Bill C treats prostitution as a form of sexual exploitation that disproportionately impacts on women and girls. Its overall objectives are to:. The new criminal law regime seeks to protect the dignity and equality of all Canadians by denouncing and prohibiting the purchase of sexual services, the exploitation of the prostitution of others, the development of economic interests in the sexual exploitation of others and the institutionalization of prostitution through commercial enterprises, such as strip clubs, massage parlours and escort agencies that offer sexual services for sale.
It also seeks to encourage victims to report incidents of violence to the police and to leave prostitution. Bill C contains prostitution and human trafficking-related amendments. These amendments are explained below. Indictable offence with maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and mandatory minimum penalties of 6 months imprisonment for a first offence and one year for subsequent offences. This offence criminalizes purchasing sexual services, or communicating in any place for that purpose, for the first time in Canadian criminal law.
Since prostitution is a transaction that involves both the purchase and the sale of sexual services, the new purchasing offence makes prostitution illegal; every time the prostitution transaction takes place, an offence is committed by the purchaser. Dual procedure offence with maximum penalties of 5 years imprisonment if prosecuted by indictment and 18 months if prosecuted by summary conviction. This offence criminalizes advertising the sale of sexual services, also for the first time in Canadian criminal law.
The offence also applies to publishers or website administrators, if they know that the advertisement exists and that it is in fact for the sale of sexual services. The new laws also allow the court to order the seizure of materials containing advertisements for the sale of sexual services, as well as their removal from the Internet, regardless of who posted them.
However, the new laws protect from criminal liability a person who advertises the sale of their own sexual services. Indictable offence, with a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment and a mandatory minimum penalty of 2 years imprisonment. This offence does not prevent those who sell their own sexual services from entering into legitimate family and business relationships, or otherwise interacting with others, on the same basis as anyone else.
