Canada: Government rejects decriminalization of prostitution
Norma Greenaway reports in the Canwest News Service:
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has flatly rejected calls to decriminalize prostitution and dismissed as a non-starter a Vancouver group’s hopes of opening a "co-op" brothel in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics to provide a safer working environment for sex-trade workers.
"We are not in the business of legalizing brothels, and we have no intention of changing any of the laws relating to prostitution in this country," Nicholson told the Commons status of women committee on Thursday.
Nicholson was responding directly for the first time to a majority recommendation from the committee that federal prostitution laws be amended to stop charging prostitutes and start prosecuting only those procuring sex, or exploiting the prostitutes, such as pimps and bawdy house owners.