Some municipalities are defining the word "Escort" improperly here in Canada!
Some municipalities are defining the word "Escort" improperly here in Canada!
In municipal by-law's some cities here in Canada have defined the word "Escort" as a person who goes on paid dates but does not participate in sexual acts with clients in exchange for money. They do this as they want to license escorts but they do not want to accept that the escorts are having sex for the money (that would make them pimps and pimping or "living off the avails" is illegal in Canada).
We all know that the term "Escort" is a person who is a "Sexual service provider" also known as such things as a "Call girl", "Courtesan", "Prostitute", "hooker", "Whore", "Harlot", and many other names. Many of the names are demeaning and not respectful as we all know so the ladies choose to use better words such as "Escort" so that they are not grouped in with the women who solicit sex illegally on the street (Also illegal in Canada).
In Canada being paid for sex is legal and paying for sex is also legal. What is not legal is pimping, underage of 18, public solicitation / communicating / procuring for the purpose of sex and keeping a bawdy-house.
Your common "out-call" service provider who does not solicit in public, does not have a pimp, is of legal age and charges for sex is not breaking the law! So why can they not call themselves a "Escort" in some municipalities? Because the municipality writes these by-laws defining the word "Escort" to mean something that it is not!
Most municipalities do this to try to get rid of the ladies. Many of you think they do this because they want to make money off the girls... but that is not true! They don't want the girls in the cities at all. They want to force them to move to another city or quit being a prostitute all together. They use any revenue made from the licenses to further police (and I say police but remember they are not real police they are paid city officials that are actually by-law enforcement and can not charge anyone with a criminal code charge - as much as some will try to make you believe they have this power)
Some cities are going to even greater lengths by asking the local police to accompany the by-law officers and try to entrap a few ladies into public solicitation (so that they can stir some fear in the ladies). Yes, they are actually doing this! You can read a thread here on cerb where one lady was tricked into going for a drink at the bar in the lobby of the hotel where she met her date... the date tried to talk to her about sex acts and next thing you know she was being arrested. Yes this is entrapment and she did know better... but I guess she felt the conversation was private enough and he was a good actor (she paid the price) but this is low! She did not want to go to the bar to have a drink with this person and he pretty much demanded it just so he could trick her and charge her. Nice eh! Makes me sick too!
A note to the municipalities, We know many by-law guys and probably city officials read sites like this. You should as this should be a big fear for you. Bulling people is fun until all the people you bully get together and form a community and rise up against you!
The definition of a ESCORT is "a person who provides a SEXUAL SERVICE to a customer and exchanges SEX for MONEY" - For your information... this is LEGAL in Canada!
Just because you make a by-law that redefines the word "ESCORT" to suit your needs it will not hold up in court!
You can not pass a by-law based on your MORAL REASONS and you can not charge a ESCORT a LICENSE FEE knowing that they have sex for money as this makes your city a PIMP and you are in turn LIVING OFF THE AVAILS OF PROSTITUTION and you are breaking the law!!
With the INTERNET and communities like this one here on CERB the ladies are starting to UNITE and work together!
Activist groups are now challenging the laws in court that take rights away from sex trade workers - don't think that this will not trickle down to the municipalities who are also taking away legal rights of people!
It will not be long till you bully the ladies enough in your city that they unite and challenge your moral based by-law in court. It will end up costing your city a fair amount of money and one nasty slap on the hand to tell you that you can not take rights away from people who are not breaking the law (just because you don't like what they do for a living!)
You should take the advise of your town lawyers who have probably told you that passing a by-law like this can backfire, it's only a matter of time before the ladies unite against you (any many men support them - every day more are supporting the ladies publicly as well as it's not so taboo any more to employee the services of a sex trade worker. It is the oldest profession as you know!
Keep in mind that with todays technology (the internet) it's much easier to communicate and form communities (Like this one) you and other cities could bully the ladies in the past (knowing they would not group together) but you are very wrong if you think that will continue in this day and age... it simply will not hold true!
Bottom line... No matter what you do you will not get rid of prostitution in your city - Too much need and demand for it - let's face it... if no demand existed you would not have such a large number of ladies working in the profession now would you!?!
Award winner, Topic Of The Fortnight , Week 04, January, 2009
municipalities do have the right to create by-laws of their own governing things within their jurisdiction under the Municipal Government Act.
Yes, they do but they can not make these by-laws based on "Moral" reasons. They must be fair and just and must have a valid reason. Smoking in the presence of others endangers those other people unwillingly. This is not a "Moral" reason but a public safety concern. By-Laws are NOT part of the criminal code. You can not go to jail for breaking a by-law. The resources a municipality has to collect by-law fines are as follows.
Additional court and administrative costs
Collection enforcement
Licence suspension
Involvement by 3rd party collection agencies
Credit problems
In other words they can take your license if you paid for one, they can continue to fine you and they can send a collection agency after you if you refuse to pay the fines and that would mess up your credit. By-Law offenses are not criminal code and it does not go on your police record.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joyful_Jillian
The story about the SP who was entrapped? Do you know if that arrest actually stood up in court? What jurisdiction was that in again?
They offered her a choice of a charge or a 3 day "Hooker Camp" where she is sent off to a resort with streetwalkers and councilors. As most of the ladies do she took the 3 day vacation to avoid the criminal charge and court.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joyful_Jillian
You don't think that writing letters and voicing your concerns make a difference? They do. For every letter a politician receives, they know full well that one letter represents the views of a thousand people who don't, so it's important we make a noise.
