[Wamvan] Fwd: Sex workers and the Supreme Court of Canada

Sat Jan 21 00:38:04 PST 2012

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   Dear Tami,

 Yesterday was an amazing and emotional day. It is hard to put it into
words what it meant to me, but I am going to give it a try!

 It is incredible when months of meetings, research, legal analysis,
strategizing and writing culminate in one historic moment – when the black
robes are on and you take the podium to argue before the Supreme Court of
Canada.  What made this experience even more powerful for me was seeing
courageous women, like Sheri Kiselbach and DJ, walk into Canada’s highest
court to fight for human rights for sex workers in Canada. It was also such
an an honour to stand in solidarity with sex workers and allies from across
Canada on the steps of the courthouse (in minus 10 degree weather) united
in the fight for safety, dignity and equality for all sex workers.

It has been 4 ½ years since I was first asked to represent the Downtown
Eastside Sex Workers United Against Violence Society (SWUAV). SWUAV is a
non-profit organization that is run by and for street-based sex workers in
the DTES. Their mission is to create social and legal change to improve
safety for street-based sex workers. One of SWUAV’s first initiatives was
to bring a court challenge to the laws that criminalize adult prostitution
- laws that rob sex workers of their ability to live and work under
conditions of safety, equality and dignity.

Shortly after SWUAV initiated the case, the amazing Sheri Kiselbach signed
on as a second plaintiff. Sheri currently works as the violence prevention
coordinator at PACE Society. Prior to working with PACE, Sheri worked in
the sex industry for almost 30 years.

Perhaps this is admitting my naivety, but I was very surprised when,
shortly after initiating this action, the Federal Government brought an
application to have our clients’ case thrown out for lack of “standing.”
Put simply, standing means the legal right to bring a constitutional
challenge to legislation. I always knew the government would fight hard to
defend the laws, but I did not know they would go so far as to try to deny
my clients their day in court. Well, I have learned the hard way that this
government is prepared to fight aggressively to stop human rights cases
from being heard. So, for the past three years, we have been engaged in an
intense fight to defend our clients’ right to challenge these laws. This
issue has taken us to the BC Supreme Court, and then to the BC Court of
Appeal and, yesterday, it took us to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The hearing began with the Federal Government's argument that there is no
need to give Sheri and SWUAV the opportunity to challenge the laws because,
despite the violence and vulnerabilities that sex workers experience, it is
reasonable to expect an individual, active sex worker to come forward.

Then it was our turn. I look forward to sharing the video of the hearing
when it is online because it is hard to do justice to the powerful
submissions of my co-counsel, Joseph Arvay, when he addressed the nine
justices of the Court. I will pause here for a moment to tell you that
there is an incredible legal team that have made this case possible - Joe
Arvay, Elin Sigurdson, Lisa Glowacki, Lisa Kerr, Kat Kinch and many others.
It was also amazing to have my
co-workers<http://pivotlegal.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=b86235445c&e=0de74ccece>from
Pivot there with me.

Joe opened with a powerful description of our clients, the extraordinary
violence and discrimination that they face, and the importance of ensuring
they have their day in court. He spoke about the need to strike down the
prostitution laws, which, for many sex workers in the DTES, is a matter of
life and death. He explained that SWUAV brought this case forward in order
to protect the privacy and safety of its members, who were not in a
position to do so because of their vulnerability and marginalization. Joe
described how Sheri could not have brought this complex and controversial
litigation forward when she was still involved in sex work.

After Joe’s hour was up, all of the intervenor groups (other than the
Ontario government!) argued for a law of standing that provides access to
justice for vulnerable people. Their arguments drove home the point that
this access to justice issue extends far beyond SWUAV and Sheri, and that
this decision will greatly impact their clients which include women, people
living with HIV/AIDS, persons with physical and mental disabilities, people
living in poverty, children, the environment and many others.

When we left the courthouse, we were met by a crowd of sex workers and
allies who rallied<http://pivotlegal.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=435931e954&e=0de74ccece>on
the steps of the courthouse to show their support. It was incredible
to
walk out into the freezing cold and see a sea of red umbrellas (the symbol
for sex workers’ rights), so many good friends and allies, a media scrum
waiting for comment, and our clients’ smiling faces. It was a great day for
justice, and I feel incredibly fortunate to be part of the Pivot community
that made it possible.

Sincerely,

Katrina Pacey

PS - Here are a few media stories discussing the case:

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Charter+challenge+moves+Supreme+Court/6025700/story.html<http://pivotlegal.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=8c23b1d7c8&e=0de74ccece>

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/01/19/sex-workers-turn-to-supreme-court<http://pivotlegal.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=caeca4d63c&e=0de74ccece>

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2012/01/should-canadas-prostitution-laws-be-amended.html<http://pivotlegal.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=0ee717294e&e=0de74ccece>

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