Prostitution is legal in all of Canada
Prostitutes protecting themselves against assault or unwanted sexual advances by a customer are among the 9% of federally sentenced women who commit homicide as an act of self-defence.
Correctional Service of
Most theft convictions for prostitutes arise from women’s demands to be paid for sex acts performed.
Hannah-Moffat, K. & Shaw, M. (2001). Taking risks: Incorporating gender and culture into the classification and assessment of federally sentencing women in Canada.
39% of all females charged for communicating get prison sentences, with an average of 30 days per term.
Duchesne, D. (1997). Street Prostitution in Canada. Juristat Service Bulletin, Vol. 17, No. 2.
In 2006 their were 5,701 prostitution convictions in
Statistic’s
In 2005, police reported a total of 9 prostitutes killed. Police were able to establish that 3 of the prostitutes were killed as a direct result of their “occupation”. The police were unable to make this determination for the 6 remaining victims.
Statistics
In 2003, police reported 5,658 incidents involving prostitution laws. About 93 per cent of those incidents involved street prostitution, and virtually all of those involved violations of the law against communicating for the purpose of prostitution in public (Statistics Canada 2003)
Using StatCan's estimate, the murder rate of prostitutes is by far the highest of any occupation. And most of those murders remain mysteries: A 1995 StatsCan study found a little more than half of the cases involving murdered prostitutes went unsolved, compared with only 20 per cent of other homicides.
A Statistics Canada study in the mid-1990s found that 17 per cent of prostitution convictions were punished with an average of 15 days in jail. (Statistics Canada)
On December 20 1985, Bill C-49 (the communicating law) was enacted.
In 1998, the intergovernmental working group report declared Bill C-49 a failure: "Despite a series of Criminal Code amendments over the past 25 years, the Working Group received compelling evidence that the existing law is not working." (Report and Recommendations in respect of Legislation, Policy and Practices Concerning Prostitution-Related Activities, 1998)
Bill C-49 resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of prostitution related charges: from 1,225 in 1985 to 7,426 in 1986 (83% increase) (Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 1993, p. 5). It also intensified the criminal status of street prostitutes, forcing them to work in more remote and dangerous areas and causing increased tension in their relationships with law enforcement (John Howard Society;2001)
Serial killers, when trolling for prostitutes along a red-light strip, can be reasonably assured that because of their typically transient lifestyle, the disappearance of his victim will not be immediately deemed foul play (Sears, 1991;153)
It is estimated that between 70-80% of sex workers in most metropolitan areas of Canada are female (Brock, 1998; Weinberg et al, 1999; Benoit and Millar, 2001)
John school" was set up in 1996 in Ottawa as an alternative to criminal charges for men who pick up prostitutes. It costs $300-$400 to attend and is only for men with no previous criminal record. (Department of Justice Canada)
According to the Toronto Police Sex Crimes Unit there are 4-5 assaults on prostitutes in Toronto every night. (Toronto Police, Sex Crimes Unit, 2004)
Toronto Police Sex Crimes Unit figures only 2 per cent of all sex attacks on prostitutes ever make it to the attention of the Assault Squad (Toronto Police, Sex Crimes Unit, 2004)40% of street prostitutes in the US are women of color; 55% of those arrested are women of color ( Casting Stones: Prostitution and Liberation in Asia and the United States. Fortress Press 1996).
85% of prostitutes sentenced to jail time are women of color.(Casting Stones: Prostitution and Liberation in Asia and the United States. Fortress Press 1996).
A 1986 study by Diane Prince, however, found call girls and brothel workers had higher self esteem than before they became prostitutes. (Research for Sex Work 3; 2000)
According to a 2001 study done by the University of Victoria (UVIC), prostitutes only 3.5% of Canadian prostitutes are HIV postitive. (Dispelling Myths and Understanding Realities: Working Conditions, Health Status and Exiting Experiences of Sex Workers)
The same study found that only 17.5% of Sex Workers entered the trade to support a drug habit.
Again that same study also found that Street sex workers only accounted for 20% of all sex workers.
In 1999 the SHOUT Clinic (a Toronto health clinic for homeless youth), interviewed 360 youth between the ages of 16-25 and found that 31% admitted to having engaged in prostitution. Making Money: The Shout Clinic Report on Homeless Youth and Employment.
In a 1994 study, Intersecting epidemics: crack cocaine use and HIV infection among inncer-city young adults, researchers found that 68% of women who were regular crack smokers had exchanged sex for drugs or money.
A study done by the Prostitution Alternatives Counselling Education (PACE) in 2001 titled Violence against Women in Vancouver’s Street Level Sex Trade and the Police Response, which researched 183 sex workers found that one-third of the women said they had survived an attack on their life while working on the street.
In a 2003 study known as I-Track: Enhanced surveillance of risk behaviors among injecting drug users in Canada, found that 92% of Injection drug users who also worked as sex workers reparably used condoms all the time with clients but almost a third never used condoms with their casual partners and that condom use was infrequent amongst sex workers and their regular partners. Various reasons were cited: they desired "emotional closeness" with their private partners; they thought their partners were "clean"; they did not want their partner to feel like a "trick." Meaning that many sex workers at risk for HIV face their greatest risk in their personal lives due to a reluctance to insist on condom use outside of work as well as unsafe drug use.
At the 1996 International Conference on AIDS in Vancouver BC, it was announced that observers have found a link between HIV transmission and heavy crack smoking. Crack users that do not use condoms while providing oral sex are at risk of HIV infection due to poor oral hygiene and/or cuts in the mouth caused from crack pipes.
According to police reports submitted to Statistics Canada, between 1991 and 2004, 171 female prostitutes were killed and 45 per cent of these homicides remain unsolved -- Subcommittee on Solicitation Laws of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights final report. December 12, 2006
Research on 130 street sex workers in
In New Zealand, where prostitution is decriminalized, studies done in 1996-1998 of seroprevalence among sex workers conducted in four major New Zealand cities by the AIDS Epidemiology Group, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine at Otago Medical School found "no discernible infection among New Zealand born female sex workers", giving credence to the idea that sex workers are leading proponents of disease prevention –Jordan, J. (1991). Working Girls.
The mortality rate in
Sex workers are more vulnerable to sexual assault and other violence when they
work illegally as they perceive police do not take crimes against them seriously
and clients are aware of the propensity for sex workers not to report crimes of
violence to the police. – Banach L. (1999a) “Sex workers and the official neglect of occupational health and safety”. Social Alternatives. 18(3):17-22.
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