prostitution in canada

Whenever discussion ensues about how best to advance the rights and well-being of people working in prostitution the suggestion most people come up with is to legalize prostitution. Legalization of prostitution means that the government regulates both sex workers and prostitution; and can involve laws that prohibit certain prostitution related activities (such as Sweden, who in 1999 legalized the selling of sexual services but criminalized the buying of sexual services[1]), which create poor and/or even dangerous working conditions (Ericksson, 2005; Jacobsson, 2006).

Although legalization of prostitution in places like Germany, the Netherlands and Nevada (in the United States) have improved the health and safety of sex workers, they have still not afforded sex workers the same rights as other employees, as sex workers are often subjected to exploitive working conditions, as well as being required to pay special taxes in addition to regular income taxes (Klinger, 2003). It is because no form of legalization has ever benefited the rights of sex workers as workers that sex worker rights activists and organization call for the decriminalization of prostitution, rather than for its legalization.

In Canada prostitution is legal, although many of the activities surrounding prostitution are not.  The Canadian laws surrounding prostitution are made up of three main sections, the first of which governs Bawdy Houses,[2] which makes it illegal for any residence or commercial unit to be used as place for prostitution, as well as prohibiting anyone from taking another person to a place that is used for prostitution. The second set of laws are known as the Procuring laws[3] (or the ‘pimping’ laws), these laws prevent anybody from earning money off a sex worker, or enticing anyone to become a sex worker. The third law is the Communication law[4] which criminalizes the negotiation of sex for money in a public place (a public place includes a restaurant, bar, vehicle, street, and even private residences with open windows or doors[5]), this law is supposed to target both the client and the sex worker equally but, the majority of the time it is only the sex worker who is charged with this offence (Betteridge & Csete, 2005).

Due to these laws it is not only extremely difficult to practice prostitution legally, but it is also difficult for sex workers to work in safe conditions. For example, the bawdy house laws prevent sex workers from being able to work in an environment that they know and feel safe in (like a brothel, house, apartment, commercial unit, etc), this forces sex workers to have to go to their clients place or hotel room (where their may be weapons, or have other people hiding inside) in order to work within the law.   The procuring law prohibits sex workers from being able to hire security personal (such as a driver, or body guard), and makes it illegal for a sex worker to refer a client to another sex worker, or to arrange to have another sex worker join them with a client. The communication law prevents sex workers from being able to meet or, assess their clients in a public place before going someplace alone with them (Betteridge & Csete, 2005), leaving them in an extremely vulnerable position.

Escort services are one of the safest ways to work legally in Canada.[6] An escort service is a business which offers and “provides an introduction between twos person for a period of companionship for which a fee is charged, levied, or imposed” (Devine, 1999). Since escort services state that they only charge for “companionship” rather than sexual services they are not committing an illegal act (even though it is common knowledge that escorts provides sexual services), if the escort and client become sexually intimate it is considered to be private. Furthermore, if the escort decides to charge additional money for sexual services he/she is not committing an illegal act as long as the escort and client are in a private place.

Escorts can also work for themselves, instead of through an escort service, and place ads in the newspaper (so long as they do not explicitly advertise sexual services for money, and only provide “out calls” i.e. providing companionship at the client’s residence rather then at the home or workplace of the escort – this applies to escort services as well). Escort service agencies must obtain an Escort Services license, and in some municipalities (such as Vancouver, and Windsor) escorts who work for an escort service are also required to be licensed[7], which can range anywhere from $105.00 a year in Winnipeg  to $600.00 a year in Calgary (City of Winnipeg, 2007; Benoit & Millar, 2001).  And in places like Edmonton independent escorts are expected to attain an Independent Escort licence which costs $1606.00 per year (City of Edmonton, 2007). 

The reasoning behind licensing escort services and escorts is to off-set the costs of law enforcement, attempt to regulate and keep sex work off the streets, and to use a portion of the money collected from licensing to provide educational support and counselling services to assist escorts who want to leave the occupation (Gardner, 2002; Kohm & Selwood, 2004; Matika-Tyndale & Lewis, 2000).

Although the licensing of escort services has afforded sex workers some level of safety (i.e. a driver drops off and picks up the escort, the agency knows the address and telephone number of who the escort will be seeing), sex workers who are working for escort services still face huge legal barriers in regards to safety and working conditions.

Escorts are typically hired as independent contractors[8] and as such are not eligible for unemployment benefits, sick leave, vacation pay, health benefits, injury compensation, or able to pay into pension plans (Pivot, 2006).  Escorts also have to give more than 50% of their wages to the escort agency, are responsible for paying for their own ads, and must pay the escort service driver a portion of their earnings.

Although all sex workers are required to pay income taxes (whether legal or not), many are hesitant to do so they do want to declare themselves as sex workers for fear of repercussions,[9] while others do not feel like they should have to pay taxes on an industry for which they get little protection or rights (Pivot, 2006).

