Macleans.ca staff | Mar 21, 2007 | 3:43 pm EST
Former sex-trade are beginning a court challenge to federal prostitution laws on Wednesday.
Valerie Scott and Amy Lebovitch of the Sex Professionals of Canada and former dominatrix Terri Jean Bedford plan to challenge the current provisions in the Criminal Code dealing bawdy houses, living off the avails of prostitution and communicating for the purpose of prostitution.
The women will argue that the current legislation puts sex-trade workers in danger by forcing them onto the street, and point to murders in Vancouver and Edmonton as proof of their claim.
“These three provisions violate s.7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by depriving sex workers of their right to liberty and security,” they said in a statement. “Yet even as the body count continues to rise, nothing is done.”
Background:
Sex Professionals of Canada announced they would be pursuing the case in December, claiming the laws “do more harm than good.”
“It’s really unfortunate that our profession is one of the few professions that doesn’t have any legal protection to it,” spokeswoman Wendy Babcock said at the time. “Making it illegal is just forcing women into dangerous situations.”
At the root of the problem is the fact that prostitution itself is not illegal in Canada – only activities associated with it, such as “living on the avails” of prostitution or communciating for the purposes of prostitution. Sex Professionals of Canada favours decriminalization, saying sex workers would then be free to live however they pleased and receive the same protection from police as other citizens.
They oppose outright legalization on the grounds that licensing and STD-testing schemes instituted in places such as Amsterdam redirect sex workers’ income to governments and brothel owners. They also argue that sex trade workers in brothels are less able to turn away clients they feel uncomfortable with.
The December announcement came on the heels of a report from a House of Commons subcommittee, which found that Canada’s prostitution laws are ineffective, unevenly applied and not representative of the reality on the street. More to the point, the committee found the laws are not representative of what happens off the street – where, contrary to public perception, the vast majority of prostitution occurs.