Judge Overturns Sex Trade Laws in Ontario

“Canada has taken a large step towards decriminalizing prostitution after a judge agreed with a dominatrix that current laws put sex workers at increased risk from violent clients.”
Although prostitution is not illegal in Canada, there are laws which criminalize most aspects of the trade. Ontario Superior Court, Justice Susan Himel repealed three laws to allow communicating for the purposes of prostitution, pimping and operating a brothel.

A dominatrix/prostitute named Terri-Jean Bedford is the proprietor pf the Bondage Bungalow. Back in1994 the cops busted her but the court has now reversed. Bedford argued that she was a street prostitute acting within the law and as a result she was beaten and raped while working the streets of Windsor, Calgary and Vancouver. She argued the laws that forces sex workers from the safety of their homes to face violence on the streets were unconstitutional.

Justice Himel ruled the risk to the public of Ontario is outweighed by the risk to the safety of sex workers, that the laws restricting prostitutes to the streets violated a provision of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guarantee the right to life, liberty and security.

The judge agreed that the dangers prostitutes face far outweigh any potential harm to the public. In a 131-page ruling, Justice Himel said that prostitutes are forces to choose between their liberty and their right to their own safety.

As a result, a prostitute should now be able to call the police if a client gets violent without fear of prosecution for working out of a home. Likewise, unlicensed brothels may now have to be permitted.

The decision becomes active in thirty days if not appealed by the Justice Minister. This change will allow prostitutes to be able to communicate “with customers on the street, conduct business in their homes or brothels and hire bodyguards and accountants without exposing them to the risk of criminal sanctions.”

Critics fear this will create a haven for human traffickers; however, Robert Pickton, a Vancouver pig farmer, convicted in 2007 of killing of six street walkers and is suspected of killing many many more, is more that ample evidence of the dangers facing prostitutes in Canada.



-- Modified on 10/2/2010 2:42:12 PM

At least there is one country in North America that is headed in the right direction

States given the rationale. Apparently street walking was already legal but indoor sex for pay was illegal under the brothel rationale and the effect was to force ladies into the street where they more at risk.

Dear Legal Beagle:
What would the political climate be and under what type of president and congress would it be under? Also when would you say it could come up in the next ten years or the next twenty years? In a country that has always been about family values, that really would be a move that would say the country is going to pot. I would be antithetical to the values of several especially in the bible belt south where old traditions die hard. Also the primary question would also be the zoning with respect to this if it were to pass.  Imagine the imbroglios with respect to where this could happen if it where passed. You would have to consider that europeans are more liberal than we would ever be, that is why the chances of it passing would be considerably greater.

no doubt many will disagree but I see legalization or decriminalization of prostitution as an inevitable occurrence in the future of  a mature USA.

that the bible thumpers are not just in the bible belt, there's a shit ton of them in the beltway too. Read a book called "The Family" by Jeff Sharlet. I cannot see this happening in the US in my lifetime, but I hope I'm wrong.

.... is via the Federal Courts.  Given all the 'rights' the courts have invented over the years that are not enumerated in the Constitution, it is a logical extension to the right to privacy for a provider to conduct her business IN PRIVATE (via the www) and entertain clients at her place or theirs.  Given the relatively recent Supreme Court decision eliminating 'sodomy' laws, it only naturally follows that the court would rule that it IS NONE OF THE STATE'S BUSINESS why a man and woman meet in private and what they do when they get there.   Nor can the State tell a woman that she CAN have sex with a man for countless reasons, but NOT because he provides her with money.  

IMHO, this does NOT mean that either streetwalking, soliciting in public places nor brothels will be allowed.   Those would not be acts that, in my delusional reality, come under the right of privacy.  

MVR

Things happen; change is evidence that we are alive. Every one knows prostitution exists, those of us who fund it want it legalized, other do not but they know it is here to stay. As far as the bible, the good book is filled with whores, who was Mary Magdalene? And she was on the right hand of Jesus.

Of course zoning laws and licenses will determine where and how this will occur. As for the South, that is the one place prostitution and brothels are an intregal part of the culture. Nothing excites a southener like a night time religious service of hell fire; that is usually the kick off to a night of sex and drinking. When ever I would pick up my seventeen year old girl friend at the end of church service, believe me her panties were soaking before we even got started.

Glad you agree that the country is going to Pot, we are voting to legalize Mary Jane in less than a month here in the golden state. Europeans are not more liberal, they are more realistic and they like to have their dicks sucked without having to look for vice over the shoulders of the server. Give it time, look how long it took for the Great God to carve out Grand Canyon, with time he will find us all a home.

made the butt a legal place to deal with profound issues

I agree. In countries where democracy exists in some form, freedom expands.  I view these End Demand, and Polaris Project people as throw backs to a repressive era where sex is dirty, and shameful.  They find themselves in line with views associated with the past and are really quite discriminatory.  That doesn't fly well in a democracy.  Those who think the 10 commandments are the real constitution, have witnessed Roe V. Wade, and gay/lesbian rights victories all over the country.  They are losing, and they know it. This happening in Canada so close to the U.S., (in more ways than one) it's just a matter of time.

First while this is quite encouraging I wouldn't get too excited, I'm sure this will be struck down on appeal.

Second please keep in mind that US laws are all STATE laws. So the President and Congress don't matter much. If this sort of decision was ever passed and kept in Canada I could see it affecting some border states which tend to be more liberal and probably wouldn't want to lose the cash if guys kept flocking to Canada. I understand part of the reason it was legalized in Germany is because they realized how much money they were losing to Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

...State Law is subject to the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States.  Classic examples of Federal Court action overturning state laws with a broad brush include Brown Vs. Board of Education and the Virginia case that overturned a state law that refused to recognize inter-racial marriage.  Of late, loacal laws in the District of Columbia and the City of Chicago violating the Second Ammendment has been thrown out by the Supreme Court The list goes on.  

Again, I feel a court ruling someday will tell the states they have no business delving into the motivation WHY a woman decides to have sex with a man (or vice versa or any combination of the above) when it is all done in private.  

My .02.

MVR

I live about 300 miles from Canada and road trips can be kind of fun.