The Ontario Superior Court rules that the federal prostitution law is indeed constitutional and that sex workers’ Charter rights are relatively protected. This is a first defeat for the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform, which argued the opposite.
The court wrote, among other things, that Parliament’s response to an urgent and real concern was a carefully crafted bill that prohibits exploitation, the most harmful aspect of sex trafficking, while protecting sex workers from prosecution.
The Higher Regional Court emphasizes that violations of the law also enable prostitutes to take security measures to protect themselves.
According to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, offenses relating to communication, disrupting traffic on public roads and purchasing sexual services are consistent with the Charter.
Judge Robert F. Goldstein goes on to write that decriminalizing prostitution might better regulate sex trafficking, but it is up to Parliament to legislate on the issue, not the courts.
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The 148-page ruling by Justice Robert Goldstein of the Ontario Superior Court.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Jean-Philippe Nadeau
The Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform argued at hearings in Toronto in October 2022 that the law is counterproductive because it promotes stigmatization of prostitutes and encourages violence against them rather than reducing the risks.
This coalition, which includes 26 associations across the country, advocates for the decriminalization of prostitution in Canada.
According to her, the law violates several articles of the Canadian Charter, such as the right to security and life, as well as freedom of association and expression, as it forces sex workers to work underground.
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The Harper government adopted the Scandinavian model after its defeat of the Supreme Court of Canada’s Bedford decision in 2013.
Photo: Getty Images / Sébastien THOMAS – STH Photograp
This is the first time that the new 2014 law as a whole will be put to the test in the courts.
Certainly, several prostitution convictions have been overturned or upheld in Canada, but these cases involved sex workers who, like NS, had been arrested for solicitation in Ontario.
Furthermore, the Ontario Court of Appeal in the NS case emphasized that the law was indeed constitutional. The Supreme Court of Canada subsequently declined to hear NS’s appeal.
After its December 2013 defeat at the Supreme Court of Canada in the Bedford decision, the Harper government retained the Scandinavian model to criminalize prostitution in the country.
Since 2014, the law has made it a criminal offense to purchase sexual services instead of offering them, meaning that customers are now punished.
Pimping and any advertising related to the promotion of sexual services are also prohibited.
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Sandra Wesley runs Maison Stella, a community organization in Montreal that advocates for sex workers.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Mark Bochsler
Allianz says it is disappointed but not surprised by the decision. She believes she now has legal arguments that her lawyers can focus on as they prepare for an appeal.
The ruling confirms what we have been telling the public for years, namely that the law is not designed to protect us and that it creates working conditions that are dangerous, explains Sandra Wesley, director of the Maison Stella de Montréal, one of the 26 organizations of the Alliance.
In her opinion, it is also wrong to believe that today the client is being punished and the sex worker is decriminalized.
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No date has been set for the Ontario Court of Appeal to hear the case, but it likely won’t be until 2025.
Photo: Courtesy of SARA LITTLE
“We will not accept the idea that violence against sex workers is permissible, tolerable and consistent with the Charter, and I think the Canadian public will be on our side in this argument,” she continues.
Sandra Wesley is calling on the federal government to live up to its responsibilities because she wants changes to the law to be made when Parliament returns in the fall.
“We hope that the new justice minister will face up to the fact that going to court to defend the right to resort to violence against sex workers is incompatible with the government’s values,” she concludes