http://m.en.canoe.ca/news/CNEWS/Canada/2012/03/22/19537841.html
Ontario prostitution decision due Monday
A landmark court ruling comes down on Monday that could drastically alter prostitution laws in Ontario, and potentially Canada.
A five-judge panel on the Ontario Court of Appeal will reveal its decision to either uphold or reverse a September 2010 ruling by Ontario Superior Court Judge Susan Himel that struck down three prostitution laws from the Criminal Code, declaring them unconstitutional because they put the safety of sex workers at risk.
Himel struck down the laws that criminalize pimping, operating a bawdy house and communicating for the purposes of prostitution, basing her decision on a conclusion that the laws, while generally seen as there for the protection of sex workers, actually endanger them by forcing them to ply their trade in insecure locations, such as the street, and engage in cash-for-sex transactions in risky and isolated places.
Her ruling came after a constitutional challenge by dominatrix Terri-Jean Bedford, former sex worker Valerie Scott and current prostitute Amy Lebovitch. The legal action was fronted by Osgoode Hall law professor Alan Young, who was not immediately available for comment.
The Crown subsequently appealed Himel’s ruling, and in June of last year the court heard from government lawyers who defended the laws as necessary to protect both sex workers and society as a whole.
Federal Crown counsel Michael Morris called prostitution a choice, and that sex workers are aware of the safety risks involved with what they are doing; Ontario prosecutors insisted that prostitution is degrading for both seller and buyer, and that such an alteration of the law could lead to young women seeing sex work as a “career choice.”
Valerie Scott, legal coordinator for the Sex Professionals of Canada and a former prostitute, says a reversal of Himel’s decision will mean keeping sex workers in a world of potential danger.
“It is like serving us up on a silver platter to sexual predators,” Scott said on Thursday. “All we can do is hope for a good decision, but this court is quite conservative.”
Scott said under the laws in question, women can’t legally work together in a single dwelling as a way of protecting themselves, can’t legally hire security because the money they would use to pay them comes from prostitution, and rarely work in protective groups while working the street for fear of drawing police attention.
Ontario prostitution decision due Monday
A landmark court ruling comes down on Monday that could drastically alter prostitution laws in Ontario, and potentially Canada.
A five-judge panel on the Ontario Court of Appeal will reveal its decision to either uphold or reverse a September 2010 ruling by Ontario Superior Court Judge Susan Himel that struck down three prostitution laws from the Criminal Code, declaring them unconstitutional because they put the safety of sex workers at risk.
Himel struck down the laws that criminalize pimping, operating a bawdy house and communicating for the purposes of prostitution, basing her decision on a conclusion that the laws, while generally seen as there for the protection of sex workers, actually endanger them by forcing them to ply their trade in insecure locations, such as the street, and engage in cash-for-sex transactions in risky and isolated places.
Her ruling came after a constitutional challenge by dominatrix Terri-Jean Bedford, former sex worker Valerie Scott and current prostitute Amy Lebovitch. The legal action was fronted by Osgoode Hall law professor Alan Young, who was not immediately available for comment.
The Crown subsequently appealed Himel’s ruling, and in June of last year the court heard from government lawyers who defended the laws as necessary to protect both sex workers and society as a whole.
Federal Crown counsel Michael Morris called prostitution a choice, and that sex workers are aware of the safety risks involved with what they are doing; Ontario prosecutors insisted that prostitution is degrading for both seller and buyer, and that such an alteration of the law could lead to young women seeing sex work as a “career choice.”
Valerie Scott, legal coordinator for the Sex Professionals of Canada and a former prostitute, says a reversal of Himel’s decision will mean keeping sex workers in a world of potential danger.
“It is like serving us up on a silver platter to sexual predators,” Scott said on Thursday. “All we can do is hope for a good decision, but this court is quite conservative.”
Scott said under the laws in question, women can’t legally work together in a single dwelling as a way of protecting themselves, can’t legally hire security because the money they would use to pay them comes from prostitution, and rarely work in protective groups while working the street for fear of drawing police attention.
