Ellie Ade Kur

Ellie stands in front of a red, Brick wall wearing a black dress with a paisley scarf. Her braids are pulled back into a high ponytail. In the background are a blurred brown door and concrete steps.

Ellie Ade Kur is a sex worker justice organizer engaged in community work that strengthens Black sex worker mutual aid efforts. Building on her doctoral research in Human Geography and Urban Planning at the University of Toronto as well as archival work on the City of Toronto’s development and enforcement of regulatory frameworks targeting sex workers at licensed venues and broader policing efforts to clear local strolls of street-based sex workers, Ade Kur’s project, in collaboration with Maggie’s Toronto, will host community consultations for sex workers and develop digital resource guides and a virtual workshop series to support community members in navigating criminalization and stigma – including best practices in navigating issues of discrimination, workplace harassment, physical and sexual assault on the job and more. These educational workshops and resources will inform the creation of anti-stigma resources for social service agencies, the public, and local regulatory bodies such as the City of Toronto, the Toronto Police Service, the Municipal Bylaw and Standards Division, with the long-term goal of expanding and improving the relationship between sex workers and local stakeholders.