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

Tue Jun 14 01:30:52 PDT 2011

Thanks for sharing this, Tami.  I know you think I am posting too much in
one day, but my reasoning is that there is to be a WAMVan discussion on
prostitution tomorrow night (now, tonight, actually), and I'm offering
information resources for studying up to discuss.  Elaborating on what you
posted, here are two further articles of interest:

This story from Canadian Press ran in Huffington Post (a libertarian-leaning
online US publication).  It gives very interesting highlights of key points
in the arguments made in court today and suggests that the court is likely
to decriminalize:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/06/13/prostitution-case-ontario-court-appeals_n_876228.html

But, here's the editorial that appeared in The National Post (a Conservative
paper):
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/06/13/national-post-editorial-board-fixing-our-broken-prostitution-laws/
The editorial writer criticises the basis of the Crown's appeal and ends by
advocating for legalization.  As mentioned in my previous post, this is a
third position, the other two being decriminalization (which is like what we
have for abortion) and abolition (often now legislated around the world as
demand-side control: illegalizing the buying but not the selling of sex).
Decriminalization is likely, in my opinion, to trigger a demand for
legalization - i.e., government regulation of prostitution as an industry.
Those concerned about prostitutes' rights will want to get out in front of
this to try to prevent the regulations from being draconian and too costly
for independent operators, leading to the dominance of prostitution
franchises in the legal realm and creating a new illegalization for others.

On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 12:11 AM, Tami Starlight <tamistarlight at gmail.com>wrote:

>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> 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
>
>
>
>     Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.<http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=2a7470c0c0&e=0de74ccece>
>
> <http://pivotlegal.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=39265c4143&e=0de74ccece>
>    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>
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-- 
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WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service www.wings.org
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