The Supreme Court Of 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.

From analysing my research, I disagree with the proposed amendments. According to Van der Meulen (2013) this bill is supposed to protect the sex workers, however, it is hypocritical in which it puts the sex workers at increase harm. This paradigm is associated with a paternalistic view that ignores the issues of consent and choice. I believe violence against women must never be tolerated whereas; the Bill C-36 fails to address the issues to protect women in the sex trade industry. Canada’s justice minister insists that once passed, the Conservative government’s new prostitution bill will mean safer conditions for sex workers, “the ultimate goal, however, is to end the sex trade in Canada altogether” (O’Malley, 2014). Along the same lines, Conservative Sen. Donald Plett said “of course don’t want to make life safe for prostitutes; we can’t to

Abel, Gillian, et al. Taking the crime out of sex work: New Zealand sex workers fight for decriminalisation. Policy Press, 2010. Part two: Implementation and impact of the Prostitution Reform Act (2003): the first five years: Review of the PRA

Prostitutes exist in our society and are destined to remain the profession exists on every continent per diverse societal and politically aware prominences. A prostitute is an individual which offers sexual favors in exchange for money, prostitutes are typically thought of as women; however, men also has a place in prostitution and it’s in high demand. In the profession of prostitution there are no taxes to be paid, or retirement funds to collect, yet, prostitution is not unlawful in Canada. The young generation in Canada looks at this as a possible “career opportunities,” which puts the title of “prostitutes” in an unclear locus in relations to being a profession or a career. It is lawful to vend sexual favors, but it is unlawful to buy these

Others think that the sex workers exist because of the demand in the society. The Dutch model is in favor of the prostitution. It treats the prostitution same as alcohol and strip clubs. The Supreme Court did not share its rule or gave any decision to the government to regulate. That’s why the court says that sex workers should be regulated very carefully so that they are not victimized. It was suggested by the Dutch model. Bringing a new law into existence is not so easy. Some says that the old rules were not valid and it is not satisfied people. A recent online survey from justice department shows that most people in Canada disagree that selling, providing, or purchasing activities that involves sex should be illegal. Almost two third of the overall survey did not support selling sex. Most of people suggested that adults that are obtaining benefits from providing sex service should be illegal. Some people supported that prostitution should be legal but there must be certain restrictions, such as regular health and medical emanation, taxation, and licensing. The survey was obtained by Canadian press between feb 17 and mar 17 that attracted 31,172

The existing Canadian laws for sex work have recently undergone a change with the Conservative government’s new implementation of a bill to effectively decriminalize the existence of brothels and indoor prostitution while illegalizing the advertisement of said service and/or the purchase of said service.

Such statistics demonstrate the urgent need for increased protection of these sex workers while on the job. Lack of legal recognition of prostitution as an industry only leaves sex workers vulnerable to abuse in an unregulated system without safety standards. Prostitutes do not report most assaults to police due to fear of further abuse or being charged for soliciting. Therefore, decriminalization is necessary in order to detach the social stigma from being employed in the sex industry, as it is only then that police will be able to take the cases of these victims seriously, and allow them to experience the full benefits of the justice system. According to the Network of Sex Work Projects, “historically, anti-trafficking measures have been more concerned with protecting women’s ‘purity’ than with ensuring [sex workers’] human rights.” Therefore, it is essential to decriminalize prostitution should sex workers receive adequate working and human rights. The 2010 case of Bedford v. Canada, Terri Bedford, along with several other prostitutes, argued to the courts that the criminalization of prostitution placed their lives and safety at risk. Criminalization of prostitution impartially prosecutes exploiters and protectors, such as bodyguards, further intercepting prostitute’s attempts to

support services must be put into place to give women a choice. Canada’s prostitution laws must be altered with the following policies:

Canada’s first prostitution laws were adopted from the English model that treated prostitution as a violation of public order. These laws criminalized various activities related to prostitution through the bawdy-house and vagrancy provision (Sondhi, 2011). In Canada, prostitution is de facto illegal and has never been de jure illegal. That is, prostitution per se is legal in Canada; however, laws forbid a number of activities associated with prostitution, thus making it impossible to engage in prostitution without breaking the law.

Prostitution has been a social issue in Canada since before Confederation and until present day. The act of exchanging sexual services for money between two consenting adults has never been illegal in Canada, but the activities that surround prostitution, particularly owning or being in a bawdy house, living off the avails of prostitution, and communicating in public places for the purposes of prostitution, have all been made illegal under sections in the Criminal Code (Prostitution, n.d.). Throughout history, there has been great debate about the social harms caused by prostitution versus the individual rights of prostitutes. Prior to the creation and implementation of

Western countries like the United States base many of their prostitution laws on Judeo-Christian morality, which discourages the act of selling sex due to the belief that sex is sacred in creating life, however many theorists disagree due to its singular concern. With Fondation Scelles reporting that 80% of prostitutes in the world are women aged between 13 and 25, and the political inclusion of the right to an individual’s personal liberty, the debate of prostitution serves to be a pluralized issue in consideration of feminist and libertarian perspectives. Discussions of the pluralism in the prostitution debate is evident in Canada, with the Supreme Court ruling that it is no longer illegal to sell sex, however it is a crime to buy sex, in an effort to protect the women who are being exploited into sex trafficking. Despite the government’s contributions to remove the stigma of sex workers, rather than more criminal roles like pimps, the morally problematic exploitation of women in sex trafficking continues to exist. Therefore, the government has an ethical responsibility to legalize and control the sex trade based on its application to consequentialist concerns with health and safety, libertarian views on personal autonomy and female entitlement and empowerment, and its comparison to the legal pornography industry.

Again, prostitution wasn’t illegal per se in Canada, but there were various prohibitions, including laws against public communication for the purposes of prostitution. With this in mind, the constitutionality of Canada’s prostitution laws were challenged by a small group of sex workers. Bedford v Canada resulted in an Ontario Judge, Susan Himel, overturning those laws in 2010 by ruling that they violated sex workers’ constitutional rights to “life, liberty and safety.” Himel ruled, “By increasing the risk of harm to street prostitutes, the communicating law is simply too high a price to pay for the alleviation of social nuisance.” She added, “I find that the danger faced by prostitutes greatly outweighs any harm which may be faced by the

Most people morally oppose the profession of prostitution because they consider it to be a taboo. While others believe that it is their right and personal freedom to choose what to do with their life and body. Recently, the debate about how laws should address prostitution legally has become a subject of legislative action. Prostitution itself is not a criminal offence under the Constitution, but there are certain laws under the Criminal Code that discourage it and makes it unlawful. For example, these sections made activities such as communicating for the purposes of prostitution, living off the avails of prostitution, and keeping a common bawdy house illegal. However, in the recent landmark case of Canada (Attorney General) v. Bedford (2013), the constitutionality of these three laws was questioned. In this case, three former sex workers argued that these prostitution laws that were initially meant to protect them, put their safety at risk. More specifically, they argued that their section 7 right to security of the person, had been infringed upon by these prostitution laws. They claimed that striking down these laws that decriminalize prostitution can result in ensuring the security of sex workers. In response, the Harper government introduced Bill C-36, Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act in 2014, which sought to decriminalize parts of the existing prostitution laws. The constitutionality of prostitution law is a legal controversy that will be

Sex workers' rights are commonly unprotected, and still remain a political warfare meanwhile; people who purchase and sell sexual services are arrested and sentenced to “rehabilitation” programs, and branded with criminal records.

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