Public Consultation on Prostitution-Related Offences in Canada

On December 20, 2013 the Supreme Court of Canada delivered a landmark unanimous decision (9-0) in the case of Attorney General of Canada v. Terri Jean Bedford, Amy Lebovitch and Valerie Scott. Canada’s highest court has ruled that three provisions of Canada’s Criminal Code, s. 210 (keeping or being found in a bawdy house), s. 212(1)(j) (living on the avails of prostitution), and s. 213(1)(c) (communicating in public for the purpose of prostitution) violate the right to security of the person protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (s.7). All three laws have been struck down. ”

This week the Federal Government launched a ‘Public Consultation on Prostitution-Related Offences in Canada’ on the Department of Justice website that will remain open until March 17th, 2014. The website includes a ‘Discussion Paper’ and provides room for the public to submit 500 word answers to 6 questions. It can be viewed here.  Although we agree it is important for the public to voice their opinions,  the consultation has been criticized for several reasons and we fully agree that 1) Sex workers are the primary stakeholder and should be directly and separately consulted with; 2)  An online survey does not take the place of face to face consultations with key stakeholders; 3) The discussion paper and questions are worded to favour criminalization and ignore the findings in Bedford that the laws themselves are harmful; and 4) The Justice Minister has already spoken publicly of the Conservative government’s interest in the Nordic Model (criminalizing the purchase of sex), a model that Shift does not support. We encourage sex workers and their allies across Canada to provide their suggestions on the public consultation.  Sex Worker groups are providing outlines of the key issues to consider in framing your response. An example of these suggestions can be found here.