Updates to the site as of January 9, 2011

Bad client list & Undesirable pages

Status on the Bedford, Lebovitch & Scott landmark challenge to Canada's prostitution laws. Update August 2011 The Attorneys General for Canada and Ontario have appealed our September 2010 victory. Arguments were heard in June 2011, at the Court of Appeal for Ontario. We anticipate a decision from the court sometime in 2012. Info regarding the current status of the laws Last September the Ontario Superior Court ruled in our favour, and struck down the sections of the laws we challenged. However, another court has extended the stay. This means the anti-sex work laws can still be enforced. The stay will remain in place until the Court of Appeal for Ontario makes its ruling, expected sometime in 2012. We hope this court's ruling is also in our favour. For an e-copy of Justice Susan Himel's September 28, 2010 decision, click HERE Many are confused about which parts, of what laws, we are challenging. For example; we only challenged one of the 10 subsections of the procuring law. To view the laws in their entirety and the subsections we are challenging, click HERE. We are available for interviews regarding our current constitutional challenge to the Canadian Criminal Code (CCC) sections, 210 (bawdy house), 212(1)(j) (living on the avails) and 213(1)(c) (communicating for the purpose of prostitution) We are happy to provide you with: The reasons why we are challenging the above laws. How these laws have affected sex workers. How these sections of the CCC have directly resulted in the robberies, beatings, rapes and murders of our colleagues. Analysis of this challenge. Our contact information can be found HERE

Mission & Principles:

1. SPOC operates on the principle that all forms of consensual adult sex work are legitimate and valid. We provide a public voice that promotes the validity of our occupation.

2. We assert that one’s decision to be a sex worker is equally and unequivocally as valid of a choice as is the decision to be in any other legal occupation.

3. We maintain that sex workers deserve genuine labour rights, with industry-wide standards defined by sex workers themselves.

4. Our members, supporting members and our allies oppose those who seek to rescue sex workers via court imposed or otherwise forced or coerced re-education/exit programs, jails or camps.

5. SPOC does not affiliate itself with any political party. If an individual politician truly and publicly endorses the above four principles, SPOC will consider supporting that particular politician, but not the party as a whole.

6. We are not a social service organization.

7. We respect the privacy of all members, and no SPOC member may disclose any ‘personal’ or ‘professional’ information about any other member without expressed {written} consent from that particular member.

8. We are a volunteer run, social and political group.

Goals:

We stand for the decriminalization of all forms of sex work in Canada. We oppose legalization because it is always exploitive toward sex workers.

Decrease the isolation experienced by many sex workers by organizing sex worker-friendly social events and functions.

Publishing a bad date list so that our colleagues can communicate information about violent and dangerous clients with each other.

Media and Public Awareness:

SPOC members are available for interviews with media. We are also available to speak at universities, colleges and conferences. Click here to contact us. We are unable to tend to the overwhelming amount of student requests at this time. Please check back with us in September 2011.

Membership:

If you are a current or former sex worker, or an ally interested working toward the decriminalization of sex work while having fun and connecting with others, please do not hesitate to contact us. We encourage membership from all communities, sexual orientations and genders.

Donations:

As an entirely volunteer run organization, we rely on the generous support of our community and supporters. SPOC gratefully accepts donations to assist us in our work.