Legality of escort services

[pickupartist]

Hi,
one of my buddies works for a lawyer firm, he's convinced that running an escort service is illegal, I called Toronto sex crimes unit, they said to advertise girls is legal.. as long as it's just for their time etc..


can someone maybe escort business owner's confirm the legality, my friend' says that "why do you think these agencies switch locations all the time"

Thanks...
very curious to hear

 

[Mod100]

The girls do not work for the agencies. The agencies strictly represent them. I don't know of any agency that moves. Sorry your info is wrong.

 

[freestuff]

Operating a brothel is illegal in Canada.

 

[Mod100]

Operating a brothel is illegal in Canada.

True. Who is operating a brothel?

 

[Hangman]

True. Who is operating a brothel?

Nobody.

I'm having some difficulty believing the OP just called the police and they told him to advertise that the girl's at least 18. What about communication for the purposes, or living off the avails of prostitution?

Anyway, OP there are literally hundreds of threads on EXACTLY this subject.

 

[Fred Zed]

Nobody.

I'm having some difficulty believing the OP just called the police and they told him to advertise that the girl's at least 18. What about communication for the purposes, or living off the avails of prostitution?

Anyway, OP there are literally hundreds of threads on EXACTLY this subject.

Tons of threads on the subject or better still OP should talk to his lawyer, not to a friend who works for a lawyer.

 

[pickupartist]

Thanks, I will look out for those threads, in the meantime I did have some specific questions
1. Is the escort agency responsible if the girl it "represents" is found to be with drugs?
2. Is it legal to make an ad in the newspaper or a printed one and saying something like "your fantasy girl tonight $160/half hour..etc"
personally I see nothing wrong with that since it's clients who would pay for the girl's "time"... and what happens between consenting adults
3. Do escort agencies need to be registered in Ontario?
4. As for the escort lingo/abbreviations, I suppose you could claim that "Greek" is just reading the client a "Greek" book ?
5. How about if a client contracts a disease from an escort, (technically if they have multiple partners there is no way to blame the escort) ?

 

[Mod100]

Thanks, I will look out for those threads, in the meantime I did have some specific questions
1. Is the escort agency responsible if the girl it "represents" is found to be with drugs?
2. Is it legal to make an ad in the newspaper or a printed one and saying something like "your fantasy girl tonight $160/half hour..etc"
personally I see nothing wrong with that since it's clients who would pay for the girl's "time"... and what happens between consenting adults
3. Do escort agencies need to be registered in Ontario?
4. As for the escort lingo/abbreviations, I suppose you could claim that "Greek" is just reading the client a "Greek" book ?
5. How about if a client contracts a disease from an escort, (technically if they have multiple partners there is no way to blame the escort) ?

1) No
2) Yes
3) All business do. No different.
4) No
5) Nothing to do with the agency.

 

[afterhours]

If memory serves, there is a municipality in Ontario where escorts are regulated, must register, pay fee etc. There is a few towns like that in Canada. Winnipeg comes to mind but I'm too lazy to google it now.

 

[fuji]

Thanks, I will look out for those threads, in the meantime I did have some specific questions
1. Is the escort agency responsible if the girl it "represents" is found to be with drugs?
2. Is it legal to make an ad in the newspaper or a printed one and saying something like "your fantasy girl tonight $160/half hour..etc"
personally I see nothing wrong with that since it's clients who would pay for the girl's "time"... and what happens between consenting adults
3. Do escort agencies need to be registered in Ontario?
4. As for the escort lingo/abbreviations, I suppose you could claim that "Greek" is just reading the client a "Greek" book ?
5. How about if a client contracts a disease from an escort, (technically if they have multiple partners there is no way to blame the escort) ?

None of these are the legal issue. The legal issue that agency owners face is called "living off the avails of prostitution", or more rarely, the laws against procuring a woman to work as a prostitute. The moment your friend takes a payment that an escort earned by having sex, the avails law kicks in. It's being challenged in the Supreme Court, but as it stands on the books, it's illegal to earn money by being a pimp.

What is legal, the only thing that is CLEARLY legal, is an independent escort working on an outcall basis. That is clearly legal. The moment an agency is involved, it is a gray area at best.

 

[DocOdd]

Fuji has it right, though you can get a clear picture of how the laws are enforced in Toronto by looking at the major agencies and the ads they run. The ads aren't hard to find, or subtle. The police know the agencies exist. They know what they do. Nonetheless, the major agencies don't get busted; many have operated for many years. The Toronto police are thus evidently not interested in prosecuting agencies unless there's more going on than just prostitution.

There's also ongoing court activity which may get rid of some of the laws, of course, but since it's ongoing, no way to know where that will all lead.

 

[Mod100]

None of these are the legal issue. The legal issue that agency owners face is called "living off the avails of prostitution", or more rarely, the laws against procuring a woman to work as a prostitute. The moment your friend takes a payment that an escort earned by having sex, the avails law kicks in. It's being challenged in the Supreme Court, but as it stands on the books, it's illegal to earn money by being a pimp.

What is legal, the only thing that is CLEARLY legal, is an independent escort working on an outcall basis. That is clearly legal. The moment an agency is involved, it is a gray area at best.

Living off the avails is not against the law at the present time.

