‘Sex work’ a violation of human dignity

A new research paper from the Cardus think tank calls for Canadian policymakers to retain the Nordic Model prostitution law framework and combat watered-down rewordings like “sex work” that downplay the defilement of human dignity intrinsic to this act.

Is “Sex Work” Actually Work? Human Dignity, Liberty, and Prostitution Policy in Canada author Renze Nauta, who directs Cardus’ work and economics program, was motivated to publish this document in response to the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2025 decision in R. v. Kloubakov. The highest court declined to rule on if the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms includes a right to liberty for prostitution until lower courts had a chance to consider the matter.

Nauta is former director of policy for two federal Leaders of the Opposition — Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole. His overarching reply to the question sidestepped by the justices is “prostitution is incompatible with a rightly ordered understanding of human dignity, work and liberty.” He wrote that it transgresses dignity “by treating a person as a means to another’s end"; it’s not work as “it undermines human flourishing and the common good"; and it's discordant with economic liberty because it subverts “the dignity that is the very basis for freedom itself.”

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Sr. Nancy Brown, a Sister of Charity who has actively spoken out against sexual exploitation and human trafficking for decades, appreciates Nauta’s points and its timeliness “as there is a strong voice in the West that defends prostitution as work.” Softening prostitution’s labelling will never be an option for the 2012 Order of British Columbia recipient who devoted many years to accompanying survivors at Covenant House Vancouver.

“Anyone who has journeyed with survivors who struggle with their healing will agree that the trauma that prostituted persons experienced is not work but a violation of their human dignity,” wrote Brown in an email to The Catholic Register. “Employers have a responsibility to provide a healthy work environment.”

She added that “we need to change our language — prostitution is not sex, nor sex work, but a total injustice and violation of the human person.”

Nauta dialogued with survivors of prostitution and feminist thought leaders — some against but others for decriminalization — about their experiences and perspectives about the path ahead. He noted that while Canadian radical feminists broadly favour retainment of the Nordic Model, while liberal feminists call for decriminalization or legalization of prostitution, both sides do agree there should be more supports for women and no woman should be criminalized for providing their own paid sexual act.

One of Nauta’s interviewees was Formerly Exploited Voices Now Educating founder Trisha Baptie, a survivor profiled as part of the Register’s 2023 special news feature “Breaking the bondage: Ending human trafficking’s evil.” Baptie lauded Nauta’s stand against the language.

“Sex work is one of the most prevalent misnomers currently out there in the common lexicon,” said Baptie. “This paper succinctly puts to rest why sex cannot be ‘work,’ and the harms associated with trying to sanitize the verbiage around prostitution.”

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“Sex work” is not the only euphemism put under the microscope in Nauta’s article. He calls for “sex trade” and “sexual services” to be rejected as it “perpetuates inaccuracies about the prostitution industry.” The former, he wrote, “implies a free exchange, which does not exist in an activity that undermines the dignity of one party.” As for the latter, he stated how it “diminishes the dehumanizing nature of prostitution, as though we could separate the ‘service’ from the indignity done to the person.” However, he noted that eliminating ‘sex services’ from the lexicon would not be easily done since that terminology is used in the Criminal Code.

Nauta’s topline call to action is maintaining the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA), the legal standard since 2014.

“We need to retain the laws that we have,” said Nauta. "I'm not saying they can't be improved upon, but the basic structure of Canada's laws is correct. We criminalize the prostitution industry and specifically those who profit off of it or buy sex from vulnerable people. At the same time, we grant immunity to those people who are vulnerable in the industry, i.e. people who are selling their own sexual services.”

A third action proposal advanced by Nauta is to create pathways for women and men to exit or avoid this life altogether. Improving access to housing, job training, drug and alcohol treatment and providing literary and social programs are ideas from American feminist philosopher Martha Nussbaum that he cites in the article.

Both governments and civil society are tasked with improving the landscape for women and encouraging men and boys to avoid exploitative behaviours, said Nauta. He suggested how religious congregations can become involved in this effort.

“I really believe in local action, so parishes and dioceses could get involved,” said Nauta. “I know many of them are already involved in anti-trafficking work and helping people out of this industry. It's one of those issues that unfortunately never seems to go away. There's always going to be work to help individual people find a path out of this.”

Nauta intends to build upon this research with continued meetings with people from all sides of the debate because “having an open discussion, one that is framed in mutual understanding, is going to bring light to this issue.”

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He knows more research is required to help devise the best possible policy options that encourage exits from the prostitution industry. But given a Canadian backdrop where voices are calling for a decriminalization of prostitution, and other practices in the country evidently violate human dignity — the country’s euthanasia regime for one — does Nauta believe his calls for dignity will be widely heeded?

“I'm always hopeful about these kinds of problems in society,” said Nauta. “It doesn't mean that it's going to be easy, but I am hopeful because I do believe that we all recognize in each other at some level that we all have some level of human dignity. We all have fundamental human dignity that can never be taken away no matter what's been done to us or what we do. That's the basis for human rights and fundamentally treating each other well. I am hopeful that we can change how we talk about this issue.”

(Amundson is an associate editor and writer for The Catholic Register.)

A version of this article appeared in the September 20, 2026 issue of The Catholic Register with the headline "‘Sex work’ a violation of human dignity"