Canada’s prostitution laws unconstitutional, court rules

[SidDithers]

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/867332--canada-s-prostitution-laws-unconstitutional-court-rules?bn=1

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.

Himel said that while she has concluded the laws amount to a serious violation of the Charter, she has imposed a 30-day “stay” on her decision to give lawyers for the federal and provincial governments, as well as the women at the centre of the case, an opportunity to make fuller submissions on whether her decision to invalidate the laws should be placed on hold for an even longer period of time.

Much more detail at link.

Sid

[saltpoint]

1. The law can't effectively be enforced anyway, so why

not legalize it, tax it, medically monitor it, and let grown-ups proceed in accordance with a traditional service.

[SidDithers]

2. Yeah...

the Canadian laws are a mish-mash of conflicting scenarios. Prostitution, itself, isn't illegal. But almost every activity associated with prostitution is. Some women are going to earn a living as prostitutes, but the Canadian laws made it illegal for them to communicate, set up in a secure location, or live off the proceeds.

If this ruling is allowed to stand, that situation should change.

Sid

[saltpoint]

6. There are some interesting 'inside trader' angle to

this issue.

Liked the post, SidDithers. Thank you.

C.O.Y.O.T.E. runs some interesting points on the subject of sex work. There are clearly some very bright souls afoot in that organization.

[TorchTheWitch]

11. it's why the strip clubs became cheap brothels

Not being allowed to solicit meant the only way you could legally do it was in a brothel or a strip club. This is why so many Canadian strippers jump the border and work here... they either don't have to do the sex acts as part of their job, but if they want to, they can get paid decently for it.

[depakid]

3. Interestingly enough, some folks thought of and implemented that decades ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_Australia#New_South_Wales

[saltpoint]

5. It wouldn't appear to have been implemented in

places where it hasn't been implemented, however, which I believe instructs a key aspect of the OP.

[depakid]

7. Just saying there's a model out there to work from

Just as there is with a current internal debate in the Labor party about how to implement "euthanasia" (which commands over 70% support among the electorate).

First order of business is to frame:

Death with Dignity

and then look to Oregon's highly successful model in drafting up and implementing the legislation.

Fortunately, our suggestions about this to the local Labor MP (and a high profile Journo) seem to have been taken to heart.

When the time comes, I anticipate that our Green Senators will use our advice, too.

[applegrove]

4. I'm with you but I think the Canadian government is afraid of Canada becoming a tourist destination

due to lax prostitution laws. I think that is the theory. I'm with you in that I'd like to see those girls safer and healthier. Imagine if their was information on programs to get people off of drugs available at your workplace if you were a prostitute. Probably fewer girls would be in the business out of desperation. They did a study on prostitutes in Kenya years ago. British colonial authorities only went after the madams..not the street prostitutes when they cracked down. Why? Because those women who ran the brothels had some power.

[Lilith Velkor]

8. Not all prostitutes are female.

Just sayin.

[SidDithers]

9. Absolutely correct...

but the three who brought the suit were.

Sid

[Lilith Velkor]

10. Yeah, I know, but the stereotyping annoys.

Especially when people blather, "Those girls need to get off drugs!" as if other things - such as, say, student loans or, y'know, having kids - don't cost money.

[Electric Monk]

12. nt whoops

[Pushed To The Left]

13. Good for Canada. Vice laws have no place in a free country.

Illegal prostitution = pimps, streetwalkers, sex in cars, condoms in the street, drugs, violence, spread of STDs
Legal prostitution = Brothels in red light districts, safe and tested prostitutes, no violence, no criminal element

Eliminating vice laws is a no-brainer if people actually take the time to think about it.