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Canada's sex-trade laws in court fight TheStar.com - News - Canada's sex-trade laws in court fight
Lives endangered,say supporters of decriminalization
Sheila M. Dabu
OTTAWA–A leading advocacy group for decriminalizing prostitution in Canada is planning to take the federal government to court over laws it says endanger the lives of sex workers across the country.
Valerie Scott, executive director of Sex Professionals of Canada, says the legal action will go ahead in January.
"The communicating and bawdy-house laws are arbitrary," Scott said in an interview from Toronto.
"They do more harm than good, and we'll be filing in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. We're hoping to get a judgment from them within two years. Then we'll go to the Supreme Court of Canada with it."
The common bawdy-house laws can evict women from their homes, since landlords receive a notice of their alleged activities, said Wendy Babcock, spokeswoman for the Sex Professionals of Canada.
Scott, who expects to be one of the plaintiffs in the court case, says the group will challenge the country's solicitation laws on constitutional grounds.
The sex trade in Canada falls into a legal grey area because, while prostitution itself is not illegal, activities related to it are. Individuals who communicate for the purpose of prostitution or who sell sexual services can be charged.
"It's really unfortunate that our profession is one of the few professions that doesn't have any legal protection to it," Babcock said.
"Making it illegal is just forcing women into dangerous situations."
A 2006 Statistics Canada report said women in the sex trade are extremely vulnerable to violence that often goes unnoticed. "According to police reports ... between 1991 and 2004, 171 female prostitutes were killed and 45 per cent of these homicides remain unsolved," the report said.
Statistics on the homicide rate of sex workers are "almost certainly lower than the real figures," according to a report issued this month by a Commons subcommittee.
But after hearing testimony from more than 300 witnesses, MPs on the subcommittee couldn't agree on legislative changes to the prostitution laws.
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I think it's good that our courts provide a way to force politicians into facing things that might be controversial. I feel this court challenge will likely succeed, which should be a good thing for Canada. Getting prostitution out of the shadows will allow us to deal with a multitude of issues such as drug use, disease transmission, human trafficking, and organized crime.
Lives endangered,say supporters of decriminalization
Sheila M. Dabu
OTTAWA–A leading advocacy group for decriminalizing prostitution in Canada is planning to take the federal government to court over laws it says endanger the lives of sex workers across the country.
Valerie Scott, executive director of Sex Professionals of Canada, says the legal action will go ahead in January.
"The communicating and bawdy-house laws are arbitrary," Scott said in an interview from Toronto.
"They do more harm than good, and we'll be filing in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. We're hoping to get a judgment from them within two years. Then we'll go to the Supreme Court of Canada with it."
The common bawdy-house laws can evict women from their homes, since landlords receive a notice of their alleged activities, said Wendy Babcock, spokeswoman for the Sex Professionals of Canada.
Scott, who expects to be one of the plaintiffs in the court case, says the group will challenge the country's solicitation laws on constitutional grounds.
The sex trade in Canada falls into a legal grey area because, while prostitution itself is not illegal, activities related to it are. Individuals who communicate for the purpose of prostitution or who sell sexual services can be charged.
"It's really unfortunate that our profession is one of the few professions that doesn't have any legal protection to it," Babcock said.
"Making it illegal is just forcing women into dangerous situations."
A 2006 Statistics Canada report said women in the sex trade are extremely vulnerable to violence that often goes unnoticed. "According to police reports ... between 1991 and 2004, 171 female prostitutes were killed and 45 per cent of these homicides remain unsolved," the report said.
Statistics on the homicide rate of sex workers are "almost certainly lower than the real figures," according to a report issued this month by a Commons subcommittee.
But after hearing testimony from more than 300 witnesses, MPs on the subcommittee couldn't agree on legislative changes to the prostitution laws.
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I think it's good that our courts provide a way to force politicians into facing things that might be controversial. I feel this court challenge will likely succeed, which should be a good thing for Canada. Getting prostitution out of the shadows will allow us to deal with a multitude of issues such as drug use, disease transmission, human trafficking, and organized crime.
