Anti-trafficking Laws
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...
Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA) Analysis
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...
Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA)
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,...
Sharing and Syndicated News Articles
Journalism has undergone some changes in the last decade–and it’s becoming more common to see operations becoming condensed. SWAN understands the immense pressures journalists face in this changing...
Writing Headlines about Im/Migrant Sex Work
It's still common to refer to sex workers through the direct or indirect use of terms connected to human trafficking or sexual exploitation. However, when misinformation or stereotypes about the...
Legislative Frameworks for Sex Work
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...
Intro to the Harms of Anti-Trafficking
How can an anti-trafficking campaign cause harm? While often well-intended, anti-trafficking campaigns carry a host of problems: They contribute to an unfounded moral panic in society They utilize...
Bedford v. Canada
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...