FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Ottawa, ON (unceded Anishinabe Algonquin Territory) – The BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) is disappointed by the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision to uphold two parts of Canada’s sex work criminalization scheme, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (“PCEPA”) in R v Kloubakov. The decision found that the two challenged Criminal Code offences—the “receiving a material benefit from sexual services” and “procuring” provisions—are constitutional. 

PCEPA was enacted in 2014 following the landmark Supreme Court of Canada decision of Canada (Attorney General) v Bedford, where the court determined that three former Criminal Code offences related to sex work were unconstitutional because they endangered sex workers.    

BCCLA intervened in Kloubakov to defend sex workers’ rights and argued that PCEPA contradicts  Bedford and violates sex workers’ section 7 Charter rights to liberty and security of the person. BCCLA argued that the “material benefit” and “procuring” provisions would force sex workers to either work alone or in hypothetical cooperatives, preventing sex workers from accessing non-exploitative commercial relationships, even where such relationships assist with the sex worker’s safety. The Court confirmed that sex workers may hire third parties so long as the arrangement is not a commercial enterprise.  

Clarification from the Court on the scope of the two provisions and confirmation that sex workers may hire third parties for protection may provide a certain degree of protection for sex workers; however, the broader harms of PCEPA ultimately continue to stand.  

The Court declined to rule on these broader issues, noting such issues are raised (with the benefit of a fuller evidentiary record) in the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform v Attorney General, currently before the Ontario Court of Appeal. No organisations directly representing the experiences of sex workers were involved in Kloubakov and the appellants were non-sex worker third parties. This means that the fight for safe and just sex work laws continues.  

Ga Grant, Staff Counsel for the BCCLA, says:  

“Today’s decision cuts deep against sex workers. It continues to ignore the lived experience of sex workers and the ways in which these laws put them in danger and risk of criminalization. Individuals in Canada are still denied the ability to make fundamental decisions about their body. Sex work must be regarded as part of our fundamental personal autonomy and dignity. It’s time that the law recognizes this and that the government finally works together with sex workers who are experts on their own safety.” 

BCCLA was represented by Akosua Matthews and Ruthie Wellen of Kastner Ko LLP.