The Ontario Superior Court has ruled that laws around the sex trade targeting soliciting, bawdy houses and living off the avails are unconstitutional. They create added dangers for people - mostly women - in prostitution business, which is legal in Canada, the court found. And they have no offsetting broader public benefits.
Jody Paterson spent several years with PEERS, a non-profit supporting sex workers in Victoria. She set out why this is important in a fine column in the Times Colonist today.
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We read Jody's column this morning and agree with what she wrote. Working women have families and for one reason or another got into the sex trade. Prostitution is legal in this country so its long past the time that we stop treating them as social outcasts. They need the same protection that we all need and expect. The Conservatives are appealing the court decision and hopefully this time the supreme Court of Canada can sort it all out.
What happens when Canada follows Germany's lead, legalizing prostitution, denying EI benefits (or the German equivalent thereof) forcing a woman into prostitution to survive? Sometimes what looks good at first glance turns into a nightmare - be careful what we wish for.
New Zealand has taken a progressive approach. The sex trade worker's fear of having their identities being revealed is a major obstacle to their 'buy in' of most licensing type of schemes.
The T/C editorial was pretty good as well as Jody's article. It's so easy to dump on working women by people who have no idea or interest on just how dangerous the streets can be.
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