Critics say legalizing brothels endangers women
OTTAWA, ON—A former prostitute is among those who say a recent court decision to allow brothels in Ontario will increase violence against women.
"Why is it we are trying to legalize the oldest oppression in the world?" asks Katarina MacLeod. "This has always been an industry that has exploited vulnerable women, and it's going to continue."
MacLeod worked as a prostitute indoors for 15 years. During that time she was physically and sexually assaulted by clients.
"It's definitely not safer. Safer for who? For the women they're claiming will hire bodyguards?" says MacLeod. "Those so-called bodyguards or drivers they are going to hire are really going to be pimps. The fact that nobody is going to be held accountable for living off the avails is wrong."
The case, Canada v. Bedford, began in 2009 with a challenge of prostitution-related laws brought by three women, former and current prostitutes. The lower court struck down the laws banning brothels, soliciting and living off the avails of prostitution, in 2010.
In its March 26, 2012 ruling, the Ontario Court of Appeal struck down the Criminal Code ban on keeping a "common bawdy house." The judges agreed with the lower court that prostitutes would be safer if they were able to work in a fixed indoor location, such as their home, a massage parlour or a brothel.
The court also changed the law against living off the avails of prostitution, writing in a narrower definition to apply only to "circumstances of exploitation," in order to allow prostitutes to hire bodyguards or other staff.
"Thus, while it is ultimately the client who inflicts violence upon a prostitute, in my view the law plays a sufficient contributory role in preventing a prostitute from taking steps that could reduce the risk of such violence," concluded Justice Susan Himel in the lower court decision, as quoted by the Court of Appeal.
But rather than increasing safety, critics of the decision see the decision as normalizing and increasing exploitation.
"Legal brothels will provide organized crime, pimps and human traffickers with legal means to exploit women and youth," says Joy Smith, MP for Kildonan-St. Paul in Winnipeg. "It is essential that we listen to the voices of the women who have been exploited through a system that dehumanizes and degrades, and reduces them to a commodity."
The federal government has 30 days to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. The ban on brothels will remain in place for 12 months, to give the federal government time to draft a new law that is compliant with the Charter. If the decision is not appealed and no new law in place, there will be no restrictions on brothels in Ontario.
Both Smith and MacLeod would like to see a legislative approach in Canada similar to that in Sweden. In Sweden, the focus is on reducing demand with criminal penalties against the clients, while offering exit programs and exempting prostitutes from criminal charges.
"If they were really considering people's safety, they would offer exit programs and help women get out, instead of legalizing this and making it the norm in society," says MacLeod. "We are teaching our children that it is okay to buy people."
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