The Land of Wait & See
Bawdy Work
Getting the Criminal Code out of your sex life
An ongoing series by Xtra, Xtra West and Capital Xtra on Canada’s silly sex
laws.
Xtra,
August 7, 2003
491 Church Street, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario M4Y 2C6, Canada
416-925-6665 or 1-800-268-9872
info@xtra.ca
By Paul Gallant
Jack Layton, the new leader of the federal New Democratic
Party, knew men who committed suicide after the police raided Toronto
bathhouses in 1981. He admits he’s surprised that more than 20 years later,
the Criminal Code Of Canada still allows police to arrest and humiliate people
for consensual sex acts behind closed doors.
“I don’t want to say I have a detailed knowledge of
what is prohibited and what is not—which is a testimony to my attitude,”
says Layton. “I really think consensual sexual relations between adults is
their own business. And if there’s work to be done because of antiquated
laws on the books, then we need to have a look taken at them.”
When it comes to laws against activities like sex
involving more than two people, sex in a place of business, sex in parks at
night or a sexual show, progressive politicians often find themselves
tempering their criticisms of the status quo with disclaimers. Sexual freedoms
have not been at the top of their to-do lists.
The position of Sheila Copps, federal heritage minister
and token Liberal leadership candidate, is typical.
“I would certainly be willing to look at how to
modernize the approach we take to the law enforcement of activities that are
generally consensual,” says Copps. “I don’t think I can say, ‘Yes,
I’ll change it tomorrow.’ But I think there are a fair number of laws on
the books that are not enforced in a uniform way for a lot of different
reasons. A lot of Canadians would take the view that when we have serious
criminal issues that the police are engaged with, it’s important that we
don’t use up the time of the law enforcement agencies in breaking up
activities between consenting adults.”
Hedy Fry, Liberal MP for Vancouver Centre and Secretary
Of State for multiculturalism and the status of women, says she would need to
talk to the community, including lesbian and gay lawyers, before taking up the
issue. For example, though she does agree with legalizing sexual activity in
situations where participants have created the condition of privacy, she has
doubts about changing laws in a way that would allow people to have sex in
parks at night. She points out that children’s exposure to sex and violence
(though there are no laws to protect people from seeing violence) remains a
concern.
“When you talk about one person’s freedom, you have
to look at who else’s freedom you infringe on,” says Fry. “If people
can, of their own free will, come to see something, then they should be able
to see it. But if it’s in a public place, like a park, and if it’s open to
children wandering in, I’m concerned. Perhaps if there’s clearly an entry
gate, like at a drinking establishment.”
Last winter police raided Calgary’s only bathhouse,
charging 13 patrons with being found in a common bawdy house—defined as any
place where indecent acts or prostitution takes place—and charging the
owners with operating a common bawdy house. Fry admits she hasn’t spent much
time researching what happened in Calgary and how it happened.
“I’ve been fully engaged with gay marriage. That’s
been top of my mind,” she says.
And it’s true that politicians have had many other
things on their minds. In the 1980s, Svend Robinson, NDP MP for
Burnaby-Douglas, regularly advocated against Canada’s bawdy-house
laws—creating legal red-light districts was one of his trademark ideas—but
he’s lately been occupied with the same-sex marriage issue, his own private
member’s bill that would prohibit hate speech based on sexual orientation
and his position as NDP foreign affairs critic. Canada’s first openly gay MP
says the bawdy-house issue is still important to him and he’d be willing to
introduce a bill some time in the future that would repeal many of Canada’s
sex laws.
“I think we need to get the state and the police out of
the consensual sex lives of Canadians,” says Robinson. “It’s not what
Canadians think police should be doing.”
Parliament will be obliged to give at least a cursory
look at the prostitution side of the bawdy- house laws soon. Ottawa Centre
Liberal MP Mac Harb has introduced a private member’s bill that would
legalize brothels if they were licensed by municipal authorities. The bill
would leave the bawdy-house laws on the books—and it doesn’t address the
non-commercial sexual activity that goes on in gay bathhouses—but it will at
least get officials talking about sex laws. (Harb did not return Xtra’s
calls by press time.) Openly gay Bloc Québécois MP Réal Ménard has also
introduced a bill that would decriminalize prostitution.
Also working on the prostitution issue is Libby Davies,
the NDP MP for Vancouver East. Prompted by the upcoming trial of Willy Pickton
for the murder of 15 street-involved Vancouver women, Davies had a
parliamentary motion approved to strike a sub-committee of the Justice
Committee that would look at laws affecting the sex trade. Though the terms of
the sub-committee and its membership have not been settled, Davies expects
that it will have public hearings which will make Canadians aware of the
defects of Canada’s bawdy-house laws. (She says federal Justice Minister
Martin Cauchon has told her he wants to review the Criminal Code; Cauchon’s
office did not return Xtra’s telephone calls by press time.)
“The Criminal Code is part of what’s creating an
increased risk for these women,” says Davies. “Clearly the focus is going
to be on the sex trade. I’m certainly willing to look at things in a broader
way. I don’t know if the other members of the committee will.” (Fry
expects to be appointed chair of the committee and won’t answer questions on
the issue to avoid pre-empting her role.)
Sex law reform remains a touchy topic for politicians and
the people who feel the brunt of them. As Layton remembers from the 1981
bathhouse raids: The last thing people charged with sex offences want to do is
go public. And there lies the rub.
“In politics you operate on what’s been brought to
your attention by the people who are negatively affected by injustice,” says
Layton. “To be truthful, I haven’t had these issues brought to my
attention by those affected.
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