CMJ in the News

[jg24 3708]

Sex statutes get a massage

Unlicenced hostess lounge believes it has found legal loophole that prohibits city from shutting them down

 

In the city of Ottawa, there are 28 body rub parlours.

 

Twenty-seven of them have licences.

 

One doesn't.

 

But that doesn't worry Elizabeth Kennedy, the owner of Club Madellyn Jae, who thinks she's found a way around Ottawa police and the city.

 

Kennedy has set up a private club at 1916 Merivale Rd. Members pay a registration fee ($200 as of Dec. 1) and sign a confidentiality agreement. There's also an annual $10 fee and hour-long sessions cost $160. Members make appointments at their convenience and can spend their time with a pretty girl in the Kama Sutra hostess lounge, but most go to a private room with them equipped with shower facilities.

 

Kennedy believes a 2005 Supreme Court ruling that allows for private sex clubs gives her the green light to operate Club Madellyn Jae.

 

Kennedy said she tackles the legality of her operation on her website.

 

"We are not a 'body-rub parlour' -- we are a private member's only hostess lounge. We are not regulated by the city as the city cannot legally regulate places that are not open to the public," says the website clubmadellynjae.com.

 

Not a brothel

 

"CMJ does not sell services, only the use of the facilities and if you desire, the company of one of our hostesses while you are in the club. What you and your hostess do during that time, as long as nothing illegal is going on, is between you and your hostess. However, the club has massage and a shower facility for member's to use if they so desire ..."

 

Kennedy says she sought legal advice before going ahead.

 

"I'm not operating a brothel," she said. "I'm not doing anything illegal. I made sure of it and have the lawyer's bills."

 

Canada's prostitution laws are being challenged in a Toronto courtroom by lawyer Alan Young and three sex workers.

 

He said his battle is not a moral one but a legal one. He believes the laws create an unsafe working environment for sex workers because people have to go into hiding to ply their trade. If he's successful, it may take away any questions there may be surrounding clubs such as Kennedy's.

 

Boundaries

 

Still, CMJ is considered one of the better-run and safest operations in the city according to her many clients, most of who post their support on a popular forum, cerb.ca (Canadian Escort Recommendation Board).

 

It's widely known there is no intercourse or oral sex happening on-site between the members and the women working for Kennedy, but they do use private rooms. Kennedy will hire secret customers to keep the girls on their toes.

 

If they're caught stepping out of bounds they're kicked out. Kennedy tells all new members upon arrival to respect the girls and the limitations of the club. If they don't -- and some don't -- they are asked to leave and to never come back.

 

Kennedy also works out of the club under the name Jasmin, the original temptress. She does massages, and trains all new girls, while going to Carleton University full-time. She went back to finish her fourth and final year of a law and human rights degree.

 

Kennedy moved to Ottawa in 2004 to attend Carleton and immediately put the word out that she was offering massages in hotels.

 

Kennedy would go on to operate a body-rub parlour out of her Walkley Rd. apartment. She was investigated by police and the city. She ended up pleading guilty and paying a fine. She was charged once before, but in the Toronto area where she learned the trade of body-rub parlour massage. She then got the idea of setting up a private club after several frustrating years of trying to get a body-rub licence from City Hall.

 

Two years ago, Kennedy applied for a licence to operate her high-end massage parlour at 1916 Merivale Rd. She'd already invested thousands of dollars into retrofitting the joint and signed a three-year lease.

 

But the city's chief inspector informed her she wasn't approved for a licence, mainly because the women in her employ would be working without clothes, according to city documents.

 

Kennedy's employees shower with their clients and perform the massage naked. That includes a body-slide, in which the girls rub their oiled chest up and down the man's back.

 

Kennedy hired a lawyer for the appeal hearing.

 

That didn't work either. There were too many questions surrounding the legitimacy of her club, according to minutes from the meeting.

 

Bylaws stipulate employees must be dressed for health and safety reasons.

 

'No sex'

 

She left the Sept. 17, 2007, meeting dejected. With a mounting pile of debt, locked into a three-year lease and having promised her roster of girls a place to work, Kennedy had to do something. She risked bankruptcy and losing her girls to other clubs.

 

So she opened anyway and has been quietly running her business with little, if any interference from the city -- even though it knew she had been charged twice in the past for operating without a licence.

 

A regular client confirmed no sex happens on-site.

 

"No sex happens there, unless you count a hand job as sex. Jasmin (Kennedy) is strict about that. It's actually a pretty well-organized place," said the man.

