Sex workers are now able to hire bodyguards, drivers, and work indoors after a March 26 ruling form the Ontario Court of Appeal.
Section 210 of the criminal code concerning prostitution, which stated that sex workers were prohibited from owning, maintaining, or residing in a bawdy house, was struck down. A bawdy house, also known as a brothel, is a house where men can visit prostitutes.
The decision was based on “the testimony of a whole collection, a whole assortment of scholars who have made it their life’s work to look into this,” said Christine Bruckert, a criminology professor and expert on sex work at the University of Ottawa.
Still, Bruckert said the decision will have little impact on sex workers themselves.
“The court gave the government a year to implement something else, so certainly, in the short term it’ll mean nothing and in the long term we’ll see what it means,” Bruckert said. “It all depends on what the government comes up with.”
The government has a few options in this situation.
“The provincial government can appeal the decision,” she said. “They can bring in laws . . . that might be deemed constitutional or they may choose to regulate the industry through health regulation or other kinds of provincial or even municipal laws.”
Any major changes are on hold until a Supreme Court ruling because the provincial government can appeal the decision and institute a whole new regulatory framework instead, Bruckert said.
Sex workers have seen the ruling as a positive step despite the long road ahead, according to Prostitutes of Ottawa/Gatineau Work Educate and Resist (POWER).
“While this decision is a bit of a mixed bag, POWER members are happy to see the bawdy house provisions struck down unanimously by all five judges,” said Emily Symons, chair of POWER’s board of directors, in a press release. “This opens the possibility of sex workers who are in a position to do so being able to work indoors in a situation where they are able to implement measures to ensure their safety.“
The court’s decision is as a step in the right direction, but it fails to protect street-based sex workers from violence, according to the press release.
Street-based sex workers are the most marginalized among sex workers and don’t have a location to work from, Symons said.
For street-based workers to gain safety, a section of the criminal code called the communicating law would have to be struck down, Bruckert said.
“[Section] 213 is the communicating law, so it’s communication for the purpose of prostitution and that’s the law that’s used to police street-based workers,” she said.
These individuals are more strongly policed because they’re seen to be a public nuisance and are thus at risk of violence and are more vulnerable to being charged.
Despite the disappointment among those affected by the current decision and those marginalized because of their status as street-based workers, Bruckert said there’s “cautious optimism” about the ruling, and what it could bring in the the future.
