Canada is indeed
inching toward the “Nordic model” of sex work prohibition,
which nonsensically makes paying for sex a crime, but not
selling it. An anti-prostitution bill introduced yesterday
by Canadian Justice Minister and Attorney General Peter MacKay
draws from this model—popular in the likes of Norway and
Sweden—with additional “made-in-Canada” elements, as MacKay
described them. It would officially make selling sex for money
illegal in Canada for the first time.
The bill, called the “Protection of Communities and Exploited
Persons Act,” is predicated on the paternalistic idea that “the
majority of those who sell sexual services” don’t do so by
choice. “We view the vast majority of those involved in
selling sexual services as victims,” MacKay said in a
statement.
Victims who could still face up to five years in prison for
trying to earn a living, but hey, any time spent in jail is at
least not time engaging in sex acts and business transactions that
politicians disapprove of, right? MacKay says his bill would
“introduce tough action to crack down on pimps and johns,” but it
would still criminalize “communicating for the purpose of selling
sexual services in public places where a child could reasonably be
expected to be present,” a measure that—much like
our “manifesting prostitution” laws in parts of America—could
get women picked up for suspiciously waving to passing cars. The
punishment for this criminal communication could be up to five
years in prison.
In addition, the bill make it illegal to advertise sexual
services online or in print. Though there would be no criminal
liability for “those who sell their own sexual services” via
advertisements, the bill offers no such qualified immunity for
third parties, like the websites or newspapers that run the ads.
MacKay also tacked on $20 million in funding for programs to help
sex workers get out of the business, increased penalties for child
sex trafficking, and—the centerpiece of the proposal—new penalties
for “purchasers of sexual services,” pimps, and anyone else who
“procures others for the purpose of prostitution.”
About two thirds of
Canadians do not believe selling sex should be illegal,
according to a recent online poll conducted by the Justice
Department. But a majority do think that purchasing sex should be
prohibited.
I wrote yesterday about
a new study shunning this Nordic approach. While not
fining and throwing sex workers in jail quite as much is a positive
development, it’s a modest one. Criminalizing clients still drives
sex work underground, making it less safe for everyone involved.
And because police are still out targeting johns and pimps and
“traffickers”, it doesn’t cut down on the overall number of arrests
(sex workers who don’t or won’t conform to the victim narrative are
often arrested anyway, along with their accomplices).
But MacKay, apparently taking his cues from a Victorian-era
newspaper, said his new proposal would “protect and safeguard
(Canadian) communities—in particular women, children, and those who
are at risk of being drawn into prostitution—from the dangers
associated with prostitution, including violence, drug-related
crime, and organized crime.”
Until recently, prostitution per se wasn’t a crime in
Canada, though keeping a brothel, “communicating in public about
acts of prostitution,” or “living off the proceeds” of prostitution
(aka pimping) were. In December 2013, the Canadian Supreme Court
struck down these statutes (in
Canada v. Bedford), giving the country’s parliament 12
months to rewrite prostitution legislation.
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