TORONTO – Canada’s Supreme Court has caused a stir among protesters from both sides as the hearings to legalize brothels in Canada could change the way sex workers operate.
After a week of hearings that concluded on Friday, the ruling will affect three main areas in the Criminal Code, involving the ban on brothels, living off the avails of prostitution, and soliciting sex work.
Some argue the current legislation makes it difficult for prostitutes to practice sex work safely. Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin raised the question last week of whether the decision will mean prostitutes should be able to hire security guards and work in secure brothels, off the street.
Tania Fiolleau, TV talk show host and founder of Save the Women International, expressed her concern over the potential consequences of legalizing brothels in Canada. In the past, Fiolleau says she ran four brothels and employed more than 500 girls.
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People keep saying, “Oh, if the girls can get tested it’ll keep them safer.” Well, as soon as those tests come in and she sleeps with her first john, the test is null and void because the johns are not getting tested. You can still catch syphilis, gonorrhea, Hepatitis A, et cetera. There’s just so many diseases; it’s not going to slow down the disease factor.
GN: Many people believe that moving prostitution into the light will be beneficial, by making it harder for organized crime to operate. What do you say to that?
TF: I say that that’s a lie. If you look at what had happened in Sweden 1999, the Nordic model came into effect. And the Nordic model basically shifts the blame onto the john. It takes the blame off the girl and the john gets arrested and put in jail.
GN: So would you say our laws are more sexist then?
I myself was diagnosed with PTSD and I’ve very rarely met a woman who eventually wasn’t.
GN: What responsibility should there be for the johns who pay for sex?
TF: They should go to a john school and be educated. I use to teach at a john school with the police department. A john school that educates on diseases and harmful effects. There’s a john school at the police academy at new Westminster.
A lot of the time the girls end up developing habits where they’re on prescription medication, cocaine, or drinking too much because they’re self-medicating to numb out the emotional pain that they’re dealing with. Next thing you know they become full-blown addicted to drugs, and they’re prostituting for their drug habit.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
With files from the Canadian Press
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