Top Canada court strikes down prostitution restrictions

By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada's Supreme Court on Friday struck down major restrictions on prostitution, including bans on brothels and street solicitation, declaring the laws unconstitutional because they compromised the safety of sex workers. Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin dismissed the federal government's argument that it was prostitution itself, not the laws that govern it, that puts prostitutes at risk. McLachlin said a law that banned brothels – what she called "safe havens" for prostitutes – could expose them to predators. "It makes no difference that the conduct of pimps and johns is the immediate source of the harms suffered by prostitutes." Justice Minister Peter MacKay said the Conservative government was concerned with the ruling.