 

[Butler1000]

Living off the avails is not against the law at the present time.

Now I could be wrong here, but my understanding(froma friend who works for LE) is that the laws are still on the books and can be enforced. However because of the "legal limbo" LE are not enforcing it except in looking for underage/trafficing situations.
I believe the judges stated this in the last ruling to give the govt a chance to appeal and or creat new law.

 

[Mod100]

Now I could be wrong here, but my understanding(froma friend who works for LE) is that the laws are still on the books and can be enforced. However because of the "legal limbo" LE are not enforcing it except in looking for underage/trafficing situations.
I believe the judges stated this in the last ruling to give the govt a chance to appeal and or creat new law.

Correct which means:- "Living off the avails is not against the law at the present time."

 

[TRossi]

Living off the avails is not against the law at the present time.

Now I could be wrong here, but my understanding(froma friend who works for LE) is that the laws are still on the books and can be enforced. However because of the "legal limbo" LE are not enforcing it except in looking for underage/trafficing situations.
I believe the judges stated this in the last ruling to give the govt a chance to appeal and or creat new law.

Correct which means:- "Living off the avails is not against the law at the present time."

Non-enforcement of a law does not make it legal. So technically, at the present time, 'living off the avails' IS still against the law, though not totally enforced.

 

[oldjones]

Hi,
one of my buddies works for a lawyer firm, he's convinced that running an escort service is illegal, I called Toronto sex crimes unit, they said to advertise girls is legal.. as long as it's just for their time etc..


can someone maybe escort business owner's confirm the legality, my friend' says that "why do you think these agencies switch locations all the time"

Thanks...
very curious to hear

An escort is someone who accompanies. It is quite legal to offer such services. Why would you ask the TPS sex crimes unit? Did you have something else in mind?

Perhaps you should read the few pages of the Criminal Code of Canada (online or at your library), to get a quick overall, then enquire about specifics with your lawyer.

However you should note that municipal, provincial and in some cases federal laws (like registering for GST/HST, not criminal laws) regulate and sometimes require licenses for pretty much all legal businesses. On the other hand, no government can or will license an illegal business. That's why you ask your lawyer, about the specific no-no's to avoid in your chosen, and legal field.

 

[JohnHenry]

Procuring

Marginal noterocuring

• 212. (1) Every one who
  • (a) procures, attempts to procure or solicits a person to have illicit sexual intercourse with another person, whether in or out of Canada,
  • (b) inveigles or entices a person who is not a prostitute to a common bawdy-house for the purpose of illicit sexual intercourse or prostitution,
  • (c) knowingly conceals a person in a common bawdy-house,
  • (d) procures or attempts to procure a person to become, whether in or out of Canada, a prostitute,
  • (e) procures or attempts to procure a person to leave the usual place of abode of that person in Canada, if that place is not a common bawdy-house, with intent that the person may become an inmate or frequenter of a common bawdy-house, whether in or out of Canada,
  • (f) on the arrival of a person in Canada, directs or causes that person to be directed or takes or causes that person to be taken, to a common bawdy-house,
  • (g) procures a person to enter or leave Canada, for the purpose of prostitution,
  • (h) for the purposes of gain, exercises control, direction or influence over the movements of a person in such manner as to show that he is aiding, abetting or compelling that person to engage in or carry on prostitution with any person or generally,
  • (i) applies or administers to a person or causes that person to take any drug, intoxicating liquor, matter or thing with intent to stupefy or overpower that person in order thereby to enable any person to have illicit sexual intercourse with that person, or
  • (j) lives wholly or in part on the avails of prostitution of another person,
  is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years.

• Directly from http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/FullText.html

 

[TRossi]

[*]Directly from http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/FullText.html
[*]
[/LIST]

This refers to the procurement of individuals for the purposes of 'pimping or trafficking', not the legality of escort services.

Prostitution itself is legal. That is, it is not against the law to provide sex (consensual) for pay and it is not against the law to pay for consensual sex.

Out-calls are legal.

In-calls are currently technically not legal under Bawdy house laws, though probably not enforced. Note: the Ontario Court of Appeal (OCA) overturned the Bawdy house law, however, it was stipulated that current laws are still in effect to allow the government to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Living off the avails law was amended by the OCA to allow hiring of drivers, bodyguards, support staff, etc. Again, current laws are still in effect though probably not enforced.

'Communication for the purposes of prostitution' in a public place remains illegal.

 

[fuji]

I think the point, though, is that the procuring law remains on the book. Historically it hasn't been used much, but that's probably only because it was easier for the police to get evidence of "living off the avails" and so they didn't bother doing the harder work of detecting procurement operations.

However, most agencies do undertake activities to procure women to work as prostitutes, and perhaps once the avails law is gone, the police could turn to that.

I say perhaps--the current climate in Canada is such that they probably won't bother, unless there are extenuating circumstances, mistreatment, etc., that would cause them to look for a charge they can bring.

 

[oldjones]

The 'procuring' quote does provide a way to illustrate the business plan process: There is the law that sets out what is illegal. To run a legal operation, you'd have to figure out how to run your business to avoid each of those actions it describes. Whenever you come up against, 'depends what you mean by …' a judge will likely have to decide, after you are charged.

It's far more difficult and complex than simply asking, are escort services legal.