Canada’s Supreme Court Strikes Down Prostitution Laws

Big news from America’s hat:
Today Canada’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the country’s
prostitution laws run counter to the country’s charter and deprive
the rights of prostitutes to protect themselves.

From the
Globe and Mail:

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, writing for a unanimous court,
stressed that the ruling is not about whether prostitution should
be legal or not, but about whether Parliament’s means of
controlling it infringe the constitutional rights of
prostitutes.

“The prohibitions all heighten the risks,” she said. “They do
not merely impose conditions on how prostitutes operate. They go a
critical step further, by imposing dangerous conditions on
prostitution; they prevent people engaged in a risky — but legal —
activity from taking steps to protect themselves from the
risks.”

The court suspended its ruling for one year to give Parliament
time to respond. The ball is now back in the court of Justice
Minister Peter MacKay, who needs to decide whether to adopt new
prohibitions and if so, how to ensure those prohibitions do not
fall afoul of the court.

Prostitution is technically
legal in Canada, but the country’s regulations outlaw brothels
or actually advertising or communicating one’s services, which
makes it quite a challenge to actually be a prostitute there
without breaking a law anyway.

What’s interesting about the ruling (besides the fact that
Canada still calls brothels “bawdy houses,” which is awesome) is
the court recognition that laws regulating prostitution
significantly contribute to the dangers women who engage in the sex
trade face. As with any black market, the inability for
participants to turn to law creates the framework for actual
victimization. The ruling notes the disproportionate nature of
anti-prostitution regulations – that the manner by which the
country seeks to prevent “nuisances” has resulted in creating an
environment where prostitutes face actual harm.

The full ruling can be read
here. It seems as though the most likely outcome of the ruling
will be state-regulated bawdy houses brothels come
next year, but we’ll just have to see.