The Public GalleryToronto

←General Government and Licensing Committee · 2019-05-21 · 2019.GL5.2

The filed record

Review of Body Rub Parlour and Holistic Centre By-laws - Consultation and Research Findings

The Public Gallery wrote no story on this item. What follows is the city’s own record of what happened to it, as filed: nothing on this page is summarised or scored by us.

The decision

2019-05-21 · General Government and Licensing Committee · referred

As filed

The General Government and Licensing Committee: 1. Referred the item to the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, with a request to include the following in a report to the General Government and Licensing Committee in the fourth quarter of 2019: a. Maintain the existing licensing system for body rub parlours and holistic centres, subject to amendments, as necessary, to update the applicable By-laws; b.

Show the rest of As filed, 4,026 more characters as filed

Update the Body Rub Parlour and Holistic Centre By-laws consistent with the findings of the City of Toronto's Auditor General and with consideration of: 1. The following principles: a. Ensuring the general safety, workplace safety, health, safety, human rights, and well-being of persons are protected; b. Consumer and worker protection; and c. Ensuring the general well-being of the City of Toronto, including mitigating community impacts. 2. Consultation with human trafficking survivors and advocates, body rub parlours and body rubbers, and holistic centres and practitioners; 3. Increasing safety for workers in body rub parlours and holistic centres; 4. Strengthening the oversight of professional holistic associations, including the requirement to develop internal regulations to revoke the membership of individuals or organizations providing unlicensed services; 5. Clarifying or increasing the General Government and Licensing Committee's role in monitoring the licensing system and appeals adjudication outcome; 6. Consultation with municipal, provincial, and federal law enforcement agencies in the Greater Toronto Area and the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services' Ontario Anti-Human Trafficking Office; 7. Modernizing medical requirements which support regular access to health care for workers; and 8. The feasibility of requesting legislation to allow property forfeiture similar to that allowed under cannabis legislation. c. Consider the feasibility and impacts of ensuring there are appropriate resources to identify the necessary investment of resources needed for the effective oversight to deter exploitation and trafficking, including a feasibility study of additional Municipal Standards Officers funded by body rub parlours. d. Engage in consultations with the Medical Officer of Health and relevant stakeholders to review any proposed amendments to the City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 545 (Licensing), as they relate to worker and consumer health and safety, and bring forward a concurrent report to the General Government and Licensing Committee with findings and recommendations in the fourth quarter of 2019. 2. Referred the motions below by Councillor John Filion to the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards: Motion 4 That: 1. City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, as part of their report to the General Government and Licensing Committee in the fourth quarter of 2019 on proposed amendments to the Body Rub Parlour and Holistic Centre By-laws, to consider major increases in fees for body rub parlours to cover the cost of the following: a. Frequent and thorough inspections; b. Stringent and effective enforcement; and c. Programs designed to provide frequent, safe, and confidential opportunities for victims of human trafficking or abuse to seek advice and help. Motion 5 That the General Government and Licensing Committee amend Recommendations 1 and 2 as follows: 1. City Council adopt the following principles for regulating the body rub industry: a. Ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of persons; b. Consumer protection; and c. Ensuring the general well-being of the City of Toronto, including mitigating community impacts ; and . d. Ensuring that all By-laws can be effectively enforced. 2. City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, to report to the General Government and Licensing Committee in the fourth quarter of 2019 with proposed amendments to the Body Rub Parlour and Holistic Centre By-laws that are informed by the principles in Recommendation 1 and include an analysis of the feasibility and impacts of: a. Removing the licence requirements for holistic centres and practitioners; b. Amending Modernizing the requirements of the Body Rub Parlour By-law, with or without including increasing or removing the cap on the number of body rub parlours permitted in the City of Toronto; and c. Increasing safety requirements in the Body Rub Parlour By-law.

The vote

Set Committee Rule · Carried, 4-2

For (4)Frances Nunziata, Jim Karygiannis, John Filion, Stephen Holyday
Against (2)Josh Matlow, Paul Ainslie
The whole record, all 6 members

Every name opens that member’s record.

On the agenda

As the city filed it

This report provides an update on the research and consultations completed to date that inform the ongoing review of the Body Rub Parlour (BRP) and Holistic Centre By-laws. It seeks City Council's endorsement on an approach to regulating these industries based on the principles of ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of persons; consumer protection; and ensuring the general well-being of the City of Toronto, including mitigating community impacts.

Show the rest of As the city filed it, 2,204 more characters as filed

The City regulates adult entertainment parlours, including BRPs, to ensure the health and safety of workers and the public and to mitigate for community nuisance. In 1998, the City began regulating holistic services to ensure public health and safety and consumer protection. Since its introduction, the misuse of the licensing category by providers of services that are not holistic services has undermined this original intent. Many holistic centres currently providing unauthorized services would be better captured under the BRP licence category. However, the BRP licences in the City of Toronto are capped at 25, preventing new businesses from obtaining a BRP licence. The BRP licence category and cap have not been reviewed formally since the rules were first enacted in 1975. Staff are considering a number of amendments to modernize the BRP licence category and better reflect the changes within the industry. The central amendment being considered is the removal of the cap on BRPs. This would allow businesses offering body rub services to qualify for a licence with an appropriate level of regulations and oversight. Staff are also considering general updates to the BRP By-law to bolster health and safety requirements for BRPs. These changes would include requiring that BRP managers are licensed and undergo criminal record checks; removing the requirement for workers to work for only one parlour owner; and requiring that workers be provided with information on how to access resources and supports. In conjunction with the review of the BRP By-law, City staff are reassessing the need to license holistic services. With this proposed approach, those holistic centres and practitioners providing body rub services would be required to obtain body rub licences. Staff are seeking Council direction to report back in the fourth quarter of 2019 with further analysis and final recommendations on modernizing the BRP licence category, reviewing the cap on the number of BRPs, and re-evaluating the need for holistic licensing. Staff have consulted with Legal Services, Social Development, Finance and Administration, Toronto Public Health, and City Planning in the preparation of this report.

Staff recommended

The Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards recommends that: 1. City Council adopt the following principles for regulating the body rub industry: a. Ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of persons; b. Consumer protection; and c. Ensuring the general well-being of the City of Toronto, including mitigating community impacts. 2. City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, to report to the General Government and Licensing Committee in the fourth quarter of 2019 with proposed amendments to the Body Rub Parlour and Holistic Centre By-laws that are informed by the principles in Recommendation 1 and include an analysis of the feasibility and impacts of: a.

Show the rest of Staff recommended, 317 more characters as filed

Removing the licence requirements for holistic centres and practitioners; b. Modernizing the requirements of the Body Rub Parlour By-law, including increasing or removing the cap on the number of body rub parlours permitted in the City of Toronto; and c. Increasing safety requirements in the Body Rub Parlour By-law.

    On the record

    The item as the City filed it

    More from this meeting

    The whole meeting