#325 – 1101 Seymour Street
Vancouver, BC
V6B 0R1
In 2005, the Canadian government enacted criminal laws against human trafficking. To this day, despite amendments, these anti-trafficking laws lack a substantive basis in empirical evidence and often have the effect of harming those in marginalized positions—such as...
The Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA) criminalizes many activities related to sex work, putting sex workers at risk of violence, exploitation, and other crimes and human rights violations. Because PCEPA views sex work as exploitation, it aims...
On December 6, 2014, Bill C-36—the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA)—came into force, regulating sex work in Canada with the stated aims of protecting sex workers, communities, children and reducing the demand for sex work. PCEPA views sex...
Canada’s current legislative framework for sex work is an end-demand model called “partial decriminalization”, or the Nordic Model. Partial decriminalization purports to end the demand for sex work by criminalizing the buyer of sexual services while leaving the seller...
Bedford v. Canada was a case challenging the constitutionality of Canada’s prostitution laws. The initial challenge began in 2007 and the final judgment from the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) came down in 2013. Applicants: Terri Jean Bedford, Amy Lebovitch, and...
Impact on Migrant Sex Workers: Migrant sex workers experience multi-layered criminalization. Even if sex work was decriminalized in Canada, migrant sex workers would still be criminalized