[SWAF-Potluck] Government tables new prostitution legislation

[Andy Sorfleet]

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http://www.ctvnews.ca/
CTV NEWS
Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Andrea Janus and Sonja Puzic




Government tables new prostitution legislation

The federal government has tabled its new prostitution legislation, which
targets pimps, customers and others who "exploit" sex workers.
Justice Minister Peter MacKay tabled the bill -- C36: The Protection of
Communities and Exploited Persons Act -- Wednesday afternoon in the House
of Commons.

The legislation comes after the Supreme Court struck down three main
provisions in this country's prostitution laws late last year because they
created a dangerous environment for sex workers and impeded their ability
to protect themselves. The court gave the government a year to re-write the
legislation.

The new legislation targets "johns" and pimps, MacKay told reporters:
"Those that treat sex services as a commodity."

He said most Canadians view prostitution "as a dehumanizing phenomenon"
that puts people at risk. He said the bill will "protect those who are most
vulnerable by going after the perpetrators, the perverts, those who are
consumers of this degrading practice."


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[photo caption]
Justice Minister Peter MacKay takes questions a news conference on
Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 4, 2014. (Sean Kilpatrick /
THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Under the bill:

the purchase of sexual services will now be a criminal offence, as will
financially benefitting from the exploitation of others through
prostitution.
the advertising of others' sexual services either in print or online will
be a criminal offence. Prostitutes can advertise their own sexual services,
MacKay said.

Prostitutes themselves will not be charged "for any part they play" in the
purchase, material benefit, procurement or advertising of sexual services,
MacKay said.

However, it will be a crime to communicate for the purpose of selling
sexual services in public spaces where a child could reasonably be expected
to be present.

Emily Symons of POWER, an advocacy group for sex workers, said her
organization is "absolutely outraged" and "heartbroken" by the newly
introduced legislation.

She said studies have shown -- and the Supreme Court has agreed -- that
criminalization of prostitution puts sex workers at increased risk of
violence.

"Sex workers will die because of these laws," she told CTV's Power Play
Wednesday.

Symons said that women working on the streets protect themselves in three
key ways: by screening potential johns before jumping into their vehicles,
by working in pairs or groups and staying within well-lit, populated areas
so they can scream for help if something goes wrong.

Outlawing the sale of sex in public places will force sex workers to
retreat to dark, isolated spaces and skip the screening process, which puts
them in danger, Symons said.

Kate Shannon, a University of British Columbia researcher who has studied
the impact of criminalization on the sex industry, also told Power Play
that MacKay's new bill is "alarming."

She said criminalization will only put sex workers, especially those who
are marginalized, at risk.

Money set aside for support systems

The prostitution bill also sets aside $20 million to fund support systems
for sex workers who want to leave the trade.

"No model that involves full decriminalization or legalization will ever
make prostitution a safe endeavour," MacKay told an afternoon press
conference. "There will always be an inherent danger in this degrading
activity."

Earlier Wednesday, MacKay said the new legislation comes after broad
consultations with a variety of stakeholders.

"We think we have reached what will be the most constructive and the most
compassionate approach that is aimed not only at protecting vulnerable
people but the community as well," MacKay told reporters on Parliament Hill
Wednesday morning.

Last December, the Supreme Court declared that three provisions in Canada's
prostitution laws are unconstitutional: the prohibition on keeping a
brothel, living on the avails of prostitution and communicating in public
for the purpose of prostitution.

There were a number of international models for dealing with prostitution
that the government could look to as it drafted the new bill.

Decriminalization or legalization, the model followed in countries like the
Netherlands, aims to reduce potential harms by regulating prostitution. The
prohibition model, used in most U.S. states, bans the purchase and sale of
all sexual services outright.

A third option, known as the "Nordic" model for its use in countries such
as Sweden and Norway, is where clients and others are criminalized, but not
prostitutes. This model also includes programming to assist sex workers.
MacKay said Wednesday morning the government's approach would be "a
Canadian model."

Earlier this week, the federal Justice Department released its results from
an online survey about prostitution that included more than 31,000
respondents. More than half of respondents said buying sex should be
illegal, but two-thirds said selling sex should not be illegal.

MacKay said that the survey's results were considered as the new
legislation was drafted.
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