't sure of what goes on inside those businesses.

"I'm not overly familiar with them personally," she told CBC News on Wednesday, two days after the city made its decision to lift the moratorium.

"My understanding is that there are employees in massage parlours and that's pretty much my knowledge."

The province may need to draft new, or amend current, legislation to ensure worker safety at massage parlours. (CBC News)

Gambin-Walsh said she has no evidence of sexual activity happening behind the doors of those businesses, but understands that the general public is aware of what happens.

However, she did say there were meetings between St. John's and the Department of Municipal Affairs in August, although she said she was not involved in those.

Gambin-Walsh said she met with the RNC in January to discuss issues surrounding the massage parlour industry.

The minister also said that the city of St. John's had met with the Office of the Status of Women.

"I do know that these meetings occurred, but as it pertains to massage parlours themselves, and the particular activity, and the safety of employees, that was one of the discussions I did have with the RNC — myself and my staff," she said.

"After that meeting we came away deciding and determining that in fact we needed to form some form of intergovernmental committee to address this concern."

Gambin-Walsh said regulations may need to be drafted and legislation may need to be changed to address any issues surrounding the massage parlour industry.

The St. John's Status of Women Council is currently doing jurisdictional work, according to Gambin-Walsh.

The idea is to help develop legislation, which Gambin-Walsh said takes a significant amount of time.

But, for the time being, Gambin-Walsh confirmed government has the authority to act on any incident involving an employee which may need to be investigated by her department.

"We do have that authority to do that now," she said.

"So there are some things in place, but not everything is in place, and we acknowledge that."

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