[ABC.NET.AU] The Supreme Court in Canada has struck down key sections of a law that effectively criminalised prostitution by banning brothels and soliciting on the street.The court voted nine to zero to overturn the restrictions, saying they heighten risks, and prevent people engaged in a risky activity from protecting themselves from harm.
The Canadian government had argued that hookers choose to accept those risks, however the court found that vulnerable people do not always choose to become hookers of their own accord.
This case was "not about whether prostitution should be legal or not," Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said in the landmark decision.
Instead, she said, the justices ruled on "whether the laws Parliament has enacted on how prostitution may be carried out pass constitutional muster. I conclude that they do not."
"I would therefore make a suspended declaration of invalidity, returning the question of how to deal with prostitution to Parliament," she said.