So very true! And you must unite and work together! That is the last thing they want (and expect). You must educate yourselves and each other and stand up for your rights, know your criminal code laws as knowledge is power in this world.
To clarify, I said by-laws were "tacked on to" or around the criminal code.
For example: the criminal code doesn't state that people who are taxi drivers can't get taxi licenses if they have an offense, however, some jurisdictions will not allow a prospective taxi driver to get a license if they've been charged under the criminal code for an offense. In the town I am referring to, it was never an issue until one of the taxi drivers in town got caught selling drugs from his cab. Town council then quickly enacted a new by-law to cope with this one-off situation.
No, you can't go to jail for a by-law offense, but I guess my whole point was that these by-laws make it difficult to operate. They're aimed at what an individual municipality views as a "problem". The thrust of my response was meant to speak to the idea that municipalities frequently enact by-laws willy-nilly in an attempt to create a mine field for what they perceive to be a "nuisance".
Frankly, I'm offended that my profession is still considered a "nuisance" - I wish as a society we were more mature as a whole.
My reply was just to clarify (I would hate to have someone read the thread and assume that a by-law was some how connected to a criminal code) the by-law enforcement officers in many cities scare the ladies, they act and say things that are intended to scare them. I feel it's important to let the ladies know that by-law and criminal law are VERY different.
By-Law offenses have no criminal record or jail time and Jillian is absolutely right that the city uses (abuses) these powers to try to cope with anything they think is a "public nuisance" such as escorts, street walkers, pan handlers, and so on. They make people believe that these by-laws are actually real LAW's and really it's just a way for the politicians to say "Look we are trying to deal with this - see what we have done" to all the people who complain about such things.
I would think that 95% of the people who consider escorts a nuisance are religious activists with moral hangups about the sex trade and I would guess that less then 5% are people who live close to a incall location and realize what all the in and out traffic is (A reason why incall locations are still illegal). People are opposed to the industry for other reasons (moral reasons mostly) but I can't see these others thinking it is a nuisance.
I believe what is happening is streetwalkers are being grouped in with the escorts ... We all know that is not the case! Sure they have the same job but the environment but most of the population does not realize that "streetwalkers" and "Escorts" are very very different.
The property owners, business owners and general public are exposed to the streetwalkers all the time in specific area's and I am sure they continually call and visit mp's and raise a fuss about this - demanding that action be taken to fix it.
Some cities are going to even greater lengths by asking the local police to accompany the by-law officers and try to entrap a few ladies into public solicitation (so that they can stir some fear in the ladies). Yes, they are actually doing this! You can read a thread here on cerb where one lady was tricked into going for a drink at the bar in the lobby of the hotel where she met her date... the date tried to talk to her about sex acts and next thing you know she was being arrested. Yes this is entrapment and she did know better... but I guess she felt the conversation was private enough and he was a good actor (she paid the price) but this is low! She did not want to go to the bar to have a drink with this person and he pretty much demanded it just so he could trick her and charge her. Nice eh! Makes me sick too!
Thanks for the information! Another reason not to set up an initial meeting in public.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joyful_Jillian
I wish society as a whole would grow up a bit. Having lived and worked in Europe, where they appear to have a more mature outlook, what we do isn't even on the radar. Our profession operates above board and is treated as just another service provider. Some days I'm tempted to go back there, realizing of course that would be sad.
Unfortunately that seems to be changing. With all this trafficking hysteria going on, England is considering passing Swedish-style laws, and Germany and The Netherlands are put under pressure to change their liberal policies. They recently closed around 1/3 of Amsterdam's red light windows and before that some even suggested that all of them should be closed.
I wish that they would leave the escorts alone and target the pimps and the abusive agency owners instead. That would be a much more intelligent way to enforce laws.
Jillian, I had no idea you were such an expert on the law -- perhaps you misrepresented yourself to me?
Myself, personally, as a sex worker with more than 35 years experience both in the US and Canada, I feel that our federal criminal code laws in Canada are already more than fair. If anything, I wish they were enforced more effectively. That, more than anything, would help keep sex workers safe and free in Canada, while protecting communities from the problems associated with our business.
Unfortunately, we seem to have two extremes: municipalities that turn a blind eye to some of the laws (like bawdy house) MOST of the time, forcing sex workers to provide illegal services to remain competitive but not protecting them from prosecution; and municipalities that create bylaws that make legal (outcall) sex work illegal on a local level.
Canada already has the fairest prostitution laws of any country on this planet. If all the authorities and powers-that-be would both honour and enforce them, we'd have no problem. The trouble arises when some municipalities try to make up their own rules, either by way of arbitrary enforcement policies or bylaws.
Joyful C, I would never wish you to think I've misrepresented myself about anything. Privately we've been discussing legal issues and you've given me valuable guidance.
We all know a little bit about a few things - I understand how the authorities work, what the overall legal framework in Canada looks like, who is responsible for enacting laws and by-laws in which areas. I've worked for and around lawyers and within every level of government. Doesn't make me an expert - hope I didn't come off trying to sound like one.
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Some municipalities are defining the word "Escort" improperly here in Canada!
let's be clear
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