The Bawdy Politic (constantly updated)

This just in:

A Toronto judge has struck down Canada’s prostitution laws, effectively decriminalizing activities associated with the world’s oldest trade.

“These laws, individually and together, force prostitutes to choose between their liberty interest and their right to security of the person as protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” Justice Susan Himel of Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice said in Tuesday’s landmark decision.

The long-awaited judgment had been on reserve for nearly a year.

The decision is effective immediately. (See update below.)*

Himel said she did not believe it was appropriate to temporarily suspend her finding that prostitution laws are invalid, as judges often do when they strike down legislation as unconstitutional. Temporarily delaying the invalidation of a law gives Parliament a chance to fashion new legislation, if it chooses.

“I have found that the law as it stands is currently contributing to dangers faced by prostitutes,” she said.

“I am mindful of the fact that legislating in response to prostitution raises difficult, contentious and serious policy issues and that it is for Parliament to fashion corrective legislation,” wrote Himel.

For background on this landmark case, check out my recent piece here:

Says Valerie Scott of Sex Professionals of Canada (SPOC), “I laugh when people say they've never met a sex worker. Yes you have. You just don't know it. And if you live in a condominium building, there are one or two sex workers in there. You just don't know it.”

All of which makes this new regulation absurd, says Scott, especially since there are many tough laws dealing with the very real problems of human trafficking, child exploitation plus other crimes associated with organized crime.

The new regulations should leave the consenting adult sex workers – small business operators, in essence—alone.

“Lumping us under organized crime and giving us a five-year prison sentence for working indoors, in safe clean environments, is ridiculous,'' says Jones, which, of course, is not her real name. “We're not trafficking in drugs, we're not trafficking in people, we're providing a service.''

But, to the minority Conservative government, it's all part of law-and-order agenda which includes a $9 billion investment in new prisons.

“This government engages a lot in symbolic politics,'' says lawyer Alan Young, who has been fighting a constitutional challenge on behalf of Ontario members of SPOC, arguing that the current laws put prostitutes at risk. “There are some things the Conservatives do that actually have a dramatic impact on the criminal justice system — and they may be negative — but there are a lot of things they do that have very little impact. They simply are being done to send messages that we are the tough old boys from a different moral era.''

Regular readers know I am a big supporter of the decriminalization of prostitution. More thoughts here and here.

But I acknowledge that there are huge rifts amongst feminists on the topic. There are those who feel it is the exploitation of women, which it most definitely can be; others who say it leads to sex trafficking, although the evidence doesn't support that and, anyway, there are separate laws to deal with that; and, finally, there are feminists like moi who feel that, if you are an independent sex entrepreneur, fully consenting and aware of what you are doing, then you have the right not to be beaten, raped, killed while plying your trade.

After all, prostitution in Canada is perfectly legal.

But keeping prostitutes safe?

Not so much.

Until now ...

Watch the usual suspects go cuckoo bananas.

More to come ...

* Note that this is an excerpt of the very first file on The Star's website which was subsequently updated and corrected. In fact, the decision is effective in 30 days. Sorry for the confusion.

UPPITY WOMAN DATE: More.

If upheld on appeal, the decision will plunge Parliament back into the extremely divisive and complicated job of criminalizing an activity that is not itself illegal.

Indeed, successive governments have been branded hypocritical for taking a legal act and erecting criminal impediments to every aspect of carrying it out.

Judge Himel said that any doubt about the dangers to women was dispelled when serial killer Robert Pickton's targeted women in a killing spree at his Vancouver pig farm.

She heard evidence during a weeklong hearing last year that as many as 300 sex-trade workers, most of whom were street prostitutes, have disappeared since 1985.

“It is estimated that street sex work makes up less than 20 per cent of prostitution in Canada, but they appear to account for more than 95 per cent of the homicide victims and missing women,” said a key witness for the litigants, Simon Fraser University criminologist John Lowman.

Judge Himel stressed that several other provisions relating to the sex trade remain in effect. These include prohibitions against child prostition; impeding pedestrian or vehicular traffic; and procuring.

