Ontario Appeal Court strikes down ban on brothels

[W-olf]

Brothels and pimping legalized in Ontario, Canada

The top court in Canada's Ontario province on Monday legalized pimping and brothels in an attempt to make prostitution less dangerous for those employed as sex workers.

The landmark decision noted that prostitution is very dangerous and existing laws prevented sex workers from banding together and hiring security guards.

The case will most likely be appealed to Canada's Supreme Court and a final decision is thought to be at least a year away, according to the Globe and Mail.

Starting in 2013, sex workers will be able to work together in a brothel in any part of the province, the newspaper reported. On April 25, prostitutes will be able to hire body guards, the court decided.

Communicating for the purposes of prostitution will still be illegal, according to the judgement, the newspaper reported. Keeping this part of the current law in place will likely help assuage fears that the new laws will encourage sex workers into overtly propositioning clients in public, the newspaper added.

By msnbc.com staff

 

[Death Dealer]

Re: Brothels and pimping legalized in Ontario, Canada

*Makes vacation plans for Ontario*

 

[Fuji Vice]

Re: Brothels and pimping legalized in Ontario, Canada

Wow. MSNBC has become even more of a joke to me than I ever thought possible. That is perhaps the shoddiest reporting I've ever read and really glosses over the main story. It also resorts to terms like "pimping", which doesn't even make sense considering the laws for solicitation of sex haven't changed. In case anyone is interested in reading a more accurate account of this story, here's the article from CBC...

Ontario’s Court of Appeal agrees that sex workers should be permitted to work in safer locations and pay others to help protect them, but not that they should be able to communicate with their clients in public places.

It struck down two laws Monday, calling them unconstitutional, but upheld the ban on solicitation, saying that prostitutes should not be able to communicate with their clients in public places.

The court released a decision on an appeal of Superior Court Judge Susan G. Himel's high-profile ruling that three provisions of the Criminal Code pertaining to prostitution should be struck down on the grounds that they are unconstitutional.

The Ontario appeal court agreed with two-thirds of Himel's ruling, namely that the provisions prohibiting common bawdy-houses and living off the avails of prostitution, are both unconstitutional in their current form.

But the court disagreed that the communicating provision must be struck down, meaning that it "remains in full force."

The court said it will strike the word “prostitution” from the definition of "common bawdy-house," as it applies to Section 210 of the Criminal Code, which otherwise prevents prostitutes from offering services out of fixed indoor locations such as brothels or their homes.

12-month delay
However, the court said the bawdy-house provisions would not be declared invalid for 12 months, so that Parliament can have a chance to draft Charter-compliant provisions to replace them, if it chooses to do so.

The court will also clarify that the prohibition of living off the avails of prostitution – as spelled out in Section 212(1)(j) of the Criminal Code – should pertain only to those who do so “in circumstances of exploitation.”

The changes to the "living-off-the-avails" provision will not come into effect for 30 days.

Lawyer Alan Young, who represented three women who brought forward the application to have the provisions declared unconstitutional, said the appeal court’s decision had ushered in a "new era" for sex workers.

"I am thrilled that the Court of Appeal has done the right thing," Young told reporters after the court released its judgment Monday.

"They may not have gone as far as the Superior Court judge, but when you actually look at the result, they’ve done the right thing in terms of modifying the law so that sex workers will not face the same risks they face on a daily basis."

Concern for sex workers still on the street
Valerie Scott of Sex Professionals of Canada said most sex workers in the industry today are already operating indoors.

While Scott said she welcomed the court’s ruling, she expressed concern for sex workers who are still out on the street.

"I do worry about my street colleagues. What are they going to do?" Scott said Monday, appearing alongside Young at a news conference in Toronto.

"We have to figure out something to make these women and men safe."

 

[TroyTheAverage]

Gonna book a trip to Ontario soon, I think. Sounds like a good time. :