After the Supreme Court of Canada ordered the federal government to come with new prostitution laws, the Conservatives introduced Bill C-36.[©Mark Gorokhovski]
By: Mark Gorokhovski
D espite a federal mandate to stop prostitution, police agencies around Canada are looking for new ways to work with prostitution in their cities, without handcuffs.
Last December, the Conservative Government updated anti-prostitution laws after the Supreme Court struck down the old ones. The “Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act”, or Bill C-36, outlines new policies meant to curb the sex trade industry in Canada.
“In the past, what we’ve experienced is reluctance for people to come forward, approach the police or share information with the police. If They felt they were going to be persecuted or they were going to be treated differently than anybody else would”
Some critics say, however, that many law agencies don’t have the bodies or resources to actively monitor the sex trade industry along with other major crimes. Since provincial and municipal police are the ones that enforce the laws, they have the ability to choose which ones to administer based on needs and safety.
Instead, more and more law enforcement agencies are choosing to treat prostitution as social disobedience instead of prosecuting it. Co-operating with local advocacy groups and the workers themselves, police in some jurisdictions are working to improve the conditions for sex workers in their cities.
The Sault Ste. Marie Police Department, for instance, has set-up a neighbourhood resource centre. The centre is offering services to sex workers in the city’s north end — where sex work tends to be concentrated.
In an email, Sault Ste. Marie Police Inspector Monique Rollin says that through the resource centre, sex workers have better access to mental-health and addiction services, housing resources and women’s shelters. among other services.
Total prostitution charges dropping
Between 2010 and 2013, according to Statics Canada, violent crimes relating to prostitution in Sault Ste. Marie had dropped from 20 arrests to one. Rollin credits the neighbourhood programs and mobilization as having helped lower prostitution in the city.
“The results are obvious in the neighbourhood with less women on the streets and more visible enforcement directed towards sex trade customers by officers who work in the area,” Rollin says.
Across the country, according to Statistics Canada crime data, total prostitution charges have been steadily dropping. The charges for prostitution include: keeping or being in a “bawdy house” for purposes of prostitution; living off the avails of prostitution; and procuring, communicating with persons under 18 for the purpose of sex. In 2013, there were 1,203 people charges, down from 2,117 in 2010. The statistic includes minors under the age of 18-years. Statistics Canada has not yet released data for 2014.
Vancouver saw a steady decrease in the number of people charged for prostitution in-between 2010 and 2013. In 2010, 116 people were charged for incidents involving sex work activity, compared with 45 in 2013. There were 135 people charged in 2011. Similarly, Toronto has seen a decline in the number of persons charged with prostitution from 340 in 2010 to 61 in 2013.
Saskatoon, in contrast, experienced an upswing over the same period from 111 in 2010 to 153 in 2013.
Just like Sault Ste. Marie, the Vancouver Police Department is trying to improve relations with sex workers by trying to be more approachable.
“In the past, what we’ve experienced is reluctance for people to come forward, approach the police or share information with the police. If they felt they were going to be persecuted or they were going to be treated differently than anybody else would,” says Sgt. Randy Fincham of Vancouver Police. “So we now engage those [advocacy] groups on a regular basis as well as the sex workers to assure them that they’ll be treated with the same respect as anybody else would.”
Police work with advocacy groups
Working with local advocacy groups such as Pivot Legal Society, which works to defend the rights of sex workers, Vancouver Police produced a document called the “Sex Work Enforcement Guidelines” in 2013. Along with the safety of prostitutes, the guidelines outline a greater aim to limit human trafficking.
“The guidelines are a good start but police still need to build trust with sex workers who have experienced years of criminalization, stigmatization, and marginalization. There is still a great deal of work to be done,” says Brenda Belak, a sex-work campaigner with Pivot Legal Society.
Criticism of Bill C-36
The sex trade has become an increasingly hot-button political issue over recent years. Although prostitution is legal in Canada, the federal government has pushed hard to thwart the industry by making it illegal to purchase sex.
The new legislation places a big focus on the sale of sex by prostitutes. Under the new laws, a sex worker can advertise their individual services, but companies like escort agencies cannot.
Critics say that these policies force sex workers to go onto the streets to sell their services. Another wrinkle, they argue, is that since it is illegal for someone to purchase sex, prostitutes might need to go into seedier places in order to conduct their business.
For police, Bill C-36 may put further strains on their resources and budgets. A further consequence may be of that placed on the court systems around the country. The Canadian Bar Association has already warned of backlog issues around Canada’s justice system.
In Ontario, Premier Kathleen Wynne has asked the province’s attorney general to do a review to see if the new legislation does endanger prostitutes. Wynne said, in a statement, that she had expressed concerns about the new laws. Although the provincial government can challenge the laws if it feels they are unconstitutional, Wynne says that Ontario will uphold the laws for now.
For Vancouver Police, Bill C-36, has not had much of an impact.
“We still maintain the ability to exercise discretion when enforcing those laws,” Fincham says. “But if there is a law that we view as potentially putting someone at risk, our officers have the ability to exercise discretion or have a choice whether they enforce that or not.”
The following data story lists total prostitution charges across Canadian cities and provinces in-between 1998-2013. A final tab lists specific violations for prostitution arrests in the same period.
Note* for the “By Province” tab: Data for Prince Edward Island in 2001 and 2005 was unavailable. This graph assumes the number of total charges for that year as 0.
Note* for the “By City” tab: Note: Data for St.John, NFLD in 2005 was unavailable. This graph assumes the number of total charges for that year as 0. Data for Charlottetown, or any town on P.E.I. was unavailable.
Note* for the “By type of Charge, Across Canada” tab: “Other prostitution” likely entails human trafficking for both persons over and under 18 years old.
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