And also the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies. Please join me in thanking them for all they have done. Then there are the sponsors of the conference. Carleton certainly has much to boast about. What do a dominatrix and a woman professor at Carleton have in common? They both give you marks. I have been to Ottawa before. I have been to Ottawa several times to fight the laws against the sex trade. In I was charged with running a bawdy house, The Bondage Bungalow.
The charges were thrown out of court in The Crown won their appeal and in I was at the Supreme Court, which threw out my appeal. We went to trial in I was convicted, but to this day cannot tell you why. I lost my appeal in Ontario in That decision was legendary for how bad it was. In the Supreme Court in Ottawa refused to grant leave to appeal. Of course during and before all that I was in court many other times, and in jail, all under the old laws, which were finally struck down as unconstitutional.
And remember, most of what happens is not publicized. I wrote a book about that called Dominatrix on Trial. After the hearings and decisions in Toronto on the constitutional case from to , I was back in Ottawa again in June for the hearing day for the final appeals in Bedford Versus Canada, the case that struck down the old laws against prostitution once and for all.
You probably remember the pictures of demonstrations by sex workers and those against sex work in front of the court. Reporters told me they had never seen anything like it at the Supreme Court.
I came to Ottawa again in December , when the decision was released. It was a day that made headlines around the world β just like in I came to Ottawa yet again, in September , to testify about the proposed new law, Bill C, at the Senate. I got thrown out for not shutting up. In November I came to to Ottawa again, to the University of Ottawa campus to speak to the Ontario Civil Liberties Association, who made me the recipient of their award for Instead of me getting thrown out the government got thrown out; just under 2 years after their prostitution laws were thrown out.
