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Supreme Court strikes down Canada prostitution laws

Terri-Jean Bedford talks to reporters at the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa Friday morning, Dec. 20, 2013 after learning Canada's highest court struck down the country's prostitution laws in their entirety in a unanimous 9-0 ruling. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Three laws governing prostitution in Canada were struck down by the Supreme Court on Friday, in a unanimous decision that found them to be unconstitutionally broad.

The Supreme Court of Canada voted 9-0 to throw out laws that make it illegal to keep a brothel, to live off the avails of prostitution and to solicit prostitution on the street.

The ruling was celebrated by members of the sex trade as a major victory for human rights.

"Great day for Canada, Canadian women coast to coast," dominatrix and former prostitute Terri-Jean Bedford told reporters after the ruling. "Now the government (cannot) tell Canadians what we can't and cannot do in the privacy of our homes, for money or not. And they must write laws that are fair."

The government has been given one year to come up with a way to replace or amend the laws struck down on Friday. Advocates said they were looking for a solution that treated the sex trade like any other industry. Those in the business should have a role in establishing the new laws, some argued.

Supreme Court said the laws "do not merely impose conditions on how prostitutes operate. They go a critical step further, by imposing dangerous conditions on prostitution; they prevent people engaged in a risky — but legal — activity from taking steps to protect themselves."

Prostitution itself is not illegal in Canada, although the set of laws that have now been struck down made it nearly impossible to navigate.

The Supreme Court agreed to review the country's prostitution laws last year following an Ontario ruling that legalized brothels.

Bedford and two other women, Amy Lebovitch and Valerie Scott have argued that the Canadian laws make it dangerous for Canadian sex workers to conduct their business. "This is the first time in Canadian history that sex workers are truly persons, we are truly citizens of this country. And now we can work in our legal occupation in a legal manner," Scott told reporters.

The question now is: What laws and amendments will the Canadian government implement to satisfy the courts? There was some immediate debate over the set of laws used in Sweden - known as the Nordic model - which criminalizes the demand for commercial sex but not those involved in the sex trade.

But advocates say that will do nothing to remove the criminal aspect from the industry and urged that the government create a "Canadian model" that was right for this country.