Watch above: MPs were back on Parliament Hill, in a rare summer sitting, to debate Canada’s proposed prostitution laws. Mike Le Couteur reports.
OTTAWA – Justice Minister Peter MacKay will be the first witness later this morning, kicking off this week’s marathon round of hearings by the House of Commons justice committee on the Harper government’s new prostitution bill.
The Supreme Court of Canada struck down Canada’s old prostitution law last December and gave it a year to replace it with one that would comply with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
MacKay says the government’s message this week is to pass the bill because there’s a sense of urgency.
READ MORE: Did the government get prostitution laws right?
MacKay says he’s open to amending the bill, but he’s dropping strong hints that will have limits.
He says the bill is constitutionally sound and is an adequate response to the Supreme Court.
Justice Department officials, who advised the government, will be open to questioning by all parties after MacKay has finished his testimony later on this morning, says Bob Dechert, the minister’s parliamentary secretary.
Prostitution itself was actually legal in Canada under the old law, but most related activities – including communicating in a public place for the purposes of prostitution, pimping and running a brothel – were criminal offences.
READ MORE: Planned prostitution law aims at ‘protecting vulnerable,’ MacKay says
The Supreme Court said that amounted to a violation of the basic Charter right to security of the person was concerned that the provisions unduly increased the risk to sex workers.
The Conservatives new bill creates new offences for clients and pimps, but does not criminalize prostitutes themselves.
It also cracks down on advertising and selling sexual services in public places where a child could reasonably be expected to be present.
Parliamentary committees rarely convene during the summer recess.
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This week, the committee expected to hear from more than 60 witnesses over 20 hours of hearings set to begin today and run until Thursday morning.
NDP justice critic Francoise Boivin says she wants the government to slow down and thoughtfully craft a new, Charter-compliant law over the summer months.
The vast list of those testifying includes sex workers, indigenous women, community workers and experts from Europe.
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