Canadian sex workers launch constitutional challenge to sex work laws

Sex workers and sex work organizations spoke on Thursday about an upcoming constitutional challenge to Canada’s sex work laws in Canada.

The event demonstrated evidence that the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA) creates violations to sex workers’ health and safety.

The PCEPA criminalizes communication in selling services in public, communication in purchasing sexual services, facilitating or receiving benefits related to the purchase of someone else’s services, and advertising of services.

The Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform says the PCEPA puts sex workers in danger because they are forced into isolation, prevented from accessing health, social, or legal services, and subjected to unwanted and unsolicited police presence; particularly for Black, Indigenous, migrant, trans sex workers and sex workers who use drugs because they are profiled and targeted.

A Parliamentary report from June 2022 by Canada’s Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights stated the laws cause, “serious harm to those engaged in sex work by making the work more dangerous.”

The constitutional challenge hearings are scheduled to being Oct. 3 at Ontario’s Superior Court.