We're just starting to see a change in jurisdictions, where it is being applied uniformly. It has taken this long to start to see the co-operation that is needed for positive results.
The fact that this committee is meeting, and how it's already been revealed through the process that there are incredibly diverse opinions and approaches to the issue of the sex industry, right down to the words that are used to describe it, is proof that PCEPA is working. This is too important an issue to allow only one view to be upheld. We must look at the lived experience of all who are impacted by the sex industry.
When the Supreme Court of Canada decision acknowledged there were inherent risks in the sale of sexual services, that was key. There are risks inherent whenever individuals are prostituted by others, or are of their own accord prostituting themselves. In the Swedish law, which PCEPA was fashioned after, it's written into the legislation that prostitution, by its very nature, is discriminatory against women.
The way we apply that in Canada...PCEPA states that people who are providing their own sexual services are not criminalized; rather they're viewed as needing support and assistance, not blame and punishment.
In practice, we're starting to see an understanding that is developing with frontline agencies, law enforcement and the public, that there are very subtle and nuanced ways to look at this issue. I believe that's a result of the framework that was created by the PCEPA.