 

"You go there because you know what you are going to get every time: A pretty girl, awesome environment and an amazing release."

 

[email protected]

http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2009/12/04/12032661-sun.html

[jg24 3708]

A Toronto lawyer who has launched a court challenge into the legality of brothels says the owners of an Ottawa body rub parlour might have found a way around the law.

 

Alan Young agrees that Club Madellyn Jae owner Elizabeth Kennedy could use a 2005 Supreme Court ruling that allows for private sex clubs.

 

"They are caught right in the middle of two different doctrines," said Young.

 

"It depends whether a court sees the money being paid as a legitimate membership fee for a club or whether it's an indirect payment for a sexual service. The former would probably be within the law and the latter would probably violate the law."

 

Last month, Young, representing a Toronto dominatrix and two other sex workers, launched a sweeping constitutional challenge to the current legislation against prostitution, arguing that prohibitions on keeping a common bawdy house, communicating for the purposes of prostitution and living on the avails of the trade force them from the safety of their homes to the insecurity of the street, where they are exposed to physical and psychological violence.

 

'Sex tourism' fears

 

The government argues that prostitution is inherently dangerous, regardless of where it is practised.

 

Critics of Young's case predict Canada will become a "sex tourism" destination if prostitution-related offences are decriminalized.

 

Young said his fight is a legal one, not a moral one.

 

"All that is happening in my case is a demonstration that the law is a failure and it is irrational," said Young.

 

Part of the constitutional challenge is about getting past the stereotype that everyone who sells their body is an exploited drug addict.

 

"There is another high-end reality where people seem to be enjoying themselves and there doesn't seem to be any degree of exploitation and that is what we're trying to remove from the criminal law," he said.

 

If he's successful -- and he expects to know by late spring -- Young doesn't expect much change in the sex trade world. It would likely be up to lawmakers to prohibit prostitution or make adjustments.

 

[email protected]

 

http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2009/12/04/12032666-sun.html

[canuckhooker 19203]

I read this whole article and I am wondering just what the reporter is trying to do. On the surface his reporting appears balanced, and factual; actually it is a little too factual. But on the other hand he does a classless move like post the address and put pictures of the front door and a picture he obviously stole from an internet source on the article.

 

The article appears "informational" but I am not sure of the point. All he has succeeded in doing is exposing a private club to the public eye and give anyone with some misplaced moral indignation a new target and ammunition to shoot at it. He as much as admits that it is harmless, and probably within the law.

 

It is really sad given all that is going on in the world today, that this is the only kind of news the Sun can find to print.

[jg24 3708]

Canuk I to read both articles and have to agree maybe not so private anymore. I just hope it dont come back and bite jas and the girls the one up is it is away from residential and kinda in an Industrial setting which the City has said it wants for these places

[whatsup 11893]

Fri Dec 4, 3:05 AM

 

The city knows of Club Madellyn Jae, but finds nothing wrong with it.

 

 

In fact, the city says it inspected the premise a year after it was denied a body-rub licence.

 

A bylaw officer found nothing to suggest it is a body-rub parlour, said Linda Anderson, manager of bylaw services.

 

Anderson said bylaw was acting on a complaint they received Nov. 18, 2008.

 

The officer had to be allowed in because the door to the club is locked. In order to gain entry, club members buzz in and are greeted at a door on the second level of 1916 Merivale Rd. When they are not meeting clients, employees keep the door locked.

 

Last month, Anderson said the case is closed against CMJ, although she indicated earlier that she believed there might be illegal activity happening in the club.

 

"Certainly it is my opinion that it may fit in the definition of a body-rub parlour," said Anderson, citing information obtained from the club's website.

 

Went through with it

 

At the time, she said an investigation would be launched and would likely lead to charges against the owner, Elizabeth Kennedy.

 

"When she was denied a licence, one would assume she wouldn't go forward with it," Anderson said.

 

She also said it appeared Kennedy was using the club as a base to operate touch-ofeuphoria.com, a similar service to what the club offers, but with a slight difference -- instead of the client going to the club, the hostess or masseuse goes to the client's home or a hotel.

 

If an investigation found Kennedy guilty, she could face a $500 fine and be fined for every day she continues to operate. Such an investigation could take up to six weeks and likely involve the Ottawa police.

 

If police get involved, Kennedy could face charges if an investigation concludes she's operating a common bawdy house or living off the avails of prostitution, the latter meaning she's pimping the girls out, according to Ottawa police Staff-Sgt. Samir Bhatnagar.

 

He said if money is being exchanged for sex, then it's illegal -- even if it's a private club.

