Ontario’s Court of Appeal has found some of Canada’s laws against activities surrounding prostitution to be unconstitutional, partially upholding a lower court decision made in 2010.
In the 136-page decision released Monday, the court found the law against operating brothels for the purpose of prostitution and the law against living off of the proceeds of prostitution both to be unconstitutional.
The province’s Court of Appeal struck down the law against operating brothels, giving the federal government one year to change the wording of the brothel law to make it constitutional. They and suggesting the government remove the word “prostitution” from the legal definition of a brothel.
The court also found the law against living off the proceeds of prostitution to be unconstitutional “to the extent that it criminalizes non-exploitative,commercial relationships between prostitutes and other people,” the decision stated.
Limiting the law’s use to situations of exploitation will fix concerns of constitutionality while still upholding the goals of the legislation, the court concluded.
But the majority of the five judges deciding the case found disagreed in part with the lower court’s decision, finding that the law against communicating for the purpose of prostitution doesn’t infringe upon sex workers’ constitutional rights. This law is once again enforceable in Ontario, after being struck down by a lower court in 2010..
Two of the judges, however, disagreed with the three forming the majority, finding the law against communicating for the purpose of prostitution to be unconstitutional.
Three sex workers launched the constitutional challenge against Canada’s prostitution-related laws. Terri-Jean Bedford, Amy Lebovitch and Valerie Scott argued the laws went infringed on their right to life, liberty and security of the person and the law against communication violated their right to freedom of expression.
Prostitution is legal in Canada, but the Criminal Code prohibited some many of the activities surrounding the sex trade.