Small P and Large P Politics and the F Word

The following are word clouds derived from the testimony given to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights and the Senate standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs by groups supporting Bill C-36. It is clear that the dominant frames involved exploitation, vulnerability, trafficking, and young girls and children. Sexual Assault Centers (Concertation des lute contre l'exloitation sexuelle, London Abused Women's Network, Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centers, Rape Relief and Women's Shelter) Women's Organizations (Canadian Women's Foundation, Native Women's Association of Canada, Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies) Survivor Organizations (Asian Women's Coalition Ending Prostitution, Bridge North, Center to End All Sexual Exploitation, EVE-Exploited Voices Now Educating, Northern Women's Connection, Rising Angels, Servants Anonymous Calgary, Sex Trade 101, Sex Trafficking Survivors ...

The following is derived from the research I did for a paper I presented at the Annual Meetings of the Canadian Political Science Association last week at the University of Ottawa, Ottawa.  We can clearly see in looking at the testimony before the Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights (July 7 to 15, 2014) and the Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs (September 9, 10, 17, and October 29 and 30, 2014), that there is a clear divide between those who advocate for a "social protection" model versus a "marketization" model regarding sex work in Canada.  Groups For Bill C-36 Groups Against C-36 What I have done here is compiled the testimony from the groups and individuals supporting Bill C-36 and the groups and individuals opposing C-36 converted it to rich text and uploaded it to TagCrowd (tagcrowd.com) to create word clouds. Screens were set to capture the most common 75 words, to combine associated words, and to give num...

It has been a while, but I'm back. This is the first half of a post I promised for a friend and it is a long one. The plan is to discuss various legal approaches to sex work/prostitution that are practiced in different countries. This first half focuses on models that attempt to eradicate prostitution through prohibition or abolition. In the coming week the second half will look at models of decriminalization and legalization. That states consistently address the complex social situations that underlie the sex trade through the legal system is particularly problematic, but it is to legal models that governments turn when they attempt to control sex work and address any associated harms. This is significant because the consequences of the laws required by each model and their interpretation and implementation impact on how the trade is plied and the well-being of those who participate in the trade. In the first day of the committee hearings, July 7, 2014, Francoise Boivin (ND...

This post focusses on exploring the various groups that testified to the Justice Committee regarding Bill C-36 the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act or formally An Act to Amend the Criminal Code in response to the Supreme Court of Canada Decision in the Attorney General of Canada v. Bedford and to make consequential amendments to other Acts. The Justice Committee meetings ran from July 7, 2014 to July 15, 2014, hearing from 44 organizations and a number of individuals and undertaking a clause by clause review before passing the amended legislation on to report state. Report stage and third reading is scheduled for the fall when Parliament returns from its summer break. This is part of a concerted effort on the part of the Harper Government to pass this legislation quickly illustrated by the Peter Van Loan’s motion to allocate time “of not more than five further hours” for the second reading.   In the testimony to the committee there is a clear divide betw...