B.C. sex workers want a say in Ontario legal battle against prostitution laws

VANCOUVER – B.C. sex trade workers are asking Canada’s highest court to hear their stories before deciding whether the nation’s prostitution laws should be deemed unconstitutional.

Lawyer Kat Kinch says she’s representing sex workers and advocacy groups who want to intervene in an ongoing Supreme Court of Canada case launched by three sex workers in Ontario.

Kinch says the 2007 case seeks to abolish three laws from the Criminal Code, which currently prohibit prostitutes from living off the profits of their sex work, meeting up with clients in indoor bawdy houses, or communicating to set up potential dates.

Kinch says these laws are putting sex trade workers in danger, forcing prostitutes to engage in riskier behaviour to avoid legal troubles.

She says the current case does not focus on the plight of women who are forced to turn to the sex trade in order to survive, and their evidence will strengthen the arguments against the law.

Kinch says she expect to hear if B.C. sex workers will be granted intervener status in May, a month before the Ontario hearings begin.