The Supreme Court of Canada struck down all current restrictions on prostitution today, including bans on brothels and on street solicitation, declaring that the provisions unconstitutionally violated prostitutes' safety.
The sweeping 9-0 decision will take effect in one year, inviting Parliament to try to come up with some other way to regulate the sex trade if it chooses to do so.
Prostitution is technically legal in Canada but most related activities have been illegal, including living off someone else's prostitution, but the court found that the provisions were overly broad or grossly disproportionate