Pornography and Prostitution in Canada: Report of the Special Committee on Pornography and Prostitution

Sam Coghlan was Deputy Director and Senior Consultant of the Thames Ontario Library Service Board, Southwestern Ontario.

Reports of Special Committees, Royal Commissions, etc. often serve an important purpose beyond the delivery of recommendations to change the law. The reports usually provide a summary overview of the current situation, legal and social, in regard to the subject they are mandated to investigate.

As an aid of that sort, this report is exemplary. The law has been researched, the social literature extensively reviewed (and some background research performed), and the public was given the opportunity to state its views relating to pornography and prostitution. So the report offers a complete overview of Canadian law related to these topics, a summary review of law in relevant other countries, and a review of the social literature and of the public’s perceptions as manifested in briefs from the hundreds of groups and individuals who submitted written briefs and/or appeared before the Committee.

Unlike some reports (such as those of the Law Reform Commission of Canada, which generally provide very succinct — and valuable — descriptions of the legislative status quo), this provides a very extensive overview of the law. This is necessary to include all the areas that need to be touched upon: the Criminal Code, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canada Customs, Canada Post, broadcasting, film classification and censorship, municipal by-laws, public health, taxation, the Landlord and Tenant Law, highway traffic legislation, and trespass. The section on prostitution reveals interesting law enforcement innovations attempted in efforts to adapt to the courts’ unwillingness to interpret the law as the police would have them.

The report is clearly written and attempts to be lucid in stating the Committee’s preference from the beginning. Early chapters touch on the philosophical traditions providing the various contexts for the study of the role of criminal law (liberal, conservative, and feminist). The Committee explicitly states the essential principles upon which it has sought to craft its proposals (equality, responsibility, individual liberty, human dignity, and appreciation of sexuality). The report often bemoans the lack of relevant empirical studies in the areas under its purview.

Prostitution and pornography are each discussed in separate sections, almost as separate reports. A third section is devoted to the consideration of pornography and prostitution as they relate to children and young persons. This has been done to reflect a serious concern of Parliament and the Canadian populace. The result is almost a separate report with the focus on those who the Committee feels require special protection.

Separation into sections allows easy access to the three main subject areas. More specific access is provided through the Table of Contents, which lists the descriptive chapter headings and subheadings. The Committee has not provided an index. This oversight suggests that it saw the report merely as a vehicle to present its recommendations (which are listed in an appendix). That the Committee did not acknowledge its other utility by enhancing its usefulness with an index is unfortunate. At least, however, they have provided, in their footnotes to each chapter, a valuable source to literature and law relevant to their topic.