Sex Professionals of Canada

[http://www.spoc.ca Sex Professionals of Canada] (formally known as the Canadian Organization for the Rights of Prostitutes CORP) was founded in Toronto in 1983 by Peggy Miller after she was arrested on for Keeping a Common Bawdy House (s. 210 of the Canadian Criminal Code) after picking up an undercover police officer [http://www.walnet.org/csis/groups/swat/torontohistory.html] . Peggy Miller invited other sex worker activists like Danny Cockerline, Feather, Chris Bearchell, and Gwendolyn to join her group.

Soon after SPOC participated in the Fraser Commission on Prostitution and Pornography, went to Ottawa to fight against bill C-49 which criminalized communicating for the purpose of prostitution (s. 213 of the Canadian Criminal Code), and influenced the National Action Committee on the Status of Women to support the decriminalization of prostitution and challenged the media's negative depiction of prostitutes.

In 1986 Ryan Hotchkiss and Valerie Scott joined SPOC and media coverage of SPOC reached an all-time high. Around this time SPOC produced it's first newsletter, Stiletto, and actively campaigned against bill C-61, the Enterprise Crime offence (s. 462.3 of the Canadian Criminal Code), without success.

Since then SPOC has remained an active organization that continues its fight for decriminalization through public education, activism, and has even launched a Constitutional Challenge against the federal government to decriminalize the Canadian prostitution laws. Valerie Scott (former sex worker and current Executive Director of Sex Professionals of Canada - SPOC), and Amy Lebovitch (current sex worker and SPOC spokesperson), initiated an application in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice seeking the constitutional invalidation of s.210 (bawdy house), s.212(1)(j) (living on the avails) and s.213(1)(c) (communicating for the purpose of prostitution) of the Criminal Code.

The act of prostitution itself is legal in Canada yet the provisions challenged in this application operate to deny sex workers safe legal options for the conducting of legal business. The applicants will argue in court that the combined effect of these three provisions violates s.7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by depriving sex workers of their right to liberty and security in a manner that is not in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

SPOC also maintains a " [http://www.spoc.ca/bad.html bad client] " list of men reported to be violent against sex workers. Although this list is thought to be useful to police there are concerns about peoples rights to privacy.

Members

Current members of Sex Professionals of Canada are:
*Valerie Scott
*Amy Lebovitch
*Laurel Ronan