I would like to make a few comments on the data that we have on the sex trade. It comes from a range of different sources, including social sciences, criminal justice statistics, and of course jurisprudence interpreting relevant offences. The available social science evidence in Canada and internationally tells us about the groups that it studies. For example, Professor Benoit of the University of Victoria and Professor Bruckert of the University of Ottawa have studied practising sex workers in particular locations.
Their research that postdates Bill C-36 concludes that the purchasing offence makes screening clients and negotiating safe transactions more difficult, and that the material benefit and procuring offences prevent sex workers from working together co-operatively and assisting each other. I would note though that the scope of the material benefit and procuring offences is currently before the courts, including the Ontario Court of Appeal in the N.S. matter, and that courts have made inconsistent findings on whether these offences criminalize sex worker co-operatives or sex workers assisting each other.
The parliamentary record for Bill C-36 indicates that Parliament's intention wasn't to criminalize these measures. Obviously we have to wait now to hear about how the appellate courts interpret these offences, which of course has to be done prior to assessing them for charter compliance. The studies I've referred to—