[ql06] Sex-trade laws must change, Quebec study says
- From: "Kenneth Campbell [QL06]" <2kc16@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ql06@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004 10:50:44 -0400
One more hopeful nail in the coffin of Canada's retarded "sex trade"
laws -- re: Hutt case and Prostitution Reference.
Per Adriana's inquiry of recent, in regards to the Quiet Revolution of
Quebec, it is not surprising this report comes from La Belle Province --
dismissing much of its conservative Catholic past.
Ken.
--- cut here ---
Sex-trade laws must change, Quebec study says
By RHÉAL SÉGUIN
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Tuesday, Apr. 27, 2004
QUEBEC — Prostitution involving consenting adults needs to be
decriminalized in Canada to end the growing violence and repression
against prostitutes, according to a report by a Quebec government
advisory body.
The Conseil permanent de la jeunesse, which advises the government on
the situation of Quebec's youth and young adults, cites a lack of
political will in Canada to examine all facets of street prostitution
and to offer options to those who become trapped in the sex trade.
"The illegal and clandestine nature associated with the practice of
prostitution makes it difficult for researchers to have access to those
who practise the trade. An exhaustive census of those who prostitute
themselves is impossible," the report states.
It stops short of calling for outright legalization of prostitution,
which would require government controls and strict regulations. Instead,
the report recommends that it be removed from the Criminal Code and that
those found guilty of soliciting be subject only to a fine.
The study says that decriminalization would stop prostitutes --
especially street prostitutes -- from being branded as outcasts, making
it easier for them to seek help to quit the trade, which is often driven
by drug addiction.
The study found that the current situation engenders tensions with
residents, community leaders and especially police. Mistreatment by
police, the report says, has made prostitutes more vulnerable to
beatings and abuse.
"You know what you look like when you leave home, but you never know how
you will look when you come back," one prostitute told the researchers.
Others spoke of police harassment when filing complaints after being
assaulted. "When I complained to the police, he tried to rape me," a
female prostitute told the researchers. One male prostitute said young
men are often subject to police beatings.
The authors of the report are critical of Canadian law, which makes
prostitution legal but outlaws the solicitation of prostitutes. "If
prostitution is legal, there is nothing said about the how and where it
should be practised. This situation, which stands between abolition and
prohibition, is in theory and in practice paradoxical," the report
states.
It calls on the Quebec government to urge Ottawa to change the law and
facilitate extensive research on the sex trade in Canada.
Decriminalization, the report says, would help lift the social stigma of
the trade and encourage prostitutes to work with municipalities, citizen
groups, police and community organizations to eliminate many of the
irritants associated with the sex trade, especially unwanted
solicitation near residential areas. For instance, in some
neighbourhoods syringes are often found on the streets and in parks
where children play. Decriminalization, the report argues, would make it
easier for drug-addicted prostitutes to seek help.
"The objective is not only to eliminate the irritants. The objective is
to make sure that these young people who are addicted to hard drugs can
have access to people who can help them," said Geneviève Baril,
president of the government advisory body.
The study began in early 2002 and included interviews with groups of
young male and female prostitutes in Montreal and Quebec City, where
later that year police broke up a juvenile prostitution ring. The study
found that many of the young prostitutes entered the sex trade when they
were juveniles and quickly developed an appetite for drugs and heavy
spending.
Some prostitutes worked the streets as a means of economic survival,
others to sustain an expensive lifestyle.
"I'll tell you why I got into prostitution. It was an easy way to make a
living," France (not her real name) is quoted as saying. Another
prostitute named Jessica bluntly expressed her disgust for her trade.
"The last john I did, I had to push him away to go and vomit."
Community workers support the study's recommendation in the hope that it
will spark a debate that will eventually lead to changes.
"I hope this will help us take an important step forward," said
Geneviève Quinty, 32, a social worker with Projet d'intervention
prostitution Québec who has worked with prostitutes for the past 11
years. "Now we can only wait and see if the government will take the
necessary actions.''
Premier Jean Charest, who is also minister responsible for youth, has
yet to read the report and declined requests to comment on it.
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