Federal Conservative government's new brothel penalty riles sex-trade worker Susan Davis

By Carlito Pablo, Georgia Straight

 

Sex-trade worker Susan Davis has a case of the creeps, and it’s not because of a bad date or a stalker.

 

The veteran sex professional says that what’s making her “just really terrified” are the regulatory changes to the Criminal Code announced by the federal Conservative government on August 4 of this year.

 

Maintaining a brothel wasn’t legal before: it previously carried a prison term of not more than two years. But under the new regulations, the minimum penalty is five years of jail time. That’s because keeping a bawdy house is now classified as a “serious offence”, along with 10 gambling and drug crimes.

 

“If you’re working indoors independently, sure, you’re relatively safe,” Davis told the Georgia Straight in an August 26 interview at Vancouver City Hall during a community meeting on sex-trade workers’ safety. “But how long is that gonna last? With the new changes to the Criminal Code of Canada, I can see myself being five years in prison for working out of my own home, being my own pimp.”

 

The Criminal Code defines a bawdy house as a place used by one or more persons for prostitution. Although keeping a bawdy house is illegal, police have tended to enforce another law—the ban on soliciting sex in a public place—to keep prostitution out of sight.

 

It’s not just the stiffer penalty that worries Davis.

 

According to the August 4 announcement by Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, the changes are meant to “strengthen the ability of law enforcement to fight organized crime”.

 

As explained by the government in the Canada Gazette, a criminal organization is composed of three or more persons. As well, crime syndicates engage in different activities, some of which are not classified as serious offences. “This may prevent these groups from being labelled as ‘criminal organizations’ in the Criminal Code,” the government reasoned.

 

What this means for sex-trade workers is that if three of them decide to share a home or space in which to work, they’re now considered an organized-crime group.

 

“Labelling all brothel owners as pimps and traffickers or, i.e., organized crime completely undermines our culture and tradition, especially in terms of older, more experienced workers who become madams and share their knowledge and experience with younger or less experienced workers, giving them the tools to work safely as well as ensuring that there are safe places to work,” Davis said in a subsequent phone interview with the Straight.

 

The regulations also give authorities wider powers against brothel keepers. These include the ability to install wiretaps, seize the proceeds of crime, and impose tougher bail, parole, and sentencing conditions.

 

Vancouver East MP Libby Davies has written to Nicholson asking why the changes are necessary. In her letter, the NDP’s spokesperson for solicitation laws stated that the move “serves only to drive prostitution further into the margins of society”.

 

“It’s taking us further down the road where sex workers are facing criminalization,” Davies told the Straight in a phone interview.

 

Nicholson didn’t make himself available for comment. His spokesperson, Pamela Stephens, told the Straight by phone from Ottawa that information provided by law-enforcement authorities indicates organized-crime groups are a growing threat and the operation of brothels is one of their activities.