Human Rights versus Social Mores

"These appeals and the cross-appeals 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. These restrictions on prostitution put the safety and lives of prostitutes at risk and are therefore unconstitutional."
"Parliament has the power to regulate against nuisances, but not at the cost of the health, safety and lives of prostitutes."
Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, Supreme Court of Canada

"This is such a powerful day. This is the first step toward destigmatizing sex work and valuing the life, liberty and security of sex workers. It's really wonderful that we can all start prioritizing our security in how we work. I can hire security, hire drivers, and work in indoor locations. We can really take the time to screen clients before we negotiate rates and safer sex practices."
Caroline, Ottawa sex worker

"We still have to respond to those [law-enforcement complaints]. We want to continue to make sure that we are protecting our vulnerable in the community and that we are holding offenders accountable and what are the tools that we need in order to accomplish those."
"The third piece is also making sure that we can effectively deal with concerns that are raised within the community. So those are three areas that any new legislation, I think, needs to strike that balance and find those solutions."
Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau

While characterizing the rarely-unanimous Supreme Court ruling striking down Canada's prostitution laws as unconstitutional, to represent a "major shift" in the law, Chief Bordeleau, no doubt speaking for police chiefs across the country, pointed out that law-enforcement efforts that motivate police to act are largely driven by community concerns and complaints.

The Supreme Court gave Parliament a one-year period in which to construct a workable new set of guidelines through legislation addressing prostitution.

Current laws prohibiting one's presence in a bawdy-house, living off the profits of someone's selling of sex and soliciting sex in a public arena were recognized by the Supreme Court Justices as effectively violating the right of prostitutes to life, liberty and security of the person, a right guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The current, flawed, legislation abrogated those rights.

"We are reviewing the decision and are exploring all possible options to ensure the criminal law continues to address the significant harms that flow from prostitution to communities, those engaged in prostitution, and vulnerable persons", wrote Justice Minister Peter MacKay in a statement addressing the Supreme Court finding of unconstitutionality of current prostitution legislation.

Prostitution, while in and of itself is not illegal under legislation, leaves the women engaged in it vulnerable to violence under the current prohibitions that leave prostitutes little option but to perform street-work. The government is invested in the defence of public morality. Many people choose to blame prostitutes for their lifestyle choices, and feel they have an obligation to work to end prostitution.

And good luck with that one. From time immemorial, males have stalked females and sought their sexual services, taken or given. Segments of society view prostitution as an assault on decency and the victimization of women. This is the simplest of perceptions and not without merit, but prostitution has proven itself to be hugely resistant to abolishment by any means; men demand those services and women are pressed by circumstances into providing them.

The circumstances are varied and often dreadfully troubling, but there will always be women and girls who have suffered the misery of sexual predation, and where poverty and desperation will present prostitution as a means of survival. The profession is not an admirable one; it represents a furtive service; men seek it out as a physical need for themselves, women provide it as an existential necessity for themselves. Destitution often their motivation.

It is not just the underworld male figures, the physical labourers, the uneducated and the uncouth who turn to prostitution, for there is no part of society immune to it. Some of the Members of Parliament who will work toward enacting acceptable new legislation may themselves be users of this unique service. And while experimenting schoolboys may at times look for answers in paid sex, world-renowned heart surgeons have also been arrested by police in 'john sweeps'.

A coalition of three groups asked the court to uphold the current law. That coalition was comprised of The Christian Legal Fellowship, the Catholic Civil Rights League and Real Women of Canada. "The Court of Appeal's decision in this case directly challenges parliament's ability to legislate in areas that reflect a shared belief that certain acts are immoral", argued their lawyer.

Balancing that concern is that of the rights of vulnerable women engaged in a dangerous profession to be protected from the violence of the very men who seek out their services.