What a landmark Superior Court challenge could mean for Sudbury's sex workers

Today brings arguments to a close, in a landmark Superior Court hearing that could lead to the full decriminalization of sex work in Canada. 

Arguments began on Monday, among which, the coalition told the court sex workers are being harmed and exploited and are not protected under current laws. 

In 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Canada v. Bedford that three criminal prohibitions on prostitution were unconstitutional because they caused harm to sex workers and contravened sex workers' rights to liberty and security. 

The groups argue that instead of recognizing sex workers' rights and well-being by decriminalizing sex work, the federal government created a set of criminal laws called the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA) that reproduce those same harms. 

As long as we're within a criminalized context, you have not rights.— Tracy Gregory, executive director of SWANS

Tracy Gregory is the founder and executive director of the Sex Workers Advisory Network of Sudbury (SWANS), which is one of 25 group applicants in the challenge.

She echoes the coalition's arguments and said the current laws prevent sex workers from communicating with clients on matters related to their health and safety because clients are heavily criminalized.

"She's rushing through her negotiations and everything so she can protect her client from criminalization, so proving to him, basically, that she's not a cop," Gregory said. 

"As long as we're within a criminalized context, you have no rights. You have no rights to organize around your labour relations, you can't call police to protect you in situations of a crime against your person because police are showing up in your life in suspect ways," she said.

Gregory said she doesn't foresee any dangers in decriminalizing the trade. 

"Sex work is not inherently dangerous, prostitution is not inherently dangerous. It's the systems that are put in place and the laws that are put in place such as PCEPA, that actually create a dangerous environment and a dangerous context for sex workers to work in," she said.

Scott Florence is the executive director of the Sudbury Workers Education and Advocacy Centre. The organization has been hosting a watch party of the hearing all week, in partnership with SWANS. 

"Sex work is work," he said.

"We need to decriminalize it and potentially regulate it so that it becomes safe and meaningful. And in that way exploitation, violence and criminality can be taken away from it," he said.

Florence pointed to other jurisdictions such as Holland and New Zealand, which have already made the move to decriminalize the trade and have produced positive outcomes. He added that decriminalization in those cases did not lead to an increase in sex work, violence or exploitation. 

"If we really want to make a change for women, we actually need to make the working conditions safe for women and trans people and anybody in sex work," he said. 

"But also we need to attack the system that actually forced women, and Indigenous, and Black people, and people of colour into low wage and precarious work." 

SWANS is hosting it's final watch party of the hearings at the Sudbury Workers Education and Advocacy on Friday.  

Regardless of the judge's decision in the challenge, Gregory said she suspects the matter will end up at the Supreme Court of Canada. While Gregory said she isn't confident the challenge will be successful, she said "I'm hopeful, I'm still hopeful."