Ont. court to rule on anti-prostitution laws

[mentalfloss]

Ont. court to rule on anti-prostitution laws

Arguments in a landmark case that could decriminalize Canada's prostitution laws begin Monday in Ontario's Appeal Court in Toronto.

Ontario Justice Susan Himel last year struck down three key anti-prostitution laws — keeping a common bawdy house, communicating for the purposes of prostitution and living on the avails of the trade. The judge ruled that the laws made the practice of prostitution more dangerous. Dominatrix Terri-Jean Bedford, Valerie Scott and Amy Lebovitch had argued that the laws force them from the safety of their homes to face violence on the streets.

Rene Ross, the executive director of Stepping Stone in Halifax, a sex trade support and advocacy group, said that violence against prostitutes is a problem across the country. "Countless attempted murders, a few murders, rapes, forcible confinement — we need to come together and realize sex workers are people and are entitled to have some safety just like everybody else."

Joanne, a former prostitute, said sex trade workers would be safer if anti-prostitution laws were thrown out. "The women and men who now have to be in unsafe situations, such as jumping in cars before they are seen, sneaking into dark alleys to apply the trade, would have safer places to be."

Alan Young, the lead lawyer working for the sex trade workers, said he is surprised the provincial and federal governments don't understand the danger faced by prostitutes. Regardless of the outcome of the appeal, Young said this case will eventually make its way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

There are also seven interveners in the case, representing 19 groups, including the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and the Christian Legal Fellowship.

Ont. court to rule on anti-prostitution laws - Canada - CBC News


CBC Poll - How would you like to see the court rule?

Uphold the lower court decision and decriminalize prostitution.
68.48% (780 votes)

It doesn't really matter. This is going to the Supreme Court.
15.72% (179 votes)

Overturn the lower court decision and restore the laws.
12.82% (146 votes)

I'm not sure.
2.99% (34 votes)

Total Votes: 1,139

 

[Colpy]

Ont. court to rule on anti-prostitution laws

Arguments in a landmark case that could decriminalize Canada's prostitution laws begin Monday in Ontario's Appeal Court in Toronto.

Ontario Justice Susan Himel last year struck down three key anti-prostitution laws — keeping a common bawdy house, communicating for the purposes of prostitution and living on the avails of the trade. The judge ruled that the laws made the practice of prostitution more dangerous. Dominatrix Terri-Jean Bedford, Valerie Scott and Amy Lebovitch had argued that the laws force them from the safety of their homes to face violence on the streets.

Rene Ross, the executive director of Stepping Stone in Halifax, a sex trade support and advocacy group, said that violence against prostitutes is a problem across the country. "Countless attempted murders, a few murders, rapes, forcible confinement — we need to come together and realize sex workers are people and are entitled to have some safety just like everybody else."

Joanne, a former prostitute, said sex trade workers would be safer if anti-prostitution laws were thrown out. "The women and men who now have to be in unsafe situations, such as jumping in cars before they are seen, sneaking into dark alleys to apply the trade, would have safer places to be."

Alan Young, the lead lawyer working for the sex trade workers, said he is surprised the provincial and federal governments don't understand the danger faced by prostitutes. Regardless of the outcome of the appeal, Young said this case will eventually make its way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

There are also seven interveners in the case, representing 19 groups, including the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and the Christian Legal Fellowship.

Ont. court to rule on anti-prostitution laws - Canada - CBC News


CBC Poll - How would you like to see the court rule?

Uphold the lower court decision and decriminalize prostitution.
68.48% (780 votes)

It doesn't really matter. This is going to the Supreme Court.
15.72% (179 votes)

Overturn the lower court decision and restore the laws.
12.82% (146 votes)

I'm not sure.
2.99% (34 votes)

Total Votes: 1,139

Yeah....I'm divided on this one.

I would, in the end, lean towards liberalization of the laws against keeping a bawdy house and solicitation.

 

[lone wolf]

Prostitution is never going away, so it has to be made safer. Not just for the "worker" but for the client too. STD testing has to be mandatory because, face it, not every rubber works the way it's supposed to. Licensed takes it out of the hands of organized crime - the same as it should work for drugs.

 

[petros]

If your're a john, go get a doll.

Street hookers in my neighbourhood have a 50% HIV positive rate and around 90% do needle drugs.

Are you prepared for the chain of events when these women lose their income to buy their dope?

 

[TenPenny]

If your're a john, go get a doll.

Street hookers in my neighbourhood have a 50% HIV positive rate and around 90% do needle drugs.

Are you prepared for the chain of events when these women lose their income to buy their dope?

Isn't that what would happen if the johns used dolls?

 

[petros]

The transition to dolls wouldn't be an overnight ordeal like a law change. For what it would cost to round up, test and certtify and license all the street workers, dolls could be handed out at kiosks for free.

 

[Unforgiven]

If your're a john, go get a doll.

Street hookers in my neighbourhood have a 50% HIV positive rate and around 90% do needle drugs.

Are you prepared for the chain of events when these women lose their income to buy their dope?

Where did you get those numbers from?

 

[petros]

Where did you get those numbers from?

