Ontario Canada legalizes brothels and pimping!

[down_to_business]

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.

 

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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.

[Luv2play]

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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.

 

As I understand the ruling, communicating for the purposes of prostitiution IN PUBLIC will still be illegal. That excludes escort ads in newspapers and on the Internet. But not overt pick-ups on the street, should they be made public through oral communication. I assume this means sting operations on the street could still entrap sex workers. But this is still a big step forward, particularly the brothels part. While it only applies to Ontario as of 2013, the other provinces will likely follow suit IF the case is not appealed to the Supreme Court. But the Conservative government under Stephen Harper is likely to appeal.

[trilingual]

Chances are this will end up in Canada's Supreme Court before it's all over. I'm a bit mystified by the maintenance of the ban on solicitation. If sex work is a legitimate business activity in Canada, then how can advertising it be illegal? If nothing else, it would seem to violate free speech rights in Canada's Charter of Rights. Advertising can be regulated (like for tobacco and liquor) but not banned outright. It'll be interesting to see how the Court rules on this issue, if it upholds the legality of the business.

[Luv2play]

As I said above, advertising for escort services in the media is not illegal now, it is the open communication between two persons in a public place (i.e. street pickups) which the anti-solicitation provision applies to. My understanding is that this is aimed at preserving orderliness in public places and discouraging street prostitution.

 

According to studies I have seen most prostitution now occurs from peopls's homes or other private locations and the law that was struck down would make these enterprises legal and not subject to the "keeping a bawdy house" prohibition. I would think that sexual activities for money in a place of public entertainment would still be prohibited.

 

Nothing changes for 12 months under the ruling to give governments the time to amend laws. I expect that the federal government or others will appeal this to the Supreme Court. But they would have to move on revising the current statutes at the same time in the eventuality that they lost at the Supreme Court.

[J-Man]

The Canadians don't care about the morality of the issue, so long as everything is printed in English and French. Cherchez l'homme!

[Luv2play]

The Canadians don't care about the morality of the issue, so long as everything is printed in English and French. Cherchez l'homme!

 

Actually most Canadians care very much that sex workers are being murdered at an alarming rate. We have had huge cases such as the Robert Pickton case in BC where one man is supposed to have killed over 50 women involved in the sex trade.

 

The courts are recognizing this shift in public attitudes in recent rulings.