 

"I think it would still fall under the criminal code as a bawdy house," said Bhatnagar who has experience investigating bawdy houses.

 

He said police rarely bust bawdy houses because they don't get many complaints about them.

 

 

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/ottsun/091204/canada/officials_believe_club_owner_is_breaking_law__but_a_bawdy_house_bust_often_hinges_on_public_complaints

[CMJ 14869]

I am ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGED that this article was published - I did not authorize this, nor did I participate in this story.

[jg24 3708]

Well thats not good to hear Jas i guess someone is in DooDoo

[Peachka 4334]

Maybe the reporter is a client &/or Cerb member! The article is right up the Sun's alley.

[CMJ 14869]

I was NEVER charged in Toronto... this is a joke, the SUN is a joke.

[jg24 3708]

SOmebody is pissed and dont blame her

[Annessa 22743]

I am ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGED that this article was published - I did not authorize this, nor did I participate in this story.

 

whoa! are you serious?

 

Just another reason to add to the fact that the SUN can be a really garbage news-source that doesnt really think twice about the consequences of publishing what they think is a juicy attention grabbing story in search of their own journalistic recognition.

 

I'm not sure how much info and facts that the writer mentioned are already available out there but bringing up workers real-life names and drawing attention to a place that is supposed to be rather private is a real faux pas for this writer.

 

If the writer has also made false claims as "facts" to support their story here I would recommend having this article pulled asap (not that you probably havent thought of it already) unless they want their asses sued

[jg24 3708]

Well I would like to know who the member is that gave details he is an ASS. I guess he dont know what the word PRIVATE means.

 

And if Im not mistaken there is a clause in what you sign that you dont talk to media. I hope Jas finds this guy and throws his ass out and outs him if he is member here so the girls know he cant be trusted.

 

I had a newbie member on another board asking me all kinds of questions in PM last week about CMJ. I checked he had no reviews I mean nothing ( MAYBE THE REPORTER FISHING) did he really think I would devulge PRIVATE info to him even knowing that Jas runs the cleanest place in town.

 

But there is bad apples from both sides and Im sure she has her work cut out for her on a dialy basis.

[CMJ 14869]

I will be looking into taking legal action against the SUN and Mr. Jackson for their apparent indiscretion and lack of professional ethics. The story contains factual errors, and a quote I never gave to anyone on the record to be used in a bogus story.

 

However, let's allow Kenneth Jackson to bath in his 15 minutes of FAME - having the hit story of the week...

 

I want to apologize to the member's of CMJ - I hope this does not affect your perception of the club, as privacy and discretion is of the utmost importance to us.

 

On a brighter note... that "thing" that was being shipped from California has arrived and was set up last night - well almost...

 

I have just been super busy trying to finish up my semester - so fabulous timing MR. JACKSON... thanks for that - after my last assignment is handed in I will have 2 full weeks to devout to our new lounge room and hopefully be ready to launch by Christmas or the New Year.

[bigdawg 474]

as a member of cmj, I am a little worried that le will be looking into the establishment, I for one will be taking a break from the club until the air clears abit, sorry.:-x

[CMJ 14869]

Maybe we should remove the story from CERB - no need to give it more attention

[jg24 3708]

No No I think you are misunderstanding - CheektoCheek was not writing the article - he simply cut and pasted the article. However I agree that maybe this thread should be deleted...

 

 

I did not intend to cause any more problems for CMJ thats for sure someone who is a frequent customer it was not my intention.

 

If Jasmin would like this thread deleted then I have no problem with that and I will ask mod to do so

[Parker 19761]

No No I think you are misunderstanding - CheektoCheek was not writing the article - he simply cut and pasted the article. However I agree that maybe this thread should be deleted...

 

 

Very sorry to see this article and hear that you had no news of it ahead of time...

 

But at the same time I think we should all remember that you do not have to be a member of cerb to read the threads, announcements or even see the pictures... you just have to type in the address and click ENTER HERE.

 

The internet is far from private and you really have to go out of your way a lot of the time to protect your privacy here.

 

I think we should always be prepared that if we post things on the internet, they could attract unwanted attention.

[buggernot 588]

This was posted on the other board that starts with T as well.

 

Naomi is all too correct however...it is the internet and there is no such thing as discretion and privacy once something gets out there.

 

It would probably make sense to delete or at least modify the thread, but I for one do not believe that this will bring any additional attention to LE.

 

One other note - anyone who ever thought the Sun was a real paper at any time should know better. It's garbage and always has been. It is published in a tabloid format for a reason - because it is one.