How does the criminal law negatively impact sex workers in Canada? Are all sex workers impacted by the criminalization of prostitution?
Yes, all sex workers are impacted by the criminal law. Street-based workers face extremely high rates of violence and First Nations women are disproportionately impacted by both violence and exploitation in the sex industry. It is also worth noting that enforcement of prostitution laws is almost always inconsistent and arbitrary. Most often, it is driven by public complaints with the result that workers are randomly targeted and randomly charged by police. Enforcement crackdowns can force women to accept customers they wouldn’t normally consider, as regular customers are frightened away because they fear arrest.
