While sex work and people who work in the sex industry are often at the centre of debate for elected officials and decision makers in parliament, sex workers are rarely asked to centrally and meaningfully inform policy and laws that impact us. We have very few venues to have our communities' needs meet the ears, pens and papers of people who write and enforce laws against our communities and against us. This is why it's important for us to take part in processes that elect people into positions of power-people who will write and enact policy that impact marginalized communities such as ours.
Les travailleuses du sexe et leurs alliés à travers le Canada se mobilisent couramment à travers des plaidoyers et des campagnes publiques incluant des cartes postales et des lettres, de nombreux appels et des réunions avec des députés de la Chambre des Communes pour démontrer les campagnes socio-médiatiques ainsi que d'autres moyens pour influencer et encourager la réforme des lois sur la prostitution.
Sex workers and allies across Canada are currently mobilized with public and advocacy campaigns that include postcards and letter writing campaigns, phone calls and meetings with MPs, demonstrations, social media campaigns and other ways to influence and encourage prostitution law reform. In addition to the education we need to do with the public and with ourselves along the way, there are two "most important" moments where we can infiltrate and be a part of the legislative process: The Justice Committee of the House of Commons and the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee in the Senate.
Ce guide a été concu par et pour les travailleuses du sexe et leurs alliés. Il nous aidera à faire de l'activisme pour la réforme des lois tout en nous éduquant sur les systèmes et processus de création et d'invalidation des lois et des politiques. Ce guide peut etre utilisé et adapté par les travailleuses du sexe, leurs alliés et tous ceux et celles qui travaillent pour la décriminalisation du travail du sexe au Canada et à travers le monde.
Dans l'affaire Canada (Procureur général) c. Bedford,3 la Cour supreme du Canada a annulé l'ancienne loi sur la communication, décrétant qu'elle était inconstitutionnelle. Dans son jugement, le tribunal soulignait le fait qu'au Canada, "les travailleuses du sexe étaient contraintes à choisir entre leur droit à la liberté (respecter la loi) et leur sécurité personnelle".
In Canada (Attorney General) v. Bedford,3 the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the old communicating law as unconstitutional. In its judgment, the Court highlighted how sex workers in Canada were forced to choose between their liberty interest (obeying the law) and their right to security of the person.
In 2013 Canada introduced legislation that criminalized the purchase of sexual services. Criminalizing the purchase of sex is often referred to as the "Swedish" or "Nordic" model and is presented as a new legal framework to eradicate sex work and trafficking by "ending demand". This new Canadian legislation was modeled after Sweden's, which in 1999 made the purchase of sexual services a crime. These "end demand" models are often described as "decriminalizing sex workers and criminalizing clients." Limited understanding of "end demand" models means that their proponents are often unaware of the ways in which they still criminalize sex workers or put sex workers at risk.
Although sex workers are exempt from prosecution for advertising their own sexual services, any other party (e.g., newspaper, website, phone-service, etc.) that is a vehicle for sex workers advertising their services is still liable. Even maintaining one's own website leaves the Internet Service Provider (ISP) vulnerable to prosecution.