A group of local strippers are planning to strike ahead of this weekend\u2019s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, it has emerged.<\/p>\n
Canada will host the fifth round of the F1 2026 season this weekend after a three-week break following the last race in Miami.<\/p>\n
Canadian Grand Prix targeted by local stripper strike<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust<\/p>\n The Sex Work Autonomous Committee will hold a strike on Saturday May 23, coinciding with the day of the sprint race and main qualifying at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.<\/p>\n The strike has been timed intentionally by the strippers, who say the F1 race in Montreal is the \u201cbusiest\u201d and \u201cmost lucrative period of the year for our boss.\u201d<\/p>\n The Canadian Grand Prix attracted a record attendance of 352,000 in 2025.<\/p>\n F1 2026: Head-to-head scores ahead of Canadian Grand Prix<\/p>\n F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates<\/a><\/p>\n F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates<\/a><\/p>\n The strippers are calling to \u201cbreak free from the idea that we are self-employed. The truth is that we have an employer and he owes us safe working conditions like in any other jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n Other demands include the end of workplace violence, a healthy working environment and the end of hiring and scheduling discrimination.<\/p>\n A section of a statement by the SWAC read: \u201cWe think the grand prix is the best time to strike.<\/p>\n \u201cThe clubs are at their busiest, making it the most lucrative period of the year for our boss. This is our chance to threaten that income and affect them when it hurts the most.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring this time, despite management making more money, dancers have to put up with a list of new rules, increased bar fees, overbooking and generally worse working conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cEven though some people make good money during the grand prix, the fact that our bosses schedule more workers than usual makes it harder for us to earn.<\/p>\n \u201cThis overbooking happens without the needed extra security to look out for these workers, resulting in increased violence against the dancers during these busy and chaotic times.<\/p>\n \u201cAdditionally, bar fees are increased exorbitantly during F1 and new arbitrary rules are often heavily enforced with exploitative penalty fees attached.<\/p>\n \u201cIn 2025, one club in Montr\u00e9al charged $110 per night for the five nights of F1.<\/p>\n \u201cAt an average of 60 girls a night (which is on the low end) this club made approximately $33,000 alone on the dancers walking through the door.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not including late fees and penalty fees that these dancers may have been forced to pay as well.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bar fee model is an exploitative practice that only benefits the bosses.<\/p>\n \u201cF1 is not only a symbolically important time for a sex work strike, but also a materially important time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must disrupt these exploitative labour practices where our management employs them the heaviest, and profits from them the most.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is up to us as dancers to fight these managerial abuses collectively and fight for the working conditions that we deserve!<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s also the time of the year that we will get the most media coverage!<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s become common practice for sex worker exclusionary feminists \u2013 also known as SWERFS \u2013 to use F1 to promote their anti-sex work agendas and saviorism.<\/p>\n \u201cOur strike is the occasion to bring up a counter-discourse that sex workers have agency and power as people and workers.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we acknowledge the violences [sic] in our workplaces, we believe that we should fight back through workers\u2019 action, rather than letting the state decide for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli enters the Canadian Grand Prix in the lead of the drivers\u2019 standings with a 20-point lead over teammate George Russell.<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n