Sex-trade workers and supporters will carry red umbrellas through Ottawa's snowy streets Monday afternoon to remember colleagues who have been slain, and demand that police stop practices that they say increase their risk of being assaulted or killed.

The goal of the annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, which is in its fifth year, is to send the message that violence against sex workers should be taken seriously, said Chris Bruckert, a University of Ottawa criminology professor and former sex-trade worker who will be speaking at the event.

"Violence against sex workers is not somehow inherent to the job. It's not part of the job description," she told CBC's Ottawa Morning on Monday. "And it's not, as sometimes police suggest, because sex work is risky."

Police tactics make sex trade more dangerous: prof

Monday's march comes a day after Ottawa police announced their new street crime unit — which specifically targets street-level prostitution and drug dealing — has resulted in 65 suspects being charged with 265 criminal counts, including communicating for the purpose of prostitution.

Bruckert said such initiatives and another new program that sends warning letters to the homes of johns make sex-trade workers more vulnerable by pushing them away from witnesses.

"Workers are hopping into cars much quicker in an effort to protect their clients from being charged, either officially charged or being sent one of these potentially very stigmatizing extra-legal letters. So in fact, they're not taking the time to assess the situation," she said, adding that predators know the situation sex-trade workers face. 

"They know that sex workers are vulnerable."

Police let alleged attacker go: prostitute

Many current and former sex-trade workers such as 27-year-old Vanessa have stories about police ignoring their complaints about being assaulted.

Vanessa, currently at a recovery house in a small Quebec town, said she did alert police one night when a john attacked her in the front seat of a car.

"I said, 'The guy's got my shoes, he punched me in the face, so the cop stopped the guy and they said that they were going to charge me for going in his car,'" she recalled. "And the guy just —  they let him go. If the guy assaulted anybody else, they would have been charged, right?"

Another time, when a man tried to push her into the Ottawa River in October, Vanessa said she didn't call police because she didn't think they would do anything.

Monday's march will start at 5 p.m. ET at Laurier and Cumberland streets, and will end with a candlelight vigil at the Human Rights Monument on Elgin Street.