Earlier this week, headlines read, “Disappointment, Joy after Ontario Court Dismisses Sex Workers’ Charter Challenge.” If you weren’t sure what to make of it, you’re in the majority.
Just as the earth had thawed enough in Toronto to let the crocuses peak through, a chilling 2021 suit was filed in court in a bid to decriminalize prostitution. A network of prostitutes and pro-prostitution agencies called the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform (CASWLR) claimed that Canada’s prostitution laws were in violation of their members’ Charter Rights.
Headlines announced that the case fell short and CASWLR came up on the losing side of the ruling. A representative from the group lamented that losing in court left them feeling “deeply, deeply disappointed”. Coalition of Agencies Against Sex Trafficking (COAST) was an intervenor in the case and included the likes of Men Ending Trafficking and Lifeworthy. COAST Spokesman, Robert Vallée from Parents Against Child Trafficking, jubilantly called it “a fantastic” ruling.i
But who is right?
Not many years ago, Canada dealt with a similar challenge that gave way to a new strategy meant to reduce human trafficking and other forms of sex trade violence. The legal scheme was dubbed, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA)iii and more completely outlawed the sexual services industry. Oddly, anti-human trafficking groups can’t agree if discouraging prostitution helps more people than it hurts.
Justin Trudeau once stated, “Prostitution itself is a form of violence against women.” But differing remarks from his party prompted one cabinet minister to declare, “making prostitution and illegal drugs more accessible to Canadians are [Liberal] priorities.”iv Wherever the federal Liberals stood on the issue, the NDP took a clear position when Randall Garrison filed a 2020 motion to refer the new prostitution laws to a parliamentary committee for review. MP Garrison argued, “The PCEPA review must begin right away because lives are at risk.”v
When the PCEPA review was scheduled, Sascha Eaton, an advisor to Men Ending Trafficking and a peer leader at Lifeworthy, helped me put together a briefvi for the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. We certainly do want all young women to be safe but couldn’t agree with CASWLR and weren’t buying what Garrison was selling. In a paragraph, we sum up our position:
Ms. Eaton became immersed in the subculture of the sex trade when she was a minor and remained in it for more than five years. There was a time when she could not speak honestly about her experiences, but it’s been a long time since she was in that place. She testifies that the sex trade is filled with young women being subjected to physical violence and emotional trauma and that many become reliant, as she did, on illicit substances to cope. “Relatively few women who have walked in my shoes,” she confides, “Can continue claiming that prostitution is empowering, compared to the countless others who reflect on their experiences as profoundly destructive and life-altering.”
In my view committee’s report was unreasonable, and its recommendations were nonsensical. Prostitutes should be allowed to stop traffic when soliciting for sex from street corners.vii Restrictions on prostitution advertisements should be lifted.viii Canadian men should have paid sexual access to more young women from foreign countries.ix
Finally, there was a strange ruling in April 2021 in a Newmarket, Ontario court. It said that making a business out of recruiting prostitutes and marketing them to sex buyers should be allowed. After Justice Sutherland declared sections of the Criminal Code that prohibited such activities unconstitutional, Ontario’s Attorney General appealed. News outlets spun the story to make it sound like PCEPA was the problem and characterized pimps as hired hands instead of what they brag about, outside of the courtroom.x
Crown attorneys reached out to several experts for a variety of affidavits as they prepared their arguments against the bad ruling. I was asked to focus on the harms of prostitution, and it was suggested that my statistics from Lifeworthy’s Parents Hope program might be helpful. Parents of individuals in the sex trade shouldn’t need support if “Sex Work” is a legitimate job, but here’s what I was able to report:
“The daughters first became involved in the sex trade between the ages of 12 and 20…the average age of entry was 15.7 years old. Twelve percent (six out of 50) tragically passed away in the past four years. Their causes of death include suicide, homicide, and what is believed to be an accidental drug overdose. Most of the parents in our Parents Hope program reported radical changes in the behaviour of their daughters…physical injuries on the bodies of their daughters, especially bruising on the face, head, torso, and legs… They also described deteriorating mental and physical health of their daughters and heavy use of alcohol and/or drugs.”
You can expect CASWLR to appeal the ruling they lost in the lower court and to find other avenues to try to legitimize their views. None of their efforts, however, will make them less mistaken. Anyone seeking to decriminalize prostitution in Canada is woefully ignorant or callously indifferent to the human toll that it takes on women and children. Normalizing the purchase of sexual services empowers males and devalues females. The byproducts of this crime include sex trade violence and human trafficking.
What is missing in the fight against commercial sexual exploitation is not appropriate legislation, it is the political will to stamp out the exploitative practice of prostitution. If human rights issues remain a priority for Canada, prostitution will continue to be recognized as a criminal activity and the men who fund it will be held accountable.
i Disappointment, joy after Ontario court dismisses sex workers’ Charter challenge, Desmond Brown, CBC News, Sep 18, 2023
ii Bill C-36: A Better Direction For Prostitutes?, John Cassells, July 14, 2014,
iii Canada’s new prostitution laws: Everything you need to know by Josh Wingrove, The Globe and Mail, July 15, 2014
iv Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino as quoted in Justin Trudeau wary of proposal to regulate, tax prostitution, CBC News, Jan 17, 2014
v NDP MP Requests a Review of Dangerous Laws that put the Lives of Sex Workers at Risk NDP.ca/News, July 23rd, 2020
vi You can read our full brief here: LifeworthySIMCanada-e.pdf (ourcommons.ca)
vii “…amend the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act by introducing legislation to repeal sections 213 and 286.4 of the Criminal Code.” p. 38, Recommendation 3, PREVENTING HARM IN THE CANADIAN SEX INDUSTRY: A REVIEW OF THE PROTECTION OF COMMUNITIES AND EXPLOITED PERSONS ACT June 2022, Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights
viii ibid
ix “…repeal sections 183 (1)(b.1). 196.1(a). 200(3)(g.1) and 203(2)(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, which unfairly put migrant sex workers at elevated risk of violence and danger by making them unable to report these incidents without fear of deportation.” p. 49, Recommendation 10, PREVENTING HARM IN THE CANADIAN SEX INDUSTRY: A REVIEW OF THE PROTECTION OF COMMUNITIES AND EXPLOITED PERSONS ACT June 2022, Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
NOTE: None of these targeted sections of Immigration and Refugee Protection create safety risks for newcomers. They safeguard foreign nationals and temporary residents by preventing them from ending up in Canada’s most exploitative, harmful, and largely criminal industry.
x “An Ontario Superior Court judge has declared unconstitutional legal provisions that ban sex workers from being able to work safely…” Judge Rules Key Federal Sex Work Laws Unconstitutional, Toronto Star, April 22, 2021