Justice panel in spotlight over prostitution law
MPs on the Commons justice committee will return to Parliament Hill Monday for four full days of meetings to review the government’s proposed prostitution bill.
The bill would make it illegal to advertise sex for sale, or buy sexual services, but only make it a crime to sell sex if the transaction happens near a school, mall or other place where children may be found.
When the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the country’s prostitution laws were unconstitutional because they did not protecting sex workers’ Charter right to “security of the person,” it gave the government one year to come up with a new law. That expires in December.
The government wants the committee to approve the bill, with or without changes, by the end of this week, although the full Commons won’t deal with it until it returns in September. Not everyone likes that plan. “Summer has more than four days,” said NDP justice critic Françoise Boivin. “If we want to do a serious job, I think that type of legislation deserves ... the time to ponder a bit.”
About 60 witnesses are scheduled to testify, though not all names are finalized. They come from all over Canada: two chiefs of police; the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada; anti-human trafficking groups; sex trade workers associations; The Native Women’s Association of Canada — just to name a few. “We could have had so many more because there were so many people who wanted to come and speak,” Boivin said.
By criminalizing the buying of sex, the Conservatives’ bill is in part similar to the “Nordic model” — used in Sweden, Norway and Iceland — under which police target the customers, pimps and sex-trade traffickers, but not the sex workers themselves.
Those international voices will also be heard next week, including a member of the European Union’s parliament. “It’s as useful as many other things,” Boivin said. But, “It’s going to be their view, based on their own laws.” Meaning it may not necessarily work within the scope of Canadian laws, or the thrust of the Supreme Court ruling.
Critics argue that the bill could force the sex trade underground with less time for sex workers, concerned about their own safety, to screen clients. Justice Minister Peter MacKay said Thursday that the government is open to constructive amendments on the bill. The way next week is set up, those amendments would be introduced and debated on Friday — just hours after the last witness testifies.
The justice committee is the only Commons committee meeting at the moment, since Parliament has risen for the summer — making it the only show on Parliament Hill until the end of the summer break in September. With little else happening, and a bill that has drawn much attention, there will be a high level of interest from the media.