Name of Organization: Butterfly (Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network)
Website of Organization: www.butterflysw.org
Organization’s Mandate: Butterfly was formed by sex workers, social workers, legal and health professionals. It provides support to, and advocates for, the rights of Asian and migrant sex workers. The organization is founded upon the belief that sex workers are entitled to respect and basic human rights. Butterfly asserts that, regardless of their immigration status, Asian and migrant sex workers should be treated like all other workers.
Project Name: Immigration and Refugee Public Legal Education
Project Type: Public Legal Education (presentations, workshops, podcasts, brochures, blogs, etc.) & Research (memoranda used for internal purposes only)
Project Delivery: Remote
Description of Project: Butterfly is working in partnership with Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice (CCNC) to create a public legal education series on the immigration and refugee application process for precarious employed individuals – this includes but is not limited to sex workers. In particular, the project will focus on creating tools to answer questions related to immigration and refugee applications on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, and specific questions collected from precarious workers during community consultation on the application process.
The goal of this project is to empower the Chinese and Chinese-Canadian community and prevent precariously employed immigrants from exploitation (i.e. promise of immigration for monetary compensation).
Role of Student Volunteers: Students will conduct research on the immigration and refugee process for precariously employed individuals from China. In particular, the research will focus on making an application on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. Students will reach out to immigration and refugee organizations and experts in the field to understand the unwritten complexities of the process for their research. Additionally, students will help and work alongside committee members to collect information to identify the legal needs of the community. Students will first conduct a general overview of the process and then will be provided more specific questions to research which will come from the community consultation conducted by Butterfly and CCNC.
The students’ research will be reviewed and used to assist the supervisor increasing an accessible, plain language and informative brochure, social media post, and/or workshop/presentation. If the opportunity arises, students will help support legal experts conduct legal information sessions for Butterfly. Students may have the opportunity to sit in on lawyer or legal expert supervised meetings to take notes and information from community members affected from recent immigration policy changes.
Role of Supervising Lawyer(s): The Supervising Lawyer will oversee the research conducted by the students and will be available to give guidance and facilitate learning regarding the process. They will also be available to answer questions regarding the newly produced materials. The Supervising Lawyer will review and approve all final deliverables prior to use by Butterfly.
The Supervising Lawyer will attend all legal information sessions. Should the Supervising Lawyer be unable to attend a legal information session, student volunteers will prepare a Frequently Asked Questions sheet in consultation with the Supervising Lawyer and Partner Organization. This FAQ sheet will be reviewed and approved by the Supervising Lawyer. Student Volunteers will only be permitted to answer questions that arise from this sheet. Any additional questions will be referred to the Supervising Lawyer for follow-up.
Type of Law: Immigration and refugee law, criminal law, municipal by-law.
Main Project Deliverable: Creating produced content (e.g. research memos, brochures, podcasts, etc.)
Number of Student Placements: 2 students.
Hours per week the student volunteer(s) will be expected to work: 3-5 hours/week
Regular shifts or a flexible schedule: Flexible, as the research and presentation-building can be done remotely.
Is there a workspace provided for the student at the Organization: Yes, students can work in the office if it is necessary, however, they are expected to work mostly from home.
Devices and technologies the students will be required to have:
Computer, telephone, internet, MS Word, phone
Is there an expectation for the student(s) to be bilingual: No, however language proficiency (written or orally) in Asian and South Asian languages is an asset (ex. Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hindi, etc.)
Law School Pre-Requisites: N/A
Other Requirements or Expectations: Students should cultivate an attitude of mindfulness and respect towards sex work and sex workers, free from any form of judgement.
Experience working in the sex industry or with sex workers is an asset.