Justice committee  I would like to make a comment. I am going to back to Mr. Jacob's question and Ms. Boivin's comments. Over the past five or seven years, we have observed a major deterioration in prostitution conditions and in the situation of women in the field. It is women who tell us this. They tell us what is going on.

Justice committee  Mr. Chair, thank you for the opportunity to add a brief comment on the subject. The federal government is responsible for legislation concerning procuring, but municipal by-laws must also apply. Consequently, the municipalities must make a contribution. I would like to say that there is a city in Quebec, Baie St-Paul, where the mayor at the time banned strip bars from her city, and that is still the case.

Justice committee  I find it hard to answer your questions because you need to be an expert. I am going to tell you about my experience in the field in this area. It is even more serious than you think because the young women who are exotic dancers do not even consider themselves as prostitutes. The women who give erotic massages do not consider what they do as prostitution.

Justice committee  That is a specific question, but as you will understand, it is very difficult for us to answer it because we do not know the law. We are unable to grasp those kinds of distinctions. We only understand that the law must have more teeth so that these people are arrested for procuring, if I may put it that way.

Justice committee  Sweden did it in 1999 after liberalizing and accepting prostitution. In the 1980s, it saw all the harm done and stopped it. Norway followed in 2008, as did Iceland in 2009. Iceland went even further. It prohibited stripping because it leads to prostitution. We believe that the revolution of this century will be the abolition of prostitution, following the abolition of slavery in the 19th century and of the death penalty in the 20th century.

Justice committee  Having visited women in prison and having worked with them for a long time, I am astounded to see the number of years they spend incarcerated for shoplifting, violence in a public place and so on.

Justice committee  That is correct.

Justice committee  That is a big question. Every day, I try to find ways to assist women. The Maison de Marthe is engaged in a lot of political action so that one day prostitution will be abolished in Canada. How can we stop all that? The person who is leaving the room spoke earlier about one way that I thought was excellent, and that is introducing severe penalties and sentences.

Justice committee  There are absolutely no resources to provide assistance to prostitutes. The very poor little organization where I have been a volunteer for 12 years survives on donations and volunteer work. It does not receive grants or government assistance. There is nothing. No one will ever give a woman the means to leave prostitution.

Justice committee  The first thing they will say about themselves is that they have a much stronger libido than average and that they are absolutely certain they perform very well sexually. They also have fantasies about female prostitutes. I will stop there because I want to conclude on the subject of this bill.

Justice committee  Good afternoon. I am the director of a very small non-profit organization, the Maison de Marthe, in Quebec City. I have been working in the field every day for 12 years with women who are engaged in prostitution. I am a trained nurse and anthropologist with a specialty in public health.