The course of these things can take years. The Bedford case and the case that I was also involved in, brought by Downtown Eastside Sex Workers United Against Violence, took seven years. So a brand new case could conceivably take up to that long.
I think that two things to point out in that regard are, first, that the government should take very seriously the fact that this could be subject to challenge because of the responsibility to act constitutionally. But also because the burden of making a new constitutional challenge shouldn't be put on sex workers, civil society, and advocacy groups who are genuinely concerned about the validity of this law, I think the government should revisit its position on advancing this to the Supreme Court of Canada on a reference.
I think the other thing to note in that regard is the December 20 one-year stay period. That isn't a drop-dead deadline for the government to be able to legislate. What happens on that day is that three harmful laws will fall, but it doesn't mean that government is precluded from being able to make law in relation to prostitution. So I say that it's the responsibility of this committee first, and of the government, to ensure that what is being passed passes muster because lives are at stake. This is a really important policy issue that we could be leaders on, but this bill isn't a leadership bill. This is a bill that is going to take us far back.