Prostitution laws to be decided by Supreme Court on Friday

[SLM]

Supreme Court strikes down prostitution laws

Daniel Proussalidis, Parliamentary Bureau

Dec 20, 2013 , Last Updated: 4:56 PM ET

In a sweeping decision, the Supreme Court has struck down three long-standing Criminal Code provisions dealing with prostitution.
The justices unanimously found the bans on brothels, communicating for the purposes of prostitution and living off its avails violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms because they endanger hookers' lives.
"It makes no difference that the conduct of pimps and johns is the immediate source of the harms suffered by prostitutes," Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote in the judgment. "The impugned laws deprive people engaged in risky, but legal, activity of the means to protect themselves against those risks."
The ruling is suspended for a year, giving Parliament time to rewrite Canada's prostitution laws.
"It will be for Parliament, should it choose to do so, to devise a new approach," McLachlin wrote. "How prostitution is regulated is a matter of great public concern, and few countries leave it unregulated."
Justice Minister Peter MacKay’s office says the feds will “move expeditiously with legislative amendments.”


"We are reviewing the decision and are exploring all possible options to ensure the criminal law continues to address the significant harms that flow from prostitution to communities, those engaged in prostitution, and vulnerable persons," MacKay said in a statement.
The Supreme Court's decision hands a victory to three women with connections to prostitution who challenged the laws, arguing that sex workers are safest when they can hire security guards and work indoors.
Their lawyer, Alan Young, said the decision brought him tears of joy.
"Nine-zero in the Supreme Court of Canada is a little bit surprising to me," Young said. "I thought in light of the divisive nature of the debate, there would be some dissenting judges."


Supreme Court strikes down prostitution laws


Nine to zero.

 

[Sal]

Supreme Court strikes down prostitution laws Nine to zero.

Huge step in the right direction

So now they have to write the laws around this.

An interesting idea about charging the johns and pimps instead of the girls. I would rather they leave the johns alone too and just go after the pimps.

 

[spaminator]

Huge step in the right direction

So now they have to write the laws around this.

An interesting idea about charging the johns and pimps instead of the girls. I would rather they leave the johns alone too and just go after the pimps.

I was thinking that it might be better to legalize and regulate it. proceeds from it could go towards worthy causes. eg. helping the homeless, etc.

 

[Sal]

I was thinking that it might be better to legalize and regulate it. proceeds from it could go towards worthy causes. eg. helping the homeless, etc.

it will be but according to those in the know (prostitutes), it increases human trafficking so they have to write laws to prevent that or it will in fact increase the danger in being in the sex trade instead of decreasing it

 

[JLM]

Huge step in the right direction

So now they have to write the laws around this.

An interesting idea about charging the johns and pimps instead of the girls. I would rather they leave the johns alone too and just go after the pimps.

I would take it a step further and kill the pimps!

 

[SLM]

I would take it a step further and kill the pimps!

A little blood thirsty for the holiday season isn't it?

 

[JLM]

A little blood thirsty for the holiday season isn't it?

I suppose it could be postponed until January! -

 

[WLDB]

I'm surprised that it was unanimous. I thought it'd be close or the laws would be upheld. A pleasant surprise.

 

[Sal]

yes I was shocked...now just waiting for all of the moralists to climb on this

 

[coldstream]

To me this is the type of arrogance the Supreme Court has assumed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We have been placed under a judicial tyranny of an unelected governmental institution with no responsibility to the electorate, only to their own uncontested consciences.

It wouldn't be as bad except for the intellectual and moral mediocrities that fill the seats of the SCOC, led by that cackling 60s era feminist hag of a Chief Justice, Bev MacLachlan. All of the Courts rulings on social issues are now riddled with New Age sophistry and facile notions of Freedom outside any commensurate responsibility to society as a whole, a terminal flaw in the entire document. It has become an enabling instrument to enshrine moral relativism, radical individualism and prurient gratification as the central principles of the Canadian democracy.

Prostitution is a complex problem, involving issues of public health, public morals, zoning, gangs, drugs, family breakdown, violence, child abuse. There is nothing in here that comprises an absolute right.. except in the maudlin minds of highly payed bureacrats far removed from the realities of the mean streets.

The Government should invoke the Notwithstanding Clause to overrule this, and come up with a solution that addresses the problem in a comprehensive manner. AND it is time to REMOVE the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as a judicial instrument (leaving it ONLY as a descriptive passage in the Constitution). It has never worked and has inundated the courts with futile causes. It has become a divisive factor in the Canadian Confederation. It was Pierre Trudeau's single biggest blunder

The Court is now filled with political hacks, just like the Senate, with radical social agendas like those of MacLachlan, without any checks and balances on their power.. given the reluctance of Parliament to rein in its powerlust, as is its right.