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Head Office
1-866-849-8603
administration@allproescorts.com
British Columbia Civil Liberties Association
July 3, 2002
Mayor and Council
District of Salmon Arm Box 40 Salmon Arm, British Columbia V1E4N2
Dear Mayor and Council:
I am the President of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (the "BCCLA"). Founded in 1962, the BCCLA's mandate
is to preserve, defend, maintain, and extend civil liberties and human rights in British Columbia and across Canada. Our website is available at
www.bccla.org .
, .
I am writing to register the BCCLA 's concerns about your new bylaw No. 3190, A bylaw to amend the Business License Regulations Bylaw, which regulates Escort Services, located in Salmon Arm. The bylaw an
attempt to legislate morality - a mistake in a free and democratic country like Canada. Further, this bylaw is ultra vires your municipality's legislative powers in that it is, in pith and substance, legislation in relation to prostitution, conduct long considered to be within the
Federal government's exclusive criminal law jurisdiction: see Westerndorp v. the Queen; [1983]
1 SCR 43 and R: v: Morgentaler, [1993] 3 SCR 463 at p. 495.
Canada permits adults to have sex on whatever conditions they choose. Canadians have full rights of autonomy over their bodies, whether as patients in a doctor's office refusing a life saving service or as prostitutes providing sexual services for money. Whether or not an individual is decision "makes sense" or is "right" to the, majority is not relevant in the eyes of the law. The key values are privacy and autonomy of the person, values recognized by the right to liberty and the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Ostensibly, your bylaw is intended to protect the escort who is providing services in your area, yet none of the features of the 'bylaw indicate that is the actual intention or probable effect of the bylaw. The bylaw's provisions are not consistent with this stated 'purpose: there are no safeguards to prevent people from providing false names and addresses; the requirement for listing the "function to be attended" has no apparent relevance; and the License inspector is ill suited for the task of examining names of customers and determining potential risks for violence. The bylaw's clear intent is not to protect escorts, but instead to deter legal prostitution in Salmon Arm by invading the privacy of escorts and their clients and making them fearful of public identification and shaming.
Instead of preventing violence, your bylaw may - by driving prostitution underground - in fact serve to increase the danger to escorts and prostitutes working in your area. If they are working illegally, prostitutes may be reluctant to report crimes of abuse to police or other community members due to the apparent intolerance among the lawmakers and law enforcers in the community. This no doubt, unintended consequence of unreported violence, could well become a reality in Salmon Arm.
In addition to infringing on individual autonomy and privacy rights enshrined in the Charter and increasing the risk of assault for working escorts, your bylaw is ultra vires your authority as a municipality. Under the Criminal Code, having sex for money is not illegal in Canada, Soliciting for-the-purposes of prostitution is illegal, but that is where the legislation stops. prostitution is a criminal matter and therefore a Federal, not a Provincial or Municipal responsibility. The bylaw, as an attempt In pith and substance to prohibit prostitution due to its "immoral" character, is ultra vires your legislative, jurisdiction
Canadian case law, including R. v. Morgentaler, establishes that the courts can look "beyond the four comers of the document" when determining the reason why a law was enacted to determine whether, in pith and substance, it is a criminal law. Salmon Arm's District Administrator, Doug Lagore has been quoted in the press as saying "I'll be honest with you. The District legally cannot ban escort services, but it can make it difficult for such businesses to operate". He has also been quoted as saying that "This community has fairly high morals. The business community has high standards 'that they want to maintain. Such statements, together with the fact that it was only after an escort agency was set up in Salmon Arm this spring that Council amended this bylaw to force escorts to divulge personal information, clearly indicate that the real mischief being addressed is a particular escort business, and that the District is using the bylaw in an attempt to prohibit this and other escort services in Salmon Arm on the basis of their allegedly immoral character.
We do not dispute your Council's right to regulate business within the District's boundaries; this bylaw, however, is not in pith and substance directed to the regulation of business. Rather, it is intended to and in fact ill likely have the consequence of prohibiting escort agencies in your District, on the basis of their allegedly immoral character. The BCCLA urges the Salmon Arm Council to reconsider this Bylaw.
We look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
John Dixon
President
Honorary Directors
David Barrett
Ron Basford, Q.C.
Thomas Berger, Q.C., O.C.
Robin Blaser
The Right Honourable Kim Campbell, PC, Q.C.
Andrew Coyne
Hugh Curtis
Bill Deverell
F.E. Devito
David Flaherty
John Fraser, P.C. Q.C.
Gordon Gibson
Patricia O. Hall
Don Hamilton
Mike Harcourt
Walter Hardwick
Rev. Phillip Hewett
Michael Ignatieff
Art Lee
Alex MacDonald, Q.C.
Rafe Mair
Darlene Marzari
Harry Rankin, Q.C.
Father James Roberts
Svend Robinson, M.P.
Rev. John Shaver
Homer Stevens
David Suzuki