Canada’s Supreme Court Legalizes Prostitution
The
Canadian Supreme Court has struck down that nation’s anti-prostitution
laws on Friday, including laws banning the keeping of a brothel. The 9
to 0 ruling is seen as a victory for sex workers seeking safer working
conditions.The Court found that the laws violate the guarantees of life, liberty and security of the person. The ruling will not go into effect immediately. The Court gave Parliament one year to respond with new legislation.
Prostitution is not illegal in Canada, per-se, but most of the activities associated with prostitution are illegal including living off the money made by prostitution, street solicitation and keeping a brothel.
Twenty-three years ago, the Canadian Supreme Court upheld these specific laws; however, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote in the majority opinion that Canada’s social landscape has changed greatly in the interim and that “These appeals and the cross-appeal are not about whether prostitution should be legal or not. They are about whether the laws Parliament has enacted on how prostitution may be carried out pass constitutional muster. I conclude that they do not.”
Amy Lebovitch, who was part of the lawsuit overturning the laws, stated that “I’m shocked and pleased that our sex laws will not cause us harm in a year.”
Katrina Pacey, a lawyer with a group of Vancouver sex workers called today “an unbelievably important day for the sex workers but also for human rights. The court recognized that sex workers have the right to protect themselves and their safety.”
McLachlin also wrote in the majority opinion that “The harms identified by the courts below are grossly disproportionate to the deterrence of community disruption that is the object of the law. Parliament has the power to regulate against nuisances, but not at the cost of the health, safety and lives of prostitutes.”
Prostitution is legal in a number of countries.
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