Canadian Strip Clubbing and Bill C-36 - Is Lap Dancing As We Know It, Now Illegal?

The end is nigh, Armageddon, It's all over !! For Canadian strip clubbers at least ? For as 6th December rolls in, the controversial Bill C-36, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act becomes THE LAW ! So saddle up sportsfans, head out to your favourite club just one last time, before your hobby gets you carted away in the Paddy Wagon and shamed for eternity. For you dear clubber, 'ze war is over', eh ? Or is it ?? Opinions seems very much divided. Searching and searching through the world wide web, there is precious little detail about what is actually going on. Neither us PL's or even the strippers themselves seem to know what will happen. What is a fact, is that the new law is coming into effect now. But there seems absolutely no factual information as to how strip clubs must react to it. Has any directive been sent out to strip club managers? If it has, then why no information anywhere to reassure their loyal customers that it's business as usual? Most importantly what does the law actually say and can those nasty cops actually get you for simply having a beer, a bit of fun and even just a proper old fashioned Canadian style lap dance is a professional strip club environment ? The main problem is, that while the conservative government of Canada is rightly going after stopping the trafficking of women and preventing other poor individuals being ran by pimps or other malodorous managers of massage parlours, it is now formally criminalizing the buying of sexual services full stop.Worse still the definition of 'sexual services' remains ambiguous at best and may very well be deemed to include lap dancing. The great big gap that is missing is a definition of what 'sex' work is, what services go along with the activities that would be crimes now that C-36 becomes law. While the obvious 'extras' are now clearly illegal, just as it is across the border and probably already in the clubs really, the production of pornography would be ok and so is 'stripping', but not apparently lap dancing which could be considered a sex act. Should one of us fine gents be unlucky enough to be arrested, the department of justice said 'it's ultimately up to the courts to decide'. ...... some quotes from elsewhere attempting to explain this situation: "What’s a “sexual service”? The bill does not say, meaning it would likely be up to a court to decide where the line was drawn. A government legal brief, submitted to the committee as it considered the bill, says the courts have found lap-dancing and masturbation in a massage parlour‎ count as a "sexual service" or prostitution, but not stripping or the production of pornography." "The exact language of the bill makes “communicating to provide sexual services” illegal “in a public place, or in any place open to public view, that is or is next to a place where persons under the age of 18 can reasonably be expected to be present.” “The court will consider whether the service is sexual in nature and whether the purpose of providing the services are to sexually gratify the person who receives it,” C-36 would go after “the institutionalization of prostitution through commercial enterprise, such as strip clubs, massage parlours, and escort agencies, in which prostitution often takes place.” here's the bit that has really got people going... right there two lines down... "The following activities have been found to constitute a sexual service or an act of prostitution, if provided in return for some form of consideration: lap-dancing, which involves sitting in the client’s lap and simulating sexual intercourse; masturbation of a client in the context of a massage parlour, whether or not the client climaxes;and, sado-masochistic activities, provided that the acts can be considered to be sexually stimulating/gratifying However, jurisprudence is clear that neither acts related to the production of pornography, nor stripping meet the test. In most cases, physical contact, or sexual interaction, between the person providing the service and the person receiving it is required; however, acts for which consideration is provided that take place in a private room in a club and that are sexual in nature, but do not involve physical contact between the “client” and “performer”, such as self-masturbation, have been found to constitute prostitution" it's worthwhile noting that at present, 'contact' has not been allowed in Ontario's two biggest cities even now and yet it of course goes on with no trouble from the long arm of the law: this just in from one of our 'friends' on the pink site.... "According to Ottawa bylaws (and Toronto, for that matter), contact isn't allowed. It's not a gray area. The contact rules are are more club rules however, though certainly not in all clubs. Grinding is pretty common, though certainly not for extended periods of time. Touching is also par for the course, just not the kitty. When bylaw comes in (which is rare, and the club knows in advance and tells the dancers), the club goes into no contact mode. Bylaw only ever comes in looking for drugs, but it's best to follow the no contact one too, just in case. They never waltz in randomly and poke around though. Raids/stings aren't a thing in this city" ...the question remains however now, will they be in the future ? ...... My own view that is at the majority of more shall we say 'upscale clubs', there should be little change, but the down and dirty clubs may find themselves quickly targeted. Personally I would club on Saturday night without worry. Others may have more to fear depending on how they club. After all, what would it take for one over officious police official to react and arrest someone, then your in the hands of the courts and their interpretation of this law. Surely its a matter of time then before someone literally cops it ? Hopefully over this weekend and indeed the coming weeks, we'll get some further posts and comments from clubbers who will share their experiences and report on any changes in their own local clubs. With so little real info out there at present, TUSCL will have to lead the way and look after it's own. Happy clubbing (hopefully) guys.