In the state of Nevada prostitution is legal in 10[10] out of Nevada’s 17 counties but, only in the confines of a licensed brothel.[11]  A brothel is an establishment where sex for money takes place, in Nevada there are 36 existing brothels (Brents & Hausbeck, 2001).  ‌

Although these brothels provide sex workers with a safe working environment, as many employ a number of safety precautions including panic buttons, intercoms, management surveillance and security guards (Weitzer, 2005) and in the county of Lyon brothels are required to surround their property with a fence no shorter than 6 feet tall that is equipped with a buzzer and a locking device that can be opened remotely from within the brothel (Meretrix, 2000). Since there is no alternative other than to work in a brothel in Nevada, brothel owners often take advantage of sex workers and provide sex workers with extremely exploitive working conditions.   

 For instance, most brothels require sex workers to work in shifts that are usually 12 – 14 hours long (Meretrix, 2000), as well as require that the sex worker reside at the brothel during the duration of their work which can last from one week to a few months[12] (Albert, 2001).

All sex workers working in one of Nevada’s legal brothels must also be licensed (anyone previously convicted of a prostitution related offence is denied a license), this licensing process consists of a $50.00 licensing fee, undergoing a medical exam, and providing the county police station with a recent photograph and fingerprints. 

 Most brothels charge sex workers expensive fees including room and board expenses, work card, runner and house fees. On top of that sex workers must also give up more than 50% of their earnings to brothel management and 10% to cab drivers[13]. Sex workers must also be licensed and undergo mandatory testing[14] for HIV and other STI’s on a weekly basis (Monet, 2005). Although no sex worker working in one of Nevada’s legal brothels has ever tested positive for HIV since testing began in 1986 (Houge, 2004), if a sex worker did test positive while employed at a brothel the sex worker could be subject to felony charges. (Thompson, 2000) These tests are not covered by the brothel but, rather the sex workers themselves which, in 2000, costs $50.00 for the weekly exam and around $85.00 for the monthly exam (Albert, 2001).  There are many critics of mandatory health checks as it promotes the myth that sex workers are vectors of the HIV virus, and may also put sex workers at risk with their clients who may refuse to use a condom after finding out the sex worker is free of diseases (Scott, 2004; Legros, 2005). Moreover since sex workers who work in Nevada’s brothels are considered independent contractors they are not eligible for any benefits (including health, unemployment, sick leave, vacation pay, or injury/illness compensation). 

Germany’s model of legalization provides the most benefits to sex workers than any other country with legalized prostitution. Since 2002, with the introduction of the ProstG law[15], Germany has recognized sex work as a legitimate form of labour and with that sex workers are now able to declare themselves as prostitutes, unionize[16], and pay into health, unemployment, and pension plans (Lopes, 2005).

 Another benefit to this new law is that sex workers are no longer mandated to undergo compulsory HIV or STI testing (Kilvington & Ward, 2001), which prior to the new law sex workers were forced to register and undergo mandatory testing which resulted in the majority of sex workers working unregistered[17], and created a two-tier system of registered and unregistered sex workers, with second having less access to health care (Mak, 1997).

Although Germany’s model of legalization provides sex workers with more rights and benefits than any other model of legalization, it is not without its flaws. Not only do sex workers pay income taxes but, they are also required to pay a Value-Added Tax[18] of 16% as well as a flat tax of 25 Euros[19] per working day (Mitrovic,2004) and in the city of Cologne (and possibly Berlin), sex workers are also expected to pay a “sex tax” of 150 Euros[20] per month. (De Troy & McPhail, 2006; Reuters, 2007)  Furthermore, when sex workers try to register with tax offices often they are charged back tax for the previous five or 10 years (BBC News, 2005).

In view of the fact that there is currently no model of legalization anywhere in the world that provides sex workers the same equal rights as any other employee, sex worker rights activists and organizations often call upon the decriminalization of prostitution. Decriminalization refers to the total removal of the prostitution laws, and treats the sex industry in a similar way to many other sectors in society.  In contrast, legalization enforces criminal laws to regulate sex workers and the sex industry.  Decriminalization on the other hand “regulates sex workers and sex work activities without using criminal law while recognizing labour rights and responsibilities” (Shaver, 2005).

In places that have decriminalized systems (such as New Zealand and New South Wales[21]), sex workers are entitled to the same workplace protections as other industries, are able to join unions, and are covered by occupational health and safety standards (Smith, 2003; Bernett, 2007).  In New Zealand brothels and business owners must offer sex workers employment contracts, as well as providing them with health and other workplace benefits. Sex workers are also not mandated to undergo forced health checks, and are able to work from home, at a brothel, on the street, or in a commercial unit.

 Sex workers must still pay income taxes but, unlike many legalized systems sex workers are not obliged to pay any special taxes; they are taxed at the same rate as any other small business owner (Scott, 2004). It is for these reasons that sex worker rights advocates and organizations promote the decriminalization of prostitution as a way to improve the health and working conditions of sex workers, as well as ensuring that sex workers have the same equal rights as other workers.