s. 213(1) Every person who in a public place or in any place open to public view
 

1. stops or attempts to stop any motor vehicle,
2. impedes the free flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic or ingress to or egress from premises adjacent to that place, or
3. stops or attempts to stop any person or in any manner communicates or attempts to communicate with any person for the purpose of engaging in prostitution or of obtaining the sexual services of a prostitute is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

(2) In this section, “public place” includes any place to which the public have access as of right or by invitation, express or implied, and any motor vehicle located in a public place or in any place open to public view.

 
The actual act of exchanging sexual gratification for consideration is not in itself illegal. However, it is illegal to engage in prostitution or to obtain the sexual services of a prostitute in a public place. This restriction encompasses stopping or attempting to stop a motor vehicle, and communicating or attempting to communicate in any manner for the purpose of engaging in prostitution or of obtaining the sexual services of a prostitute.
 

• requiring or attempting to require an employee to have sexual intercourse with a client;
• enticing someone who is not a prostitute into becoming a prostitute or into a bawdy-house for the purposes of illicit sexual intercourse or prostitution;
• procuring a person to enter or leave Canada for the purposes of prostitution;
• controlling or influencing another person for gain in order to facilitate prostitution;
• intoxicating a person for the purpose of enabling anyone to have sexual intercourse with the intoxicated person; and
• living on the avails of prostitution
   

Bawdy-houses

Section 210 of the Criminal Code contains the bawdy-house offence:
 

s. 210(1) Every one who keeps a common bawdy-house is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

(2) Every one who
 

1. is an inmate of a common bawdy-house,
2. is found, without lawful excuse, in a common bawdy-house, or
3. as owner, landlord, lessor, tenant, occupier, agent or otherwise having charge or control of any place, knowingly permits the place or any part thereof to be let or used for the purposes of a common bawdy-house, is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

Section 197(1) defines the relevant terms. “Common bawdy-house” means a place that is kept or occupied, or resorted to by one or more persons, for the purpose of prostitution or to practise acts of indecency. Courts have interpreted this to mean that any defined space is capable of being a bawdy-house, from a hotel, to a house, to a parking lot – provided that there is frequent or habitual use of it for the purposes of prostitution or for the practice of acts of indecency, and the premises are controlled or managed by prostitutes or individuals with a right or interest in that space. Further, the test used to determine whether an act is indecent is a community standard of tolerance. Within this framework, the interpretation of indecency will depend on context, taking into account factors such as consent, the composition of any audience and the level of privacy of the room, community reputation of the place, and any harm caused. For example, if the room is private, or if there is no actual physical contact between a client and an entertainer, then an act is less likely to be labelled “indecent.”

Courts have also held that to be found guilty of keeping a common bawdy-house a person must have some degree of control over the care and management of the premises and must participate to some extent in the illicit activities involved there – although this does not necessarily mean participating in sexual acts.  A prostitute may even be found guilty of keeping a common bawdy-house where he or she has used his or her own residence alone for the purposes of prostitution.

Alternatively, to be found guilty of being an “inmate” of a bawdy-house, a person must be a resident or a regular occupant of the premises. To be guilty of being “found in” a bawdy-house, a person must have no lawful excuse for his or her presence and must have been explicitly found there by the police at the time of raid. Finally, courts have said that to be guilty of knowingly permitting the premises to be used for the purposes of a common bawdy house, a person must have actual control of the place and must have either acquiesced to or encouraged its use for that purpose.

Section 197(1) defines “public place” as any place to which the public has access as of right or by invitation, whether express or implied. This includes any place that is open to public view, including a car, even one in motion, that is on a public street.

Procurement
 
Procurement essentially refers to an act of persuasion. This accordingly excludes situations where the person whose sexual services are being sold is already or subsequently becomes a prostitute of his or her own free will.  Procurement encompasses the following situations:

• requiring or attempting to require an employee to have sexual intercourse with a client;
• enticing someone who is not a prostitute into becoming a prostitute or into a bawdy-house for the purposes of illicit sexual intercourse or prostitution;
• procuring a person to enter or leave Canada for the purposes of prostitution;
• controlling or influencing another person for gain in order to facilitate prostitution;
• intoxicating a person for the purpose of enabling anyone to have sexual intercourse with the intoxicated person; and
• living on the avails of prostitution

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