The laws surrounding sex work in Canada can be confusing, even for the people who they affect.
In 2014 the Government of Canada passed the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (the PCEPA) after striking down previous laws, finding them to be disproportionate in their impacts, overbroad in their scope, and unconstitutional for violating sex workers’ right to life, liberty, and security of the person. The five main components of the PCEPA criminalize the following:
Purchasing, or communicating for the purpose of purchasing, sexual services
Receiving a material benefit from the commission of the first offence
Advertising sexual services on another’s behalf
Procuring persons for the purpose of sex work
Communicating for the purpose of selling sex in a public place that is next to a school, playground, or daycare centre
While selling sex is still not legal in Canada, sex workers cannot be prosecuted for selling their own sexual services under some narrow circumstances. Instead, the Canadian legislation follows what is known as “end-demand” criminalization, which seeks to criminalize the clients of sex workers and third-parties that profit off of sex work. This means that while sex workers should not be actively criminalized, they are still working in a criminalized industry which places them in a state of legal precarity.
When people think about the negative parts of sex work, they can often be traced back to structures and policies that make sex work less safe. A growing body of evidence, both from Canada and globally, has shown that criminalizing sex work in any capacity perpetuates stigma against sex workers, undermines sex workers ability to enact personal safety strategies while working, denies sex workers access to legislated workplace protections, and contributes to negative physical, sexual, and mental health outcomes for sex workers. There is no evidence to show that Canada’s current sex work laws have improved sex workers’ health and safety. Advocacy groups across Canada are currently involved in a charter challenge on the constitutionality of the PCEPA.
Additionally, some sex workers are further impacted by Canadian immigration policy which explicitly prohibits temporary residents and im/migrants with open work permits from engaging in sex work. Due to fears of police involvement and potential deportation, racialized im/migrant sex workers face heightened health and safety concerns. For an example of how intersecting laws and policies impact im/migrant sex workers in particular, check out this interactive resource from SWAN Vancouver.
