Our continually mystifying Minister of Justice Peter MacKay has made yet another nonsensical move on behalf of the Harper government, this time with the introduction of Bill C-36, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act.
The Supreme Court of Canada’s (SCC) ruling in the Bedford decision struck down three sections of the Criminal Code that were challenged to be unconstitutional:
- s. 210 keeping or being in a bawdy-house
- s. 212 living on the avails of prostitution
- s. 213 communicating in public for the purpose of prostitution
The SCC’s 80 page ruling cited failures in the system and how the current laws bear responsibility for the many risks and deaths sex workers face, and finally, that the laws do infringe upon a sex worker’s section 7 Charter rights to security of the person “by preventing implementation of safety measures that could protect them from violent clients.”
More harm than good
So here’s where MacKay steps in with Bill C-36. Or rather, stomps in like a villainous monster with heavy feet, crushing everything in its path.
