Regina city administration recommends licensing, changing name of massage parlours - CBC.ca

[Massage News]

Regina's city administration is recommending massage parlours be regulated instead of banning them.

That's despite public meetings where the vast majority of speakers wanted an outright ban of the establishments.


Instead, the city is recommending a new bylaw that would license the businesses and force them to locate in industrial or major arterial commercial zones. They would also need to be at least one city block away from schools, churches, daycares and other massage parlours.

Any suspected massage parlours that are currently operating in residential areas would be shut down.

The report also recommends changing the name from massage parlours to body rub parlours to differentiate the businesses from registered massage therapists.

A proposed new bylaw on massage/body rub parlours will be debated at a special council meeting on Sept. 21. (Emily Pasiuk/CBC News)

The recommendations come after months of talks with the public, parlour owners and workers, the Regina Police Service Vice Unit, and experts in criminology and sex work. The city also looked at what other cities have done regarding their regulatory approaches.

The report said banning the parlours would make sex trade workers more vulnerable.

Licensing the parlours would put the onus on the owners to comply with the regulations while protecting the privacy and safety of workers.

There are more signs like this around Regina than there were a decade ago, Regina Police say. (CBC)

The parlours would also have to adhere to signage requirements, hours of operation and property appearance in order to not affect the character of a neighbourhood.

The city suspects there are about 20 of these establishments.

The proposed changes will be debated at a special city council meeting on Sept. 23. If approved the new bylaw would come into effect by June 30, 2020.

The full report is available on the City of Regina website at regina.ca.