Okay, so by now I think everyone who reads this has probably already heard the news, but: WE WON!!! 😀 😀 😀
 
The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously struck down the three laws (Bawdy House, Communications, and Living Off The Avails) that the Bedford case challenged. The above link goes to the full text of the SCC Decision, but if you want the key points, you can check out Pivot Legal’s 705 Word Version.
 
You can read POWER’s press release here, while Maggie’s is available here.
 
 
Now it’s not all roses, of course. When is it ever?
Parliament, with it’s Conservative majority, has a year to come up with a different set of laws through-which to regulate sexwork in Canada (a number of friends in the business are expecting to be lobbying against a Nordic Model that criminalizes clients[1] in the near future, but time will tell on that one). We still have work to do, and will for the foreseeable future.
BUT Today is still a major victory, and so very, VERY worthy of celebration! Raise a glass of your favourite beverage (whether that’s champagne or mulled sweet cider from your favourite orchard), host a love-in, get a massage, poster your neighbourhood (poster is 11×17, but re-sizes easily), or otherwise find a way to celebrate. 😀
 
 

 
 
TTFN,
Ms Syren.
 
 
[1] So… What’s the problem with criminalizing clients? Well (1) the fact that we already have laws on the books the (rightly) criminalize assault, theft, and murder, further criminalizing the predators who pose as “Johns” would be redundant, while criminalizing actual clients is simply unnecessary, since they’re doing nothing wrong; and, more to the point, (2) criminalizing clients will most likely mean that clients will be less (or straight-up un) willing to take the time, risk the exposure, or give out the personal information required for sexworkers’ various screening processes to be effective.