SWAP Hamilton's Events
SWAP has established itself simultaneously as a valuable resource for sex workers, a catalyst for political and social change, and a Hamilton cultural fixture. Vermilion’s work supports the Hamilton sex worker community through both times of crisis and times of celebration.
Jelena Vermilion with the mother of the victim in the location of the attack.
Demonstration along Barton St. East. Participants were encouraged to wear red in support of sex workers' rights.
Barton St. East March & Vigil
In 2022, a brutal attack on Barton St. East—an area frequented by street-based sex workers—rocked SWAP and the Hamilton sex worker community. The victim of the sexual and violent assault, a 46-year-old sex worker who had accessed SWAP services in the past, was severely injured, sustaining nine broken facial bones, a raw elbow, and multiple brain bleeds. These injuries have since resulted in her no longer being able to live independently.
In the immediate aftermath of the assault, Vermilion organized a vigil and march to mobilize the Hamilton community, change the narrative around violence against sex workers, and raise nearly $10,000 for the victim’s expenses. The march and vigil began in the alleyway where the attack had taken place. Vermilion and the mother of the victim each addressed to the crowd, speaking to the inherent humanity of sex workers and arguing that the conditions created by criminalization were partly to blame.
CHCH News segment on the assault and vigil. Reproduced with permission from CHCH News.
Dressed in red, the group marched along Barton to SWAP’s drop-in centre. They were joined midway by three street-based sex workers—one an elder in the community—who ran to the front, yelling, “This is for us, come on!”
Poster for SWAP Hamilton’s vigil in support of the assault victim.
SWAP Hamilton button pins distributed at the vigil and march.
Laminated list of chants (front and back) handed out to participants.
Speech delivered by Jelena Vermilion at SWAP Hamilton's Barton St. East vigil, printed on red paper.
SWAP Hamilton’s Inaugural Sex Workers’ Film & Arts Festival at the Westdale Theatre, 2024
Interior of the Playhouse Cinema.
CHCH-TV Morning Live segment featuring Jelena Vermilion as she promotes SWAP Hamilton's Canada’s first Sex Workers’ Film and Arts Festival.
The Sex Workers’ Film & Arts Festival
Following through on her resolution to produce the first Canadian iteration of Carol Leigh’s festival, Vermilion directed and produced SWAP Hamilton’s Inaugural Sex Workers’ Film & Arts Festival in August of 2024.
The festival showcased movies and documentaries that display the full lives of sex workers; included in the Westdale Theatre lineup was Georgie Girl (2001), Outlaw Poverty, Not Prostitution (2006), Our Bodies, Our Business (2016), The Stroll (2023), and the rough cut of Manifesting Monica Jones. The Playhouse Cinema lineup included Working Girls (1986), and the premiere of Werk Safe Twerk Safe’s documentary (2024). Many of the screenings were followed with panel discussions on stage with local sex workers, and were interspersed with live performances. Lizzie Borden did a live, virtual Q&A after the screening of her film Working Girls.
Jelena Vermilion in the Playhouse Cinema with panel guests. On either side of the stage are original marquee signs from the Lusty Lady in San Francisco, which had been the world's first worker-owned and -operated strip club.
Vermilion organized the festival with the goal to shift public attitudes about sex work, encouraging the wider Hamilton community to hold compassion, respect, and appreciation for sex workers. Uplifting media by, for, and about sex workers, the festival celebrated their history and creativity.
Screening of Jelena Vermilion’s tribute video for Carol Leigh