Madame Justice Susan Himel of the Ontario Superior Court today released her decision in the challenge to Canada's prostitution laws launched by sex trade worker Terri-Jean Bradford.
"By increasing the risk of harm to street prostitutes, the communicating law is simply too high a price to pay for the alleviation of social nuisance."
-- Madame Justice Susan Himel
Madame Justice Himel's ruling strikes down the following sections of the Criminal Code:
- keeping a common bawdy house (s.210(1));
- communication for the purposes of prostitution (s.213(1)(c)), and
- living on the avails of prostitution (s.212(1)(j)),
All provisions were struck on the basis that the laws unnecessarily endanger prostitutes working on the street.
The Crown is moving for a stay of the ruling, to allow the law to stand until Parliament can address the situation with amendments to the Code.
- Christopher Bird, Toronto
Update:
A PDF of the full, 140 page text of Madame Justice Himel's ruling in Bedford, Lebovitch and Scott v. Attorney General of Canada is here (h/t Simon Fodden at Slaw).
Update: September 30, 2010
The quicker-loading html version is now online here
- GJW
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