Ontario Legalizes Brothels

In Ontario, it is now legal for prostitutes to organize, hire security, and conduct business within brothels, meaning that if Dominique Strauss -Kahn wants to keep taking chances, he better start taking them in Canada.

“Six out of six judges have so far have concluded that the law does not work and is hurting people,” said the lawyer who spearheaded the constitutional challenge. “This is something the government of Canada should have been addressing over the past few decades. Now, they have been called out by the Ontario Court of Appeal.”

Ontario court overturned a ban on brothels, a controversial decision meant to increase safety and minimize risk of personal harm for those practicing the world’s oldest profession. The ruling takes effect next year, and will allow prostitutes to work together under one rooftop with hired security and a full support staff.

“It’s so nice to feel that we have been brought into society,” said Valerie Scott, legal coordinator of Sex Professionals of Canada. “I feel like a debutante. I feel like a citizen.” Others agreed, saying that the decision was a way for prostitutes to conduct business like normal citizens, file income taxes, purchase property and pursue investments, etc.

“We are not going to have fire and brimstone and sex workers raining down from the sky,” said Nikki Thomas, executive director of SPOC, adding that brothel-legalization merely brings the practice into the light of day. “There is a brothel on every block in every city, and there always has been,” she said, continuing: “Any form of criminalization pushes the industry underground and gives opportunities for predators.”

Additionally, the court changed the pimping law, making it illegal “in circumstances of exploitation.” It also left a statute in place that makes public prostitution in Ontario illegal. An appeal to the brothel decision is expected.