[Wamvan] Fwd: Bringing the fight for safer sex work to Toronto

Tue Jun 14 00:11:30 PDT 2011

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From: Katrina Pacey - Pivot <kpacey at pivotlegal.org>
Date: Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 12:25 PM
Subject: Bringing the fight for safer sex work to Toronto

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   Dear Tami,

Yesterday, when my plane touched down, I felt a flutter in my stomach. I
have come to Toronto to make submissions before the Ontario Court of
Appeal.  I am here on behalf of Pivot, PACE and the Downtown Eastside Sex
Workers United Against Violence Society to intervene in the case of *AG
Canada v. Bedford, Lebovitch and Scott*.

You may remember that last September, Justice Himel of the Ontario Superior
Court heard the case and struck down three laws related to adult
prostitution; the communication law, bawdy house law and living on the
avails law.  She found that these laws violate sex workers’ constitutional
right to safety, liberty and freedom of expression. Now the federal
government is appealing that decision.

Pivot, PACE and SWUAV felt it was really important to put our full support
behind the sex workers who have made this case possible. For the past
several months, our amazing legal team including Joseph Arvay QC, Elin
Sigurdson, Kat Kinch, Lisa Glowacki, Lisa Kerr and Maia Tsurumi, has been
busy preparing  our submissions.

On Thursday, I will do my best to convince five justices of the Ontario
Court of Appeal that these laws have a very significant and negative impact
on sex workers' safety, and particularly those sex workers at street level.
Our submissions will focus on the violent and disempowering circumstances
experienced by sex workers in the DTES. I will argue that by striking down
these laws, sex workers in all aspects of the industry will be able to take
steps to reduce the violence and other harms that they currently experience
as a result of criminalization.

It’s sure to be a very interesting week. We will hear from the Attorney
General of Canada, the Attorney General of Ontario and Alan Young who is
counsel for the three courageous sex workers who brought this challenge
before the Court. Then the intervenors will have their chance to speak,
including Maggie's, POWER, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, the BC
Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, the BC Civil Liberties Association, and
the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

After it’s all over, we will await a decision and then, even if we are
successful, it’s likely to be appealed again to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Meanwhile, I will be heading to Montreal on Friday to meet with local sex
workers to discuss how to carry on the fight for sex workers rights in
Canada.

Wish us luck!

Sincerely,

Katrina Pacey
Litigation Director

To read our factum, go to:

http://www.pivotlegal.org/sites/default/files/pdf/2011%2005%2004%20Factum%20of%20PACE%2C%20SWUAV%20and%20Pivot.pdf<http://pivotlegal.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=86af10e008&e=0de74ccece>
  Pivot’s mandate is to take a strategic approach to social change, using
the law to address the root causes that undermine the quality of life of
those most on the margins. We believe that everyone, regardless of income,
benefits from a healthy and inclusive community where values such as
opportunity, respect and equality are strongly rooted in the law.

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