The EFC made a submission to the federal Department of Finance in its August 2025 pre-budget consultation on what should be in Budget 2025. The EFC’s brief has six recommendations, including that the government: maintain the advancement of religion as a charitable purpose avoid politicizing charitable status increase the budget of the Canada Community Security program to help protect places of worship establish a permanent national strategy to combat human trafficking fund ex

The EFC has made a submission to a UN committee reviewing Canada's commitment to eliminate discrimination against women (CEDAW). The EFC's brief outlines the negative impact of Canada’s euthanasia laws on women, particularly women with disabilities. It underscores that prostitution is a system of violence and exploitation, and points to the connection between human trafficking and prostitution. The EFC urges Canada to repeal the law allowing euthanasia for mental illness, to

The EFC and ARPA Canada (the Association for Reformed Political Action) were granted co-intervener status before the Supreme Court of Canada in a case titled Mikhail Kloubakov, et al. v. His Majesty the King (the Kloubakov case). The case was heard by the Supreme Court in November 2024. In 2021, two men, Mikhail Kloubakov and Hicham Moustaine, worked for a Quebec-based escort agency run by convicted traffickers. They were convicted of financially benefiting from prostitution

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls issued a call for input on the approaches and actions that states should take to effectively protect women and girls from all forms of violence. The Special Rapporteur wanted the input as part of making a June 2024 report to the UN Human Rights Council on the global phenomenon of prostitution and violence against women and girls. The EFC submitted a six-page brief discussing the violence inherent in pro

Bill S-224 is a private members bill that was introduced in the Senate by Senator Salma Ataullahjan. It would have removed the requirement that a trafficking victim, or a person in those circumstances, must demonstrate they feared for their safety or the safety of a loved one. The bill would also have moved into the definition the additional considerations that exploitation includes coercion, the use or threatened use of force, deception, the abuse of a position of trust, pow

The EFC made a three-page submission to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women for its study on Human Trafficking of Women, Girls and Gender Diverse People. The EFC brief shared statistics on trafficking and discussed the connection between prostitution and sex trafficking. It recommended the government develop a permanent national strategy to combat trafficking, among other policy recommendations. Download it here.

This important case in Ontario Superior Court upheld Canada's prostitution law Sept. 18, 2023. The EFC released a statement celebrating this decision and also signed onto a joint statement from a national working group of survivors of prostitution, service providers and advocates. The EFC intervened in the case in Oct. 2022 since it was a constitutional challenge to Canada’s laws on prostitution. The challenge was launched by the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform. Int

Canada’s prostitution laws were reviewed by a parliamentary committee in early 2022, with a report published in late June. See the EFC's response released in July 2022, and also see below for materials related to the anticipated Oct. 2022 CASWLR court case. The Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA) recognizes that prostitution is inherently exploitive and dangerous. It has the goal of ending the demand for paid sex. Under PCEPA, buying sex and pimping ar

n this six-page brief, the EFC recommends that the current law (PCEPA) be upheld and enforced; that the government initiate public awareness campaigns and education; and more. Click to download the pdf.

Bill C-219 is a private member’s bill that would increase the penalty for sexual exploitation of a young person in a relationship of dependency or a person with a disability. It would also amend the Criminal Code to consider it an aggravating circumstance at sentencing if a victim of sexual exploitation had a mental or physical disability. Bill C-219 was introduced by MP John Nater on February 25, 2020. It was reintroduced in 2021 and made it to second reading in April. It wa

Case Summary In September 2010, Justice Susan Himel of the Ontario Superior Court effectively struck down the Criminal Code provisions dealing with living on the avails (proceeds) of prostitution, keeping a common bawdy house (brothel), and communicating for the purposes of prostitution in the case of Bedford v. Attorney-General of Canada. That decision was appealed to the Ontario Court of Appeal where five judges heard the appeal and decided: 1. The federal government had tw