Ontario court dismisses sex workers’ Charter challenge

A Charter challenge launched by an alliance of advocate groups for the rights of sex workers has been dismissed by the Ontario Superior Court that ruled Canada’s criminal laws are constitutional.

The decision by Justice Robert Goldstein says the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, brought in by the former Conservative government, balances prohibition of “the most exploitative aspects of the sex trade” while protecting sex workers from legal prosecution.

Goldstein found the laws to be constitutional and that they do not prevent sex workers from taking safety measures, engaging the services of non-exploitative third parties or seeking police assistance without fear of being charged for selling or advertising sexual services.

The Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform had argued in court that the laws fosters a stigma around the work, invited targeted violence and would prevent sex workers from obtaining meaningful consent prior to engaging with clients. The Alliance says this ultimately leads to a violation of the industry workers’ Charter rights.

READ MORE: Canadian sex workers launch constitutional challenge to sex work laws

Though prostitution was in fact legal under previous laws, it was all related activities such as running a brothel, pimping and communicating in public for the purposes of prostitution that were illegal.

The prostitution-related offenses were brought in the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper and moved closer towards criminalizing prostitution itself.

The federal government has maintained the new statutes do not prevent those selling sex from taking safety measures. Officials insist that the measures are meant to reduce both the purchase and sale of sexual services.

A Parliamentary report from June 2022 by Canada’s Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights stated the laws cause, “serious harm to those engaged in sex work by making the work more dangerous.”

WATCH MORE: Sex worker support centre celebrates grand opening in Hamilton

The Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform argued last October that the new laws are more restrictive than what they replaced and force sex workers, and those that work along with them, to operate in the context of criminalization.

The alliance says there shouldn’t be any criminal laws specific to the industry and that they have dozens of recommendations to pass along to create a more regulated industry.

Goldstein wrote in his decision that the decriminalization and regulation of sex work may be better policy choices but that the decision ultimately lies in the hands of Parliament and not the court.

WATCH MORE: Ontario’s hospital system is in crisis: report