Nearly three years after the Supreme Court (“the Court”) issued its ground-breaking judgment in Canada (Attorney General) v. Bedford, 2013 SCC 72 [Bedford] and two years since the federal government passed Bill C-36, the Canadian polity remains mired in philosophic, moral, and political debate surrounding the acceptability of sex work. The Protection of Communities and […]
To end its 2013 sessions, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") released its judgment in Canada (Attorney General) v Bedford, [2013] 3 SCR 1101 [Bedford], effectively striking down all of the current laws restricting to autonomous prostitution. I released a preliminary post summarizing the legal basis for the judgment shortly after the decision was released, here. Writing […]
In a surprising turn of events, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) released its judgment in Canada (Attorney General) v. Bedford, 2013 SCC 72 [Bedford] as its final case before the holiday break, effectively striking down all of the current laws pertaining to autonomous prostitution. Writing for a unanimous court, Chief Justice McLachlin held that […]
Trial Decision Bedford v Canada, 2010 ONSC 4264, was a constitutional challenge to several Criminal Code provisions prohibiting operation of brothels, criminalizing persons who live on the avails of prostitution, and prohibiting public communication for the purpose of engaging in prostitution [s. 210, 212(1)(j) and 213(1)(c) of the Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46]. Himel J. found that the impugned […]