Regina Qu'Appelle Regional Health District. Some chick I know gave me the stats.

Saskatchewan has seen a substantial increase in

new cases of HIV since 2003 and as of 2010 has

the highest rates in Canada at twice the national

average (Public Health Agency of Canada [PHAC],


The epidemiology of HIV in Saskatchewan is

different from the rest of Canada, with 75% of new

HIV cases in 2009 predominantly associated with

injection drug use. Aboriginal women under age 30

account for a disproportionate number of all new

HIV-positive cases in the province (Ministry of

Health, PHB, 2010).

 

[In Between Man]

Prostitution is never going away, so it has to be made safer. Not just for the "worker" but for the client too. STD testing has to be mandatory because, face it, not every rubber works the way it's supposed to. Licensed takes it out of the hands of organized crime - the same as it should work for drugs.

So the solution to the ills of society are to legalize and regulate? Why is the left determined that we all must live in a sh!thole society?

 

[lone wolf]

So the solution to the ills of society are to legalize and regulate? Why is the left determined that we all must live in a sh!thole society?

Go kill 'em all then, Alley....

Why do people - and don't forget: Even Christ accepted prostitutes as people - have to be hidden away in dark closets because a few other people - and I use the term loosely - are too embarrassed to deal with their own doorsteps first?

Do you really think any guy who visits a hooker should have a visit from the Grim Reaper next? Do you really believe your sh!thole society is any better/worse than their sh!thole society?

There's nothing left/right about it.

Lose the arrogance and get some Christ....

 

[TenPenny]

So the solution to the ills of society are to legalize and regulate?

That seems to be what the Conservatives want to do with guns.

 

[lone wolf]

BTW.... It already is legal - and always has been. It's everything that supports prostitution that's taboo....

 

[Corduroy]

We already live in a society with prostitution and that's never going to change. We have two choice then: a society in which prostitutes and their customers are exploited and put into more danger or a society in which they are exploited less and put into less danger. The judge is operating under the impression that the law could not promote exploitation and increased danger for workers and customers. She determined that the law did promote this and so struck down the law. Regulating the business would have a proactive effect on improving working conditions

In general, the left believes that regulating trade and labour so that workers and consumers are not exploited and put into unnecessary dangers makes for a better society. You can call that a ****hole society, but you'd have to defend the idea that the opposite is a better society.

 

[mentalfloss]

That seems to be what the Conservatives want to do with guns.

Cons like gun regulation?

 

[petros]

They just has 4 years to kill it.

 

[coldstream]

It is absolutely ridiculous that a bunch of political hack jurists should decide.. above the public will and democratic institutions.. that prostitution is a 'right' of free expression.. or 'free commerce'.. or whatever.

This issue belongs in the legislatures and it belongs with the electorate. The Charter of Rights of Freedoms has created a judicial tyranny composed of the egotistical mediocrities.. who slobber over themselves in the vanity that they alone have the intellectual capacity to decide these 'moral' principles.

What we have been run by is bunch of debauched ideologues.. like our lamentable Chief Justice, Bev McLachlan, who gave mass murderer Henry Morgentaler the Order of Canada.. and are beholden to some completely amorphous and unsubstantial idol of 'freedom', unattached to any social responsibility.

 

[Corduroy]

It is absolutely ridiculous that a bunch of political hack jurists should decide.. above the public will and democratic institutions.. that prostitution is a 'right' of free expression.. or 'free commerce'.. or whatever.

This issue belongs in the legislatures and it belongs with the electorate. The Charter of Rights of Freedoms has created a judicial tyranny composed of the egotistical mediocrities.. who slobber over themselves in the vanity that they alone have the intellectual capacity to decide these 'moral' principles.

What do you think the role of the courts should be in Canada?

 

[TenPenny]

It is absolutely ridiculous that a bunch of political hack jurists should decide.. above the public will and democratic institutions.. that prostitution is a 'right' of free expression.. or 'free commerce'.. or whatever.

This issue belongs in the legislatures and it belongs with the electorate. The Charter of Rights of Freedoms has created a judicial tyranny composed of the egotistical mediocrities.. who slobber over themselves in the vanity that they alone have the intellectual capacity to decide these 'moral' principles.

What we have been run by is bunch of debauched ideologues.. like our lamentable Chief Justice, Bev McLachlan, who gave mass murderer Henry Morgentaler the Order of Canada.. and are beholden to some completely amorphous and unsubstantial idol of 'freedom', unattached to any social responsibility.

Are you saying that you don't like our Supreme Court, because they apply the laws?

 

[karrie]

The transition to dolls wouldn't be an overnight ordeal like a law change. For what it would cost to round up, test and certtify and license all the street workers, dolls could be handed out at kiosks for free.

Oh give me a break. If it were that simple, men would spend $80 on a pocket pussy or a fleshlight, and not spend the money and take the risk on hookers.

 

[mentalfloss]

Oh give me a break. If it were that simple, men would spend $80 on a pocket pussy or a fleshlight, and not spend the money and take the risk on hookers.

wtf is a 'fleshlight' ?? lol