Repealing prostitution law would leave women less protected, Vancouver lawyer tells committee

A Vancouver lawyer cautioned the federal government that it had better be prepared for prostitutes to be treated as independent contractors without employment law protection if Canada’s prostitution law is repealed.

Gwendoline Allison told the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, which is currently reviewing the Protecting Communities and Exploited Persons Act, that repealing the act would lead to considerable to employment-related problems. 

“I recognize that many employment-related laws are mainly within the provincial sphere of regulation and out of the control of Parliament,” Allison told the committee Tuesday. “So if Parliament decides to repeal, your role becomes very limited.” 

Employment laws would not protect prostitutes because they would be classified as independent contractors, said Allison, a member of the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s anti-human trafficking committee. While prostitutes would be permitted to register for Employment Insurance and Canada Pension Plan benefits, they would have no minimum wage, overtime, or job security provisions. 

Classifying prostitutes as independent contractors might also leave them unprotected by human rights legislation, which would only apply to workers in brothels, she said. 

Allison said decriminalizing prostitution has further implications because it is unlawful to make sex a condition of employment. How could sexual activity at work be managed if prostitution is decriminalized, she asked. 

“A lack of attention to those in prostitution and the obvious inapplicability of the current mechanisms illustrate how ineffective employment-related legal regimes are to protect the safety and security of those in prostitution,” she said. 

Anti-trafficking committee member Evelyn Vollet said she hopes Allison’s testimony helps to keep the law in place, calling it “a good law that deals with the serious implications of the targeting of predominantly marginalized women and youth for the purposes of sexual exploitation.”

The law recognizes “the inherent harm in prostitution and protects the most vulnerable of our society,” she said.

It is important the parliamentary hearings show the need for the law and lead to greater enforcement, she said. By focusing on the demand side of prostitution – the men who purchase women’s services – justice will be served. “If the law is repealed, the presence of violence, crime, and human trafficking will increase,” she said. 

Last month, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that PCEPA was constitutional and did not infringe on the Charter right to life, liberty, and security of the person. 

In her Feb. 24 decision, Justice Alexandra Hoy said, “In my view, (the law) has a single purpose: To reduce the demand for the provision of sexual services for consideration in order to protect communities, human dignity, and equality.” 

Hoy said the law provides prostitutes with “safety-enhancing measures” to report violent incidents without fear of prosecution. 

The Vancouver Collective Against Sexual Exploitation praised the decision upholding Canada’s prostitution law. 

“This is wonderful news that represents an important step in protecting a much-needed law from those who want to normalize prostitution and all its inherent harms, including human trafficking,” said VCASE chair Lynne Kent in a press release.

Kent said the decision to uphold the law shows prostitution is “intrinsically exploitative and damaging to the prostituted person.” She noted the court’s ruling referenced the legislation’s preamble recognizing the social harms caused by objectifying people and selling sex. 

The law received royal assent in 2014 and was aimed at treating prostitution “as a form of sexual exploitation that disproportionately impacts women and girls.”

The legislation enacted new prostitution offences and modernized old ones, making it a crime to buy or communicate for sexual services, advertise prostitution, and receive material or financial benefits from it. 

Canadians are almost five times more likely to support than to oppose Canada’s current prostitution law, according to a 2020 Nanos survey. 

Taina Bien-Aimé of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women said at the time the survey “shows that when the public understands how the system of prostitution operates, they not only oppose it, they want laws that decriminalize and help those exploited, while holding accountable those who harm them, including sex buyers.”