The Importance Of Prostitution In Canada

Canada is a nation renown as a liberal-leaning, forward nation; promoting the advancement of women in all parts of the world. However, it is a nation guilty of punishing women for the circumstances in which they find themselves with laws showing an antiquated view on the issue of prostitution—one that prosecutes sex workers instead of those who take advantage of women’s situations and buy sexual services. BY examining the origins of current-day laws concerning prostitution in Canada and looking at European legislation as well as its successes and failures made it is possible to find a middle ground that will suit Canada should it ever decide to change its laws concerning prostitution.

As part of McGill’s Community Engagement Day, I went on a walking tour of Montréal’s historical Red Light District presented by Karen Herland, professor and specialist in the history of prostitution. Her historical analysis (personal communication, October 2, 2015) of the neighbourhood gave great insights on morality and legislation issues regarding sex work, specifically about the relationship between authorities and prostitution as well as some of the impacts that these laws and other attitudes that regulate sex work have on women. Her astute reports lead us to the following proposition: the dynamics between authorities and sex work indicates that under the guise of “morality”, the laws in place and their application did not actually oppose sex work, they rather worked to limit women’s emancipation.

Canadian prostitution, the practice of exchanging money for sexual services” (Shaver, 2011) originally started in the 1800’s, and has never been an illegal act Canada. However, the dangers of the job, and safety risks these women are exposed to have always been prevalent on Canadian streets. The most common form of prostitution when the trade was established was off street prostitution. This can be defined as, “Prostitution that is issued out of escort agencies, massage parlours, private residences, brothels, bars, clubs, trick pads and bathhouses” (“Fact Sheet,” n.d.). [Correct Citation?]This industry thrived for decades with little no to police presence as the newly created transcontinental railways transported large masses of single men to the west coast. However, in 1890, new legal constrains, which were now enforced, made operating brothers a challenge and forced street prostitution to become more common, “street prostitution is a form of prostitution in which a sex worker solicits customers from a public place, most commonly a street, while waiting at street corners or walking alongside a street, but also other public places such as parks, benches, etc. The street prostitute is often dressed in a provocative manner.” (Shaver, 2011). When the number of women working the streets increased, the safety level decreased. In order to expand one’s knowledge on the dangers of female street prostitution, one must fully comprehend the differences between the two forms of

Additional prohibitions are placed on any advertising for sexual services which include newspapers, online, or other forms of media (Department of Justice Canada, 2014). This policy is greatly influenced by the Swedish Model argues that it is society’s responsibility to outlaw the purchase of sexual services on the understanding that ‘women are vulnerable’ and sex trade is never a choice (Cosh, 2014). Mainly, the new prohibitions will be supported by $20 million in new funding, with an emphasis on programs that can help individuals exit prostitution.

Overall, Bill C-36 attempts to create a new legal framing for prostitution in Canada and is rooted in the belief that prostitution is inherently violent and exploitative; therefore the intent is to protect sex workers from exploitation, protect communities from the harms caused by prostitution, and reduce the demand for sexual services. The framework of Bill C-36 seeks to “denounce and prohibit the purchase of sexual services, procurement of persons for the purposes of prostitution and the development of economic interests in the prostitution of others” (Canadian Criminal Justice Association, 2014). Even though the aim of Bill C-36 is to protect victims from exploitation and/or prevent exploitative situations, it does so at the expense of the lives of those in the sex trade. Bill C-36 creates the environment for exploitation to flourish by only

In Canadian law, buying or selling sexual services within Canada is considered legal. However, this controversial topic has raised discussions between people because of the possibilities of illegal activities inside the world of prostitution. From reading the newspapers to hearing it on the television, we know nothing good ever comes out of prostitution because of the exposure to the risky businesses and dangerous people. Prostitutes engages in a number of dangerous harmful activities such as taking drugs, rape, emotional and physical abuse, and the worst case scenario is death. In this thesis paper, I’ll be discussing the main points and arguments as to why prostitution should have been illegal to begin with and why Canada should

All the activities made illegal regarding prostitution In Canada make it difficult for this to be recognized as a proper profession to make a living off legally, although legal it can be seen that Canadian society does not want to associate itself with prostitution choosing to brush it off the shoulder and allow it to exist minimally. In Canada it has long been debated the role the criminal code plays in regulating and controlling prostitution. The diversified opinions of Canadians over prostitution have been made visible through constitutional court challenges as well as government and parliamentary reviews dating and scanning back the past three decades.(Insert citation) This led to a supreme court decision which called the laws surrounding prostitution unconstitutional and the government was given the task to replace these laws with a time span of one year. The Canadian government responded to this with bill c-36 which was introduced by Justice Minister Peter Mackay on June 4th 2014. Bill c-36 will criminalize the purchase of sexual services thus making prostitution an illegal activity for the first time in Canada's history as a country. This new piece of legislation will considerably change the manner in which the criminal code addresses prostitution and

Sex work is a very controversial topic and many individuals are passionate about what they believe. Regardless of the moral arguments, beliefs and disbeliefs, every person in Canada owns the right to have their human rights as well as their health respected one hundred percent. The Courts of Canada have focused on the precise question of whether or not Canada's current laws abide by the Constitution and serve to protect the human rights of the persons engaging in sex work.

Teenage girls between 15-17 have been seen taking part in prostitution around in hotel rooms with clients, one man said that this “didn’t look quite right”. Police also say that they were “recruited from Mississauga shopping mall” the company had been “operating for at least seven months”. Although the teens were hired to be “exotic dancer” they started to offer clients more even though they were inexperienced and new very little about the path they were going down. The teens then realised that they could end up making a lot of money if they continued to stay with the company. The customers knew what the company was advertising. Eventually, the police made two charges to the people who were involved in “running a Mississauga based prostitution

In the book “Street Sex Work and Canadian Cities: Resisting a Dangerous Order” by Shawna Ferris, she discusses the influence of mainstream media representation of street workers on the ever-grown urbanized population. Across the country, media sources promote an anti-prostitution bias and incorporate images and stories that portray sex workers as a nuisance to society. A study was that was conducted by Erin Gibbs Van Brunschot, Rosalind A. Sydie, and Catherine Krull, in regards to media related-news on prostitutes between 1981 and 1995 in Canadian newspapers discovered that their themes were all inter-connected. “There were four themes that were most prevalent in the years under review: nuisance, child-abuse, violence, and non-Western prostitution.”

It is rare to see an exploration of prostitution in any sort of realistic way in Canadian television however that doesn’t mean they aren’t incorporated into programs now and again. When they are however, they are generally played up cute and in a way where the nature of their trade isn’t explicitly defined but rather merely implied.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the previous sections of the prostitution laws in the Criminal Code in 2013, which occurred in the decision of the Attorney General of Canada v. Bedford case. The previous laws: living off the avails of prostitution, the ban on brothels and having public communication with clients, were deemed as an infringement to Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. These laws are deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court as it infringes on sex worker’s Section 7 rights, which is entrenched in the Charter. Hence, the Conservative government that are now out of power, put into effect Bill C-36, The Protection of Communities and Exploitation Act, which received Royal Assent. This new Bill amends

The Government of Canada should legalize “survival sex” prostitution in every aspect so that they are able to protect its citizens in the sex trade to an ultimate degree. What is not commonly known is that in Canada, prostitution is not entirely illegal. Only the act of engaging in peripheral acts such as talking about exchanging money for sex in public is illegal. Because of this, these women have to make transactions in secret or when they are alone. This situation can escalate to a dangerous degree quite quickly. This is an aspect that needs to be legalized so that the option is there for women to utilize the public setting in order to ensure their safety. Furthermore, because these women feel that they are unsafe doing transactions and negotiations in private, they resort to loitering around public places. Not only does this impact the citizens around the area but many also complain about it. This adds to societies degrading view of prostitution as many become annoyed with the smaller crimes prostitutes do to protect themselves. Yet, these bothered citizens do not understand or know

Firstly, it is important to know the history and background of prostitution in Canada. Before the Bedford challenge, sex work in Canada was actually legal. However, what seemed disconcerting and contradicting was the fact that most of these laws showed that any activity related to prostitution is illegal. The stigma shown here discriminates

Prostitution is a profession that has been around for thousands of years despite being a controversial topic in many parts of the world. In the modern world, the ethics of prostitution have been debated with many people viewing the profession as immoral. Prostitution is an exploitative and harmful profession for the sex workers. Since women account for a majority of those who engage in prostitution, these negative impacts affect women more. Also, prostitution is a gendered institution that strengthens and