WHEREAS prostitutes are vulnerable members of society, open to personal and sexual degradation, exploitation and violence and;
WHEREAS prostitution has many harmful effects on society, on the environment, causing property values to drop because of increased traffic, noise and disruption in the streets, and also leads to increased crime and drug and alcohol abuse;
WHEREAS the current law in the Criminal Code on prostitution does not prohibit the buying and selling of sex itself but only prohibits certain activities surrounding prostitution, such as communicating in a public place (S.213), keeping or being found in a common bawdy house (S.210) or procuring a person for prostitution (S.212), and;
HEREAS legalizing prostitution, by removing it from the Criminal Code and permitting it to be regulated by municipal licensing by-laws in restricted “red-light” areas, does not curtail the prevalence of prostitution but rather, leads to increased prostitution with unregulated prostitution increasing faster than legal prostitution activities;
BE IT RESOLVED the Criminal Code be amended to prohibit the act of prostitution itself, as well as prohibit the activities surrounding prostitution, such as living on the avails of prostitution, keeping a common bawdy house etc. and;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the solicitation section (S.213) of the Criminal Code be amended to make it a hybrid offence so that prosecutors are able to treat such offenses as either a summary or indictable offence which would permit authorities to fingerprint and photograph offenders to assist in locating runaways and dangerous individuals implicated in prostitution and;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that measures be taken to rehabilitate men and women who work as prostitutes. These measures should include sheltered housing, job training and education as well as medical and legal care.