She said that these are sufficient to give police the power to keep prostitutes from bothering passersby or turning neighbourhoods into sleazy dens of iniquity.

Judge Himel also said that pimps who threaten or commit violence against prostitutes can still be prosecuted using other sections of the Criminal Code.

Developing ...

UP YOURS DATE: Right on cue (Boldface mine):

Does anyone really believe that the likes of those women, the human wreckage who were killed by Robert Pickton, are going to spend their money on an “office,” advertise their services, keep accounts, submit to regular health testing and pay taxes on their income? Dream on.

<SNIP>

Being a prostitute is a shameful, indecent activity, and any sex worker who demands respect as a matter of course is fooling herself. She is not respectable. Politically correct people will say she is, but she isn’t.

Judgemental much?

Like I have said many times: Prostitution, Canada's Only Capital Crime^TM

READ UP ON IT DATE: CBC has the whole decision (PDF), all 132 pages of it.

UP THE HILL DATE: Surprise, surprise.

The Harper government says it will likely appeal a court ruling which strikes down parts of Canada's prostitution laws.

UPDATE TO THE UP YOURS DATE: Hmm, I see that the National Post's Barbara Kay realized that calling Pickton's victims ''human wreckage'' was, shall we say, a tad insensitive.

Note that it has mysteriously disappeared from her column. (Thanks to Brebis Noire in the comments for pointing this out!)

Does anyone really believe that they are going to spend their money on an “office,” advertise their services, keep accounts, submit to regular health testing and pay taxes on their income? Dream on.

<SNIP>

Being a prostitute is a shameful, indecent activity, and any sex worker who demands respect as a matter of course is fooling herself. She is not respectable. Politically correct people will say she is, but she isn’t.

For the record, every sex worker and/or escort I know, and I have come to know many, pays taxes.

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE TO THE UP YOURS DATE: Looks like I am not the only one who had an issue with Kay's Kolumn.

UPRIGHT DATE: Like I said, surprise, surprise.

The federal government will announce today it is appealing the Ontario court ruling that has thrown Canada’s prostitution laws into chaos.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson is expected to stand in Parliament during the daily Question Period and say the government will go to court to try to overturn the decision, sources told the Star.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty called on the federal government earlier Wednesday to appeal the ruling that struck down Canada’s prostitution laws as unconstitutional, and said Ontario would support an appeal.

“It proposes some profound changes to the laws that have been on the books here for decades, and we look forward to supporting the federal government in that appeal,” McGuinty said.

Pretty sad coming from a government that refuses to look into the disappearances and/or murders of some 500 aboriginal women. This court ruling may have helped to save some of them.

Oh but that's not all ...

A prominent Christian evangelical leader also urged the federal government to appeal the court ruling.

“It is imperative that Premier Dalton McGuinty and Prime Minister Stephen Harper act decisively to protect Canada from the scourge of legalized prostitution,” Charles McVety said in a statement.

“If they allow this ruling to stand they will be placing our children in danger, women at risk and families in jeopardy.

Um, how does that work?

More on McVety here.

 

 

Comments

[JR Jake]

Just checked into say Hi Antonia. Haven't seen nor heard from you awhile. Hope all is well.

[Stan Lerner]

I believe that the low social status of women in the sex trade is still intrinsically linked to the idea that human sexuality, especially the expression of sexual desire by women in our society, continues to be viewed in a negative light.

[D. Lowenstein]

While I have no theoretical problem with Judge Himmel's ruling, there are implications for condominium owners and apartment dwellers: Namely, there is a steady stream of male visitors to these buildings at all hours of the day and night, who disturb the peaceful tennancy of the occupants of these buildings. A quick glance at the Erotic Services section of Craigs List confirms that prostitutes have established their places of business in otherwise residential buildings. How does one explain the foot traffic frequenting certain units to one's daughter? Or for that matter to one's son?

[brebis noire]

Hm, the bolded part of Kay's column referring to human wreckage has been replaced by "they". However, she does seem to be supporting Pickton's right to murder prostitutes. Does Kay read herself before she sends her column in?
If I were a family member of one of Pickton's victims, my blood would boil.

