Pubdate: Sun, 29 Jun 2014
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2014 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: http://www.torontosun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Alan Shanoff
Page: 26

STOP LEGISLATING MORALITY

Canada's Proposed Prostitution Law Doesn't Protect Sex Trade Workers 
and Will Be Vulnerable to a Charter Challenge

I'm always amazed at the power of our federal government.

With the simple passage of legislation it can turn ordinary citizens 
into criminals.

How is this possible?

Well, our drug prohibition laws are a prime example.

By rendering certain drugs illegal in 1908, the government turned 
what were law-abiding citizens into criminals.

Marijuana became illegal in 1923. One day consuming certain drugs was 
legal and the next day it wasn't.

Of course the price of these now illegal drugs have increased 
exponentially ever since and drug dealers have been laughing for 
decades as they cash in for huge profits.

Now with Bill C-36, the Protection of Communities and Exploited 
Persons Act, the federal government is proposing to do the same, this 
time with those who purchase sexual services, as well as with 
sex-trade workers who run afoul of this proposed highly technical and 
vague law.

Why should anyone care if we criminalize those who purchase sex?

Well, aren't they simply exercising their right to engage in 
consensual sex acts with a willing partner, something that has always 
been legal in Canada?

Who is the victim in the exchange of sex for money?

Don't tell me it is the purchaser's spouse or family. If that were 
the case, adultery would be a crime.

Where is the pressing need to turn purchasers of sexual services into 
criminals?

Do the police need more business? Are the courts lacking in cases? Do 
lawyers need a new class of clients?

Who and what benefit from criminalizing the purchase of sexual 
services, other than criminal organizations, lawyers and police budgets?

If this law is passed, the reality is we will be forcing more people 
into the criminal justice system and stigmatizing them with criminal records.

Forcing more people into the criminal justice system will serve no 
purpose other than embarrassment and the payment of legal fees and fines.

The stigma of a criminal record will create hardship for many by 
rendering them pariahs to many potential employers.

Historically, efforts to criminalize traditional vices - drugs, 
gambling and prostitution - have been a miserable failure.

Aside from creating more criminals we merely succeed in creating 
black markets and enhancing the fortunes of criminal enterprises.

At the same time we help to generate violence.

Not only the violence that accompanies criminal enterprises as they 
jockey for power, but the crimes generated to obtain the cash to 
purchase these illegal and thus higher-priced products and services 
on the black market.

You don't need to be a criminologist or sociologist or even an 
economist to understand all this; we see the results of our 
prohibition laws in the daily news.

There's no doubt that the sex trade industry is fraught with dangers.

But Bill C-36 does little to provide or enhance safety for sex-trade workers.

We must do a better job of protecting minors and the vulnerable.

We must protect sex-trade workers from coercion and violence.

Sex trafficking and sex slavery are among the worst imaginable crimes.

But it's insulting to think all sex-trade workers are the subject of 
coercion or victims of crimes.

While it isn't a life most would want to emulate, there's nothing 
inherently wrong with the provision of sexual services for 
consideration, be it cash or an expensive dinner.

It seems the purpose of Bill C-36 is to render illegal the sale of sex.

I suspect the courts will have something to say about that when the 
law is subjected to a Charter challenge.

In the meantime, the law has the same chance of eliminating the sale 
of sex as our drug prohibition laws have of eliminating the sale of 
illegal drugs.

We don't need to create more crimes or criminals.

Let's leave the criminal justice system for real crimes and real criminals.

Religious and moral views on issues such as sex and drugs have no 
place in shaping criminal laws.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom