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Sister Act: Grey Nuns at SIPA Fest P. 9
Snowy nights greets Wintersleep P. 14
Stingers go for National gold, bring home the silver
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
sports How Stinger Terrance Morsink went from benchwarmer to starting QB P. 16
life Should you get the HPV vaccine? P. 6
opinions Recent protests by veterans prove Nov. 11 is worth remembering P. 22
Volume 28 Issue 11
Full coverage page 17
Simone de Beauvoir Institute and local groups stand behind prostitution ruling Hopes that Ontario Superior Court decision leads to decriminalization Brennan Neill Managing editor It may be the world’s oldest profession, but it’s certainly not the safest. That could change if a late September ruling by Ontario Superior Court Justice Susan Himel stands up in a Supreme Court appeal. This past Tuesday, Concordia’s Simone de Beauvoir Institute, a number of academics and Stella, a local community group that advocates for sex workers, joined to show their support for Justice Himel’s ruling. In her decision, the judge determined that the current legislation surrounding prostitution is unconstitutional, since it limited the right to life, liberty, and security, as well as the freedom of expression of sex workers. According to Simone de Beauvoir Institute spokesperson Viviane Namaste, their support for Himel’s ruling is based on improving the safety of sex workers. “We believe that sex workers have the right to live
Dallaire looks to the future
and work safely, in an environment free of violence and discrimination,” read an open letter presented by Namaste and other members of the group. The letter has collected 40 signatures from a collection of university and community supporters. Stella’s general coordinator Emilie Laliberté was optimistic about the ruling, but explained that the situation would not change overnight. “We are under a pretty conservative government and it will be a long process through the courts,” said Laliberté. “It might take five years, or even 10 years, but we know that a decision will be made. The key is to continue to educate people about sex workers.” In addition, the group believes that women choosing sex work should have the ability to “define the conditions in which they work,” since exchanging sex for money is not illegal in Canada and people have the right to control their working conditions. Current legislation may say that it is legal to exchange money for sex, but it is illegal to discuss what services may be exchanged for what price or even if protection is to be used. It’s also illegal for a number of sex workers to work together in safety under one roof, since it
Evan LePage News editor
See “‘Would be...” on p.5
See “‘Poverty, genocid...” on p.3
For a man who experienced one of the worst genocides in modern history firsthand, former senator Romeo Dallaire was extremely eloquent in his use of humour to tell a packed crowd at Concordia that to truly influence the world around you, you cannot just ‘manage’ the future, you need to lead it. “Leadership will always produce results well above what the science of management predicts as possible,” one of Dallaire’s slides read. Despite his iconic status within Canada as a result of his actions in Rwanda, Dallaire focused on the future rather than the past in describing how young people, like much of the over-capacity crowd who packed into H-110 last Thursday to hear him speak, could improve what he referred to as the “new world disorder.” His references to the likes of Richard Nixon, Yoggi Bera and today’s political pundits had the crowd laughing, but also reflecting on what the future held in terms of some of the more serious global threats.
theconcordian.com