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I was wondering how covid may have impacted Law Enforcement activity in Canada, and Ontario specifically. I personally think during covid they will reduce operations as they need resources somewhere else and they have higher priority stuff to worry about. Also they would not want to risk their undercover agents getting covid during the operations. What are your thoughts?

Now our illustrious government wants to hear from citizens about what they want in the new prostitution laws. Any one from Cerb thinking about adding there 2 cents? What would you say?

Actually... and at the risk of raising a few eyebrows... I don't have a problem with this. I'd consider that the government of the day has a duty to defend the laws that are currently on the books whenever they're challenged in court, and this has absolutely nothing to do with whether that government actually approves of those laws or not. Obviously there's no particular conflict when the government supports the law being challenged, but when a government disapproves of a law the correct course of action is to introduce legislation to change that law, rather than to simply refuse to defend it in court. Having said all that, I have no doubt that this somewhat esoteric argument isn't actually the reason the current government is opposing the Bedford case so vigorously :) And with reference to that case: my understanding is that the government will simply have to abide by whatever the SCC rules, and if they don't like the ruling they'll have to get a bill through Parliament to change the law appropriately. They have no choice in the matter: suck it up, or legislate.

A very good paper was published this week by the American University Washington College of Law Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law on their website rightswork.org. This document is 17 pages long, but worth everyone's time and attention. It's a very complete, comprehensive analysis of the Swedish anti-prostitution law that squarely addresses the deliberate deceptions the Swedish government has fostered in its review of the law and its misleading statements about its effectiveness. The author, Ann Jordan, considers the Swedish model to be a failed experiment in social engineering in its attempts to convince men to change their behaviour (that is, to stop buying sex) through fear of arrest and intense public stigma; to force sex workers to find another way to make a living; and eliminate trafficking into forced prostitution as well as the activities of migrant sex workers. She addresses the rights of prostitutes to work safely and how those rights are endangered in Sweden to the extent that the law may be seen not only to be against prostitution but also to increase the vulnerability of migrant workers to abuse because it creates a fertile climate for their exploitation. A brief but clear analysis of the 2010 Bedford decision and the 2012 Bedford Appeal result forms a significant part of the paper. The author recommends that any state considering anti-prostitution legislation should consider the Bedford decisions with utmost care and that sex workers in places where their work is outlawed should also consider the decisions and how they might help form their arguments for legal reform. The full article is available as a PDF here.

Court hears teen?s story of drugs, prostitution Pretrial begins in case of alleged human trafficking Link to new story: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Court+hears+teen+story+drugs+prostitution/1159266/story.html