Federal Justice Minister backed brothels, lawyer says

Of course, the Federal government's legal position the there is no constitutional right to prostitution does not forbid legislative reform.

Certainly Justice Minister Rob Nicholson is a very sensible and intelligent man -- but politics is the art of the possible and it seems most unlikely that prostitution reforms would pass in the current Parliament.

And that's a shame because it is better that Parliament, and not judges, make policy:

http://bit.ly/ihatyq

KIRK MAKIN
JUSTICE REPORTER
Last updated Wednesday, Jun. 15, 2011

A lawyer at a landmark prostitution appeal has produced an unexpected endorsement of indoor prostitution and brothels during a court hearing – from Justice Minister Rob Nicholson.

Quoting triumphantly from a 1985 parliamentary committee meeting, lawyer Alan Young told the Ontario Court of Appeal on Wednesday that Mr. Nicholson publicly condemned the dangers of street prostitution and spoke favourably of brothels.

"Do you not agreed that maybe the street corner or the alley or the parking lot may be more dangerous, for instance, than the bars or the hotels of the small brothels?" Mr. Nicholson was quoted as asking a witness at the hearing, which was examining some of the very provisions now under legal assault.

In the excerpt, Mr. Nicholson, now a long-serving justice minister in the Harper cabinet, followed up by asserting that it would be "a good thing" to move prostitutes indoors and off the streets.