Scope of Verification

Verified Ottawa is an independent, peer-led verification project focused entirely on worker safety. We are not affiliated with any agency, advertising platform, review board, law enforcement body or other organization.

What verification means

Verification means that a Verified Ottawa peer verifier has met the worker and reasonably confirmed that:

• they are a real person;

• they control the active advertising presence presented during verification;

• the photograph provided for identification reasonably corresponds with the person verified;

• during our limited verification process, we did not identify indicators that caused us to believe the worker may be experiencing trafficking or working under coercion. This is not a thorough determination that trafficking, coercion or exploitation is absent. Verified Ottawa conducts a limited peer verification. Please due your due diligence in risk assessment when hiring sex workers.

We use active advertising only to establish that the person being verified controls the advertising presence they claim as their own.
Verified Ottawa is not an advertising body.
We do not advertise services, facilitate bookings, accept any kind of payment or provide client referrals. We do not interact with potential clients regarding our verified providers in any capacity.

Verification occurs once, with an annual check-in required to maintain verified status.

What verification does not mean

Being verified is not an endorsement, recommendation or an established standard of behaviour.
It does not guarantee a worker's conduct, services, appearance, availability or future control of third-party accounts- this is not in our mandate.

Verified Ottawa does not investigate complaints about workers, especially including disputes involving money, services, photographs, communication or private interactions.

We are not responsible for conduct occurring outside the very limited scope of our verification process.

We are not the john police.

Our role begins and ends with worker verification and our annual check-in.

Worker safety comes first

Verified Ottawa exists primarily and explicitly for workers. Our goal is to reduce opportunities for violence and exploitation by giving workers an alternative to repeatedly providing sensitive photographs or personal information to unknown third parties.

We are deliberately low-barrier.

Verification should not require a worker to surrender unnecessary information or expose themselves to additional risk simply to establish that they are real.

Exploitation and trafficking concerns

Being embedded within sex work communities also gives peers an opportunity to recognize potential signs of coercion, exploitation or trafficking.

Our verification team is taught to recognize red flags and respond in a supportive, victim-centred manner.

Where serious concerns arise during verification, we may decline or pause verification and offer appropriate resources or referrals.

We do not knowingly list a person we believe may be experiencing trafficking as verified while those concerns remain unresolved.

Verified Ottawa is not a trafficking investigation service, and verification should never be interpreted as proof that trafficking, coercion or exploitation is or is not occurring.

VERIFIED OTTAWA SUPPORTS DECRIMINALIZATION

Verified Ottawa does not conflate consensual sex work with human trafficking. They are not the same thing, like being a barista is not the same as labor trafficking.

Unfortunately, stigma and criminalization can push workers into isolated spaces where predators are better able to hide coercion and exploitation under a label of legitimate work.

Decriminalization would make that distinction easier to see. When workers can operate openly and safely, communities are better positioned to recognize when someone is being exploited and connect them with support. 

Verification is and will always remain free.

Verified Ottawa does not charge workers to be verified and does not charge anyone to check verification. We do not sell placement, accept payment for verification or allow anyone to purchase verified status. There will never be a ‘featured’ page or promotional status for workers.

We do not accept advertising revenue or any other type of incentive connected to the workers we verify.

Verified Ottawa exists for one purpose: to give workers a safer, peer-led way to establish that they are legitimate workers.