Vancouver’s Pivot Legal Society has the chance to win recognition for marginalized people at the Supreme Court of Canada but its lawyers would much rather be fighting Canada’s prostitution laws in a B.C. courtroom.
Pivot lawyer Katrina Pacey told Business in Vancouver last week she believes the federal government is using stalling tactics to prevent a case challenging federal prostitution laws from being heard in B.C. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court of Canada announced March 31 that it would hear Ottawa’s appeal of a B.C. Court of Appeal decision to allow a former sex worker and a sex worker advocacy group to challenge Canada’s criminal laws related to adult prostitution.
Ottawa maintains that only current sex workers should be able to do so.
“The B.C. Court of Appeal decision is a good one because it does recognize that marginalized groups have a difficult time accessing the court system,” Pacey said.
If Canada’s top court recognizes that decision, it will be a Canada-wide precedent that means marginalized groups need not necessarily be currently involved in the cause they are championing in order to challenge laws in court.
Pacey, however, would much rather be getting to the heart of what the sex workers she represents want to change:
- laws related to communicating for the purpose of prostitution;
- laws forbidding keeping a common bawdy house; and
- procuring laws that forbid third parties from making money off others who are in the prostitution trade. That section makes it difficult for sex workers to work collectively.
If Pacey wins the short-term battle of convincing the Supreme Court of Canada to allow people who are not currently in the sex trade be able to challenge Canada’s sex-work laws, she can then argue the merits of revamping Canada’s prostitution laws in B.C. Supreme Court.
An Ontario case is set to be heard in June in the Ontario Court of Appeal on similar matters. A decision in that case, however, would only be in effect in Ontario.
The Ontario case is likely to be heard eventually by the Supreme Court of Canada, whose verdict will have effect Canada-wide.
“We want to have a B.C. court strike down the laws so we don’t have to wait for the Ontario case to be heard in the Supreme Court of Canada,” Pacey said.