[Voltaire's Ghost]

The obsession of some with prosecuting victimless crimes has generally been counter-productive to society.

In the cases of prohibition of these things, all it does is create an underground economy that creates and benefits criminals while harming everyone else involved. It's also a costly waste of resources in the form of law enforcement for unenforcable matters. This applies to our outdated marijuana laws as much as prostitution.

In the case of prostitution, regulate it, create industry standards (e.g. heath tests, ensure that where business is conducted it complies with zoning regulations) and most importantly, license and tax it so that the government can finally get revenue from it like any other business.

That way it's a win-win for everyone.

And for those who woiuld ask, "if you had a daughter, would you want her to do that?" The answer of course is no, I'd rather lock her in a convent in deepest, darkest Latvia before I allowed that to happen, but what I might personally choose to do is not necessarily the basis of just legislation, constitutional rights or sound governmental policies.

[Christine Nectarine]

In response to the "UP YOURS DATE": I've got to wonder why these people immediately judge the sex workers in the equation - why not the johns and the pimps?

I'm not saying it's right to judge either way, it's just that the conversation seems to focus so much on woman bashing that these (usually) male participants don't get held accountable for what may be their violent/immoral behaviour.

[Daniela]

Now we are half way there - all we have left to do is criminalize the male demand, as they have successfully carried in the Nordic and Swedish Model. Sweden's rates of human trafficking have significantly decreased since they have done this.

I do support the decriminalization of the prostituted women, but the Nordic model seems to be the most ethical way to deal with the sale of human beings.

Didn't the Red Light District in Amsterdam need to get drastically reduced due to an upsurge in organized crime?

[Daniela]

As a progressive feminist, it boggles the mind how so-called feminists can support the sale of human beings, whether women, transsexuals, or men.

The sense of entitlement that men have that they may rent human bodies so that they may masturbate into them is NOT what sacred women did in ancient history.

Sacred prostitutes in antiquity were not exchanging sex for money. They performed the sexual act as a SACRED RITUAL full of mystery. This is not the same as prostitution today.

[Daniela]

We should decriminalize all aspects of murder, pedophilia, infanticide, and rape.
They've been happening since the beginning of time anyways so we may as well regulate it.
This is a sarcastic remark, of course. It is so absurd to set a bar so low.

[Gail Trotman]

The decision by this judge has the potential of creating good law, but only if the provincial government works to bring about progressive and responsible legislation. The current turnstile, l800's model of managing sex workers is infantile, regressive - and dangerous for workers and for society. Imagine for a moment, a zoned area of every urban centre in the province that is designated for adult activities. Not a place where children would go, but a location for responsible adult activities - gambling, sex workers, marijuana cafes. Sex workers would be strictly regulated, receive regular physical checkups, be required to use condoms, no drug use, and be required to PAY TAXES like everyone else at the end of the year. This would end the dangerous and inappropriate social problems around streetwalkers in broad daylight, close to residential areas, human trafficking, and the violence associated with pimps and drug trafficking. Furthermore, the penalties for any activity outside the regulated areas would be severe. Not in in the morning and out at night, the turnstile model of justice used now, but years behind bars. For the provincial government to appeal the decision of this very insightful and progressive judge is just silly when she has presented a viable option to drug violence and unseemly activities in residential neighbourhoods! The courts and our legislators are partners in creating a just and safe society for all Canadians and it is incumbent on them to do so.

[Emeraldeyes]

Daniela, I too, am a feminist but I respectfully disagree with you. The issue is the safe environment in which BOTH MALE AND FEMALE sex workers would ply their trade. In fact, I believe that regulation of the profession would bring respect and credibility to the work. We have to get past thinking of sex workers as ''dirty, immoral or victims''. True, there are drug addicts but only because they have no control over their lives as a result of the existing laws, the fact that they are preyed on by criminals, drug pushers and abusers. Women are putting themselves through college and university on the proceeds of their profession. That is very empowering. Let's move forward and give these women and men power over their lives and respectability in their chosen profession.