One only needs to listen to the personal stories and history of many individuals who find themselves in prostitution to understand the exploitative nature, the vulnerability, the violence, addiction, and a complex array of other social problems and ills that affect those who are in prostitution, to understand that this is a very serious issue that we have to respond to. I have already mentioned the fact that it is tied in to other offensive practices of human trafficking, of child exploitation.
We have taken what I've been calling a uniquely Canadian approach. It's a bill that specifically targets the demand for sex, so going after those who exploit. They do include johns, pimps, and individuals who carry out the most horrific practice of violating vulnerable children, in many cases. The area of these prostitution offences, when we're talking about those who are purchasing sexual services, is an area that the government feels it has to legislate in.
We've gone further, though. We've looked at how we specifically respond to the Supreme Court's decision in Bedford on the issue of receiving a financial or material benefit, and we've put exceptions in place that deal with the very real subject of how prostitutes are able to protect themselves. Without condoning the practice, we recognize the realities of the fact that some, for an array of reasons, find themselves in these situations. We recognize that and acknowledge legitimate steps taken to protect themselves.
In the area of advertising, child prostitution offences, communicating for the purposes of selling sexual services, we have introduced an amendment, or I should say a response, that protects the public more broadly, that protects the fact that in schoolyards, in shopping malls, in playgrounds, in places where children can reasonably be expected to be present...there is again, I suggest, an obligation on the government to protect vulnerable individuals in addition to the vulnerable prostitutes.
So that is the balance we have struck. We have also taken steps that recognize the new reality of advertising as also an enabling part of prostitution. We will hold those who are advertising, not the prostitute themselves but those who are advertising these services either through papers or online, also to criminal account.