Zilos

Ottawa Senator Harb says decriminalizing prostitution would protect female sex workers

Zilos-note: Alright, I think this is a great idea! ( Runs and hides )

Can you picture staid Ottawa as Amsterdam-On-The-Rideau, with sex tourists flocking to legal brothels in a downtown red light district?

Zilos-note: I can see it, Canada is pushing to legalize everything else, why not this? Seems were one of the few actually pushing for a true free country.

It could be reality one day if a resolution to decriminalize prostitution is passed by delegates attending the Liberals' national policy convention here March 3-6.

Senator Mac Harb, the former Ottawa Centre MP who dealt with hundreds of complaints about prostitutes trolling downtown streets, is in favour of the idea.

"The upcoming convention will be debating it and I presume it will receive substantial support from the delegates," Mr. Harb said yesterday. "It's my hope the resolution will pass."

Drafted by the party's Young Liberals wing, the proposal urges the federal government to delete section 213 of the Criminal Code, which forbids communicating for the purposes of sex trade-related acts.

"We're not doing this to legalize prostitution, we're doing it to protect women," said Richard Diamond, president of Young Liberals Canada.

He said motivation for the resolution came from the disappearance and death of more than 50 prostitutes from Vancouver's east end.

"Simply making prostitutes into criminals is not protecting women," Mr. Diamond said this week.

He added that the resolution would not change laws against pimps who live off the earnings of prostitutes.

Zilos-note: Good to know.

The resolution says sex trade workers "deserve the same workplace safety and social respect as any other member of our society."

As well, it makes reference to the horrific fate of the Vancouver prostitutes: "We must never again have the tragedy of 50 women missing from Vancouver's downtown eastside without notice."

Denise Brunsdon, national director of the Young Liberals, said the prostitution proposal is one of the convention's five priority resolutions.

"This is one of the few resolutions brought forward by the national executive themselves," she said.

The resolution will be debated at the convention's justice workshop, which will also discuss legalization of marijuana.

The convention will be attended by more than 2,000 delegates chosen from riding associations across Canada.

Mr. Harb said removing solicitation offences from the Criminal Code would allow municipalities to decide "whether they would have red light districts and brothels, or not.

"Rather than the federal government saying, 'We will legislate, we will set up the rules of the game,' the government would remove itself from the issue, decriminalize it, and pass it on to the municipalities to decide on a case-by-case basis whether they think it makes sense or not," Mr. Harb said.

Zilos-note: Excellent Idea!

In 2000, as the MP for Ottawa Centre, he introduced a private member's bill to establish legal red light districts in cities.

"At the time, there was a substantial positive response from people who thought this is the most effective way in trying to deal with this whole problem."

Mr. Harb would not say where in Ottawa he would like to see a red light district.

"I really have no position on that. It's really up to the municipality to decide if they want it at all. But we can't continuously pretend that the problem isn't there when, in fact, it is there."

If the resolution is passed at the convention's plenary session, it will be presented to the Liberal government for consideration.

"With an issue like this, I would suspect if the government finds the energy to introduce it, they will get the approval of Parliament," said Mr. Harb.

"This is one of those issues that has been around for thousands of years, but we never get the necessary leadership to tackle it."

Revamping the prostitution laws would help protect the health of sex trade workers and their clients, said Mr. Harb.

"Other jurisdictions have done it very successfully -- Amsterdam is a case in point. It is a major tourist attraction there, and it works.

"It's monitored and supervised, and I haven't seen a lot of people saying that it was causing social unrest in Amsterdam.

"I'm not saying the City of Ottawa should put all of its energy in tourism on that particular front, but the city could lead in at least having a discussion."

Kitchissippi Councillor Shawn Little said it would be possible for legalized prostitution to work in Ottawa, depending on what model the government adopted.

"I've certainly seen it work well in certain other countries," said Mr. Little, whose Kitchis-sippi ward includes Hintonburg, parts of which are frequented by prostitutes.

"The problem is that a lot of the street-level prostitutes are hooked on drugs, mostly cocaine and crack, and I'm not sure moving inside would work and I think you'd still end up with the street-level prostitutes and that's a concern," he said.

Somerset Councillor Diane Holmes said she is aware there is prostitution in her ward, but said she won't take a position on whether it should be legalized.

"That's not my jurisdiction," she said.

Mayor Bob Chiarelli said he hasn't heard of the resolution and would have to read it before commenting.

What Do You Think?

Should Ottawa have a red light district? If so, where do you think it should go? Let us know by writing to Letters to the Editor, Ottawa Citizen, 1101 Baxter Rd., Ottawa, Ont., K2C 3M4.

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Higher Logic

Sounds like another swell idea from the oh-so-progressive, and quite the opposite, country of Canada I hope they can make it happen. Prostitution should be legal anyways, it's far safer compared to how "we" run it down here.

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