More than 60 organizations and agencies call for repeal of new prostitution law

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – More than 60 organizations and agencies from across the country are calling for the non-enforcement and repeal of new prostitution laws that came into force on Saturday.

The groups — which include the Canadian AIDS Society, John Howard Society, and Native Women’s Resource Centre — want the new law repealed and the full decriminalization of sex work in Canada.

The sweeping new changes to the way prostitution is regulated in Canada follow a Supreme Court decision last year that found the old laws violated the rights of prostitutes.

The groups say the law will recriminalize sex work while recreating the harms and violence experienced by sex workers under the previous laws criminalizing prostitution.

One Vancouver woman, a former sex trade worker, says it’s going to put people in harms way.

Kerry Porth with the Pivot Legal Society believes the Harper Government is pushing prostitutes away from services and support with these laws. “This is going to be another failed experiment with the lives of sex workers and it’s going to take some years to challenge these laws in court again.”

“I believe the government is playing to an ultra conservative base and their explicit intent with this bill is to abolish prostitution all together. That hasn’t happened anywhere in the world, no matter how draconian the laws are,” adds Porth.

She says the Bill includes laws that have been struck down by the Supreme Court of Canada, just in different form.

The groups are calling for sex work to be legal in Canada and say sex workers should have legal and labour rights.

Akio Maroon of Maggie’s — Toronto Sex Workers’ Action Project calls the implementation of the new law “a sad day for human rights in Canada.”