Exchanging sex for money is illegal in Canada. This was confirmed by an Ontario court recently in a case commenced by the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform and six individuals with experience in the commercial sex industry.
Justice Goldstein of the Superior Court of Justice upheld as constitutional six criminal offences targeting the commercial exchange of sex between adults. This decision followed at least nine earlier decisions where courts across Canada considered whether criminal prostitution laws introduced by Stephen Harper’s Conservative government in 2014 violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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The Alberta Court of Appeal also upheld as constitutional two of those offences. The Ontario Court of Appeal found three of the offences constitutional last year.
Two findings from these decisions are important. First, after almost a decade in force, Canada’s criminal prostitution laws remain poorly understood. Second, the real issue for many who oppose those laws is not that the laws are unconstitutional; it is that sex work is treated as a crime and not a job. Recent rulings suggest any changes in the law need to come from Parliament, not the courts.
Six criminal offences now target the commercial exchange of sex in Canada. The criminal offences enacted in 2014 target buying sex; materially benefitting from someone else’s sale of sex; procuring or inducing someone to sell sex; and advertising sex for sale. Additional criminal...
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