At the Ontario Superior Court on Tuesday, attorneys for marginalised sex workers will claim that current prostitution laws are unconstitutional under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In a Toronto courtroom on Monday, the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform began arguing that the laws governing sex work are encouraging stigma, inviting targeted violence, and eliminating safe consent.
Lawyers for LGBTQ, Indigenous, and Black sex workers are anticipated to make their case on Tuesday about how legislation enacted by the Conservatives during the Harper administration are too restrictive and disproportionately impact marginalised communities.
In 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada overturned the country’s prostitution ban after lawyers argued that the law’s current restrictions were excessive, overbroad, and put sex workers at danger of injury.
Advocates claim that the new regulations continue to criminalise sex work and are more restrictive than the ones they repealed.
The group opposes sex work-specific criminal laws and has a long list of suggestions for how to make the sector more controlled.
Legal representatives for underrepresented sex workers will appeal against prostitution legislation.
About Author
