In the present context, prostitutes and potential customers associate when they meet to discuss the sale of sex. So long as it remains lawful to sell sex for money, there is a right to associate with others in order to reach an agreement for this purpose. It is not reasonable to prohibit associational activity that harms no one on the basis that in some circumstances and in some areas a high concentration of that activity may give rise to a public or social nuisance. If such activity is to be prohibited, there must be a much closer nexus between the associational activity that is prohibited and the nuisance to which it is alleged to give rise. Reference re ss.
Reference re ss.
Statutes and Regulations Cited Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, ss. Appeal allowed, Wilson and L'Heureux-Dub JJ. dissenting. Kenneth W. F. Fiske and Robert E. Lutes, for the appellant. Joel E. Pink, Q.C., and Donald C. Murray, for the respondent. Graham R. Garton, for the intervener the Attorney General of Canada.