The City of Regina held the first of three public consultation sessions regarding body rub parlour regulations on Monday night.
The sessions were made open to the public, but residents had to pre-register in order to speak and media was asked not to attend.
The city says the sensitive subject matter is the reason for limiting access to pre-registered citizens.
“It’s something that we wanted to make sure there was free dialogue and because it is a sensitive topic, and so we’re getting some really good feedback from the residents,” said Executive Director of City Planning and Community Development Diana Hawryluk.
The City is currently working on how to better regulate body rub or massage parlours in order to have better control over where the establishments can be located or if they can operate in the city at all.
In addition to this consultation, the city administration has also been working with the police on potential pieces of regulation like licensing.
Approximately 40 pre-registered citizens signed up to speak at the meeting, however the city could not say what if any community organizations spoke.
According to the city, much of the discussion revolved around community safety, concerns over the locations of the parlours, and the safety of the workers.
“I think there’s a lot of frustrations for people that live near to one of these establishments and the need to want to see them regulated or completely out of their neighbourhood,” Hawryluk told CTV News. “We’re taking all of the feedback, it’s really important to us that we hear from the community.”
Discussions will be held again on Tuesday and Wednesday evening at Evraz Place.
The feedback will be used in a report that will be brought before council later this year.
Those who presented are being asked to speak publically before council once that report is released in June.
