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Proposed porn legislation too vague, lawyers say

Justice Minister Ron Basford's proposal to include "undue degradation of the human person" in the already vague Criminal Code definition of obscenity was criticized by several civil rights lawyers.

Toronto lawyer Aubrey Golden criticized the pornography amendments as being "pretty vague."

People ought not to be forced to view something "below their level of comfort" but the difficulty lies with the "numbers of levels of discomfort," he said.

Morris Manning, chairman of the criminal justice division of the Canadian Bar Association, said the amendments "case a wider net."

"It's bad enough trying to figure out what pornography is without trying to figure out what 'undue degradation of the human person' is too," he said, predicting a "greater proliferation" of court cases.

He said the changes will give the police "wider powers to harass."

ALAN BOROVOY "It's regrettable"

Alan Borovoy, general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said the proposals move away from the Law Reform Commission of Canada's recommendations that adults be allowed to read in private any material they want to, as long as the material is not displayed to the general public.

"It's regrettable that the government is moving away from this sensible position," Borovoy said.

Another proposal would crack down on soliciting by prostitutes in public and would apply to both males and females. And a new law would make it an offence to procure any person under 16 to engage in male or female prostitution.

The soliciting proposal appears to be trying to overcome a recent Supreme Court of Canada decision that ruled a prostitute's overture to a potential customer had to be pressing or persistent to be against the law, several lawyers told The Star.

Clayton Ruby, Toronto criminal and civil rights lawyer, said the proposal "focuses on a non-problem, a nuisance at worst, and it will mean that the cops will go back to picking up prostitutes who in 95 per cent of the time are harming no one."