When government officials want to minimize media coverage, they often save their information dumps for a Friday. And if they want to seriously curtail public awareness, they do this before a long weekend. So what are we to make of the Supreme Court of Canada's decision to release one of its most-anticipated rulings on a Friday December 20 before Christmas and Boxing Day? At the end of this week, Canada's highest court will render its verdict in the federal government's appeal of Canada Attorney General v.
Bedford, Lebovitch and Scott. Terri-Jean Bedford, a dominatrix, operated the "Bondage Bungalow". Amy Lebovitch and Valerie Scott work for Sex Professionals of Canada , which advocates for legalization of the sex trade. The three Ontario women won a landmark ruling in in the Ontario Superior Court advancing the rights of sex workers. At the time, Justice Susan Himel's decision stated that Criminal Code prohibitions on keeping a common bawdy house, living off the avails of prostitution, and soliciting in public for the purpose of prostitution were unconstitutional.
Himel concluded that these laws violated sex workers' legal rights to freedom of expression and security of the person. In , the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld Himel's ruling concerning laws about keeping a common bawdy house and living off the avails. However, three of the five judges on the Ontario appellate court panel upheld the ban on communicating in public for the purpose of solicitation, which overturned this aspect of Himel's decision.
The Ontario high court stated in its ruling that street soliciting "poses real and grave dangers" to sex workers. Pivot joined forces with the PACE Society and the Downtown Eastside Sex Workers United Against Violence as interveners to oppose the continued criminalization of adult sex workers who want to work cooperatively or hire their own security. Other interveners included the B. Civil Liberties Association, the B.
No matter how the court rules, some of the interveners are going to be disappointed with the outcome. My bet? The court will uphold Himel's decision overturning bans on keeping a common bawdy house and living off the avails. But I'm guessing that the Supreme Court of Canada justices will retain the ban on soliciting in public as a reasonable limit on sex workers' charter rights under section 1 of the Constitution Act, The timing of this decision will minimize any controversy, especially if the judiciary essentially expands sex workers' legal rights and offers them greater protection in the future.
