Advertisement 1

Conservatives set to replace prostitution laws to help sex workers

Article content

OTTAWA

The Conservative government is giving its strongest signal yet it will replace the prostitution laws struck down by the Supreme Court of Canada with new measures.

"(Justice) Minister (Peter) MacKay can count on my full support to implement an appropriate response to that decision," Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney said Sunday on CTV.

He says he's "disappointed" with Friday's unanimous declaration that Canada's bans on brothels, communicating for the purpose of prostitution and living off its profits are unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court concluded the current laws violate hookers' right to security of the person, but Blaney says the government will find another way to help women because prostitution turns people "into real modern slaves."

"That's what prostitution, in many cases, is all about," he said. "This is abusing women, turning them into, not only human trafficking (victims), but into drug (addicts), into removing sometimes their own identity and using them in a way that is despicable."

Blaney didn't back any specific policy, but Conservative Party members took a definite stance on the issue at their Calgary convention last month.

They passed a resolution calling for a plan "to target the purchasers of sex and human trafficking markets through criminalizing the purchase of sex" - similar to policies already enacted in Sweden and Norway.

But that idea may get some resistance from the justice minister.

"I'm not entirely convinced that the direction that has been attempted in other countries, and this Nordic model being one, is the right fit for Canada," MacKay told QMI Agency last week.

Article content
Advertisement 2
Advertisement
Article content
Article content
Latest National Stories
    News Near Tillsonburg
      This Week in Flyers