The other thing the amendment is doing is deleting subsection (1.1), which was added to refer specifically to sexual exploitation. It was added because, as the Criminal Code currently stands, labour is defined as follows: “For the purposes of sections 279.01 to 279.03, a person exploits another person if they cause them to provide, or offer to provide, labour or a service [...]”. Prostitution and sexual exploitation aren't, however, services. We have to be careful here.
Every women's group I consulted with is asking that, under the Criminal Code, prostitution cease to be considered labour or a service. It is neither. It's sexual exploitation.
Actually, nothing in subsection 279.04(1) is changing. We're merely adding a subsection (1.1) to set out as clear of a definition as possible of all the methods that procurers can use to trap victims and exploit them. We're proposing this new subsection, in the context of sexual exploitation, to try to provide for all possibilities, whether it's providing, or offering to provide, sexual services by the use or threat of force, by fraud, deception, manipulation, by obtaining the consent of a person or by whatever means it may be. We tried to provide for all possibilities because I was even told that, in some cases, procurers were able to argue that they had never given the money to the victims. That's why we added the idea of the promise even without the acceptance of payments. It's so comprehensive that it covers, to the extent possible, all the cases I was told about.
So I urge my government colleagues to rethink their amendment. I believe it's paramount that we distinguish between sexual exploitation, services and all